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Abstract
College acceptance does not always result in college enrollment for students from marginalized backgrounds. Many of the students who traveled the bumpy road to twelfth grade come from low SES backgrounds and may also be first-generation college students. These students also have a higher probability of experiencing summer melt (Castleman, 2014). Summer melt occurs when college-intending students meet all the criteria set forth by their college of choice, gain acceptance into college, yet fail to enroll in the fall following their high school graduation (Rall, 2016). Not much is known about how students experience summer melt. A vast major of summer melt research is quantitative and therefore cannot inform the field of counseling about how students experience summer melt. Using qualitative inquiry and a critical race lens, the current study aimed to understand how melters, who are first-generation, Black students of low SES, experience the phenomenon of summer melt. First-generation, Black students of low SES experience the educational system differently than White students and, in many cases, their other non-White peers. Understanding how first-generation, Black students of low SES experience summer melt is critical for stakeholders tasked with developing and implementing prevention programs geared towards addressing this population of students at greatest risk for melting.