Beyond Financial Aid: Relational and Cultural Supports as Systemic Drivers of STEM Success for Community College Students

Low-income students remain underrepresented in STEM pathways at community colleges, facing structural and financial barriers that constrain degree completion and transfer. This qualitative cross-case study examines how STEM students perceive and engage with National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM scholarship programs across three institutions: two community colleges and one research university serving transfer students. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 62 scholars and institutional stakeholders, findings reveal that financial support is valuable but insufficient. Students identified sustained faculty advising and mentorship, intentional community-building, and institutional validation as the most influential factors in shaping persistence and STEM identity development. Despite programmatic differences—faculty-driven mentoring at Everett Community College, culturally relevant pedagogy at Holyoke Community College, and compensated community engagement at the University of South Florida—all three sites converged on a common principle: belonging must be structurally embedded through relational support systems. Students consistently described S-STEM programs as creating “family” atmospheres that legitimized their presence in STEM fields. The study demonstrates that equity in STEM education requires integrating financial, relational, and cultural supports, transforming persistence from individual endurance into shared institutional achievement.