In The Ritual Process, Turner (1969) engages the reader in a discussion of rites of passage (rites de passage) (Van Gennep, 1909). Significant to the discussion is the explanation offered by Turner of the three phases or ―transitions‖ that Van Gennep described. Accordingly, these phases include separation, margin (limen), and aggregation. Said differently, transition in rites of passage processes involve "pulling away" from the known (e.g. family, friends, and community); searching for self in a sea of choice and confusion; and ultimately establishing connections with a new community—congruous with the individual's newfound identity. It is the second transition that I specifically highlight in this prefatory as it relates to the college-going process for African American males.

The role of noncustodial fathers in the lives of low-income families has received increased attention in the past decade. As welfare reform has placed time limits on cash benefits, policymakers and program administrators have become interested in increasing financial support from noncustodial parents as a way to reduce poverty among low-income children. Although child support enforcement efforts have increased dramatically in recent years, there is evidence that many low-income fathers cannot afford to meet their child support obligations without impoverishing themselves or their families. Instead, many fathers accumulate child support debts that may lead them to evade the child support system and see less of their children.

A central concern in the study of racial stratification is the extent to which racial gaps in economic outcomes – wages, wealth, and exposure to poverty – change over the life course. Cognitive differences, educational investments, and differential work experience help explain racial inequality over the life course, yet scholars also point to the ability of federal policies to shape opportunities for economic achievement (Burstein 1979; Heckman 1989). Civil rights legislation and affirmative action programs, for example, accompanied narrowing racial gaps in wages, wealth, and exposure to poverty through at least the mid-1980s (Darity and Meyers 1998). Affirmative action programs increased the representation of blacks in government-sector and professional jobs (e.g., Grodsky and Pager 2001) decreasing wage inequality, enabling blacks to accumulate assets and protect themselves against poverty in later adulthood.

The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.
These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.