Research on the relationship between socioeconomic status and educational outcomes of students is abundant, but research related to factors that are capable of mediating the effects of poverty on the education of children is lacking. The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of such factors. A pilot study using The High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) was undertaken to determine factors capable of predicting college mathematics readiness for low income students (Hale, Starratt, & Turegun, 2015). This study serves as a follow-up to the pilot and uses the first follow-up to the HSLS:09, the HSLS:09/12. Principle components factor analysis and multiple regression were used to identify the factors, and to determine their predictive power over and above the socioeconomic status variable. Following the quantitative study of the data set, interviews were conducted with college mathematics students who were college ready in mathematics despite growing up in poor households. In this way, a mixed methods design was employed to gain a greater understanding of the meaning of the factors discovered. The final consideration of this mixed methods study was to analyze the relationship between the two sets of findings, quantitative and qualitative, to gain the greatest understanding of each result. Three factors capable of predicting readiness, while controlling for socioeconomic status, were discovered in the quantitative phase of the study, "Math Plans," "College Plans," and "Math Self-Concept." Of these three factors, both "Math Plans" and "College Plans" were found to have moderate effect size in predicting the "mathematics scale score." The responses of the subjects in the interviews provide a greater level of understanding of these factors. It was found that college planning for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds is problematics due to a lack of understanding of the process of becoming college ready. The results of the study suggest the need for more active participation in the planning process on the part of teachers and guidance counselors. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]