First Generation College Students

The article “Motivating Firs-Generation Students For Academic Success and College Completion” by Tanjula Petty describes the additional challenges first generation students have to overcome while attending college. A well-heeled diversity and world of opportunities are a few of the positive outcomes of attending college. According to Tanjula Petty (2014), “Yet, the most cited and widely used definition for first- generation students is someone whose parents has not completed a college degree”. Students whose parents did not acquire a college degree, have a lack of support at home. Their family members are not equipped to provide information required for college difficulties students may have. They lack knowledge and resources that students that students with college-educated parents have. The article states that these students are less psychologically prepared for college. Many low-income families do not understand the benefits of graduating from college. First generation students spend more time working and less time studying unlike their classmates. (Petty 2014) Coming from low-income families, many of these students have to divide their time between college and working. Leading students to prioritize money before school. Many work full time while going to school. Working more hours than studying can potentially harm students ' success.

First generation college students are those who are seeking to be the first in their family to earn a degree, according to UCLA. First- generation students can come from low, middle, or high income families without a history of going to college. Families of first generation students can either be supportive of the students plan for a high education or make them feel family pressure to enter the workforce right after high school like they did. First generation students often do not know their options regarding higher education and have fears about going to college and it’s cost. Currently, 42% of UC undergraduates are first generation.

There are many challenges that first generation students face in pursuit of a college degree:

Being a first generation college student is a heavy load to carry due to the constant reminder of having to be a good role model for my siblings. Children of immigrants are often highly expected to excel in their academics and to be involved in extracurricular activities. His/her parent immigrated to the “Land of The Free” in order to receive a better life and to give their children a place to call home. They work from one to two jobs a week just so that we can dig through the pantry, and raid the refrigerator. We sometimes take our parents for granted unknowingly, and constantly fill our heads with a question that we all seem to ask. “How do I please my parents?”, “What do I have to do to make them happy?”. As students we should all be voicing “College!”. Yes, maybe our folks’s dreams have faded away, however that should be our motivation to aim higher; to achieve our American Dream. Throughout our years of education, our very own relatives and teachers have emphasized on the importance of receiving a higher education. I have come to realize that I should not be asking myself “How do I please my parents?”. Instead, “How do I please myself?”, “What will my lifetime goals be?”, “Will it leave my parents hard work in vain?”. Obtaining a higher education will not impact their lives, but will affect yours drastically. My American Dream has always been to become an immigration lawyer that deals with international relations or to become a professor teaching my true passion for

Coming from a smaller town where a lot of families do not have the money to send themselves or even their children to college was tough, I was always worried about what was going to happen after high school was over. Applying for financial aid and signing up for classes without having a family member who has done it before is very difficult, the student don’t know what classes to take or how much money to take out for loans, as a first generation college student myself it has been hard to do all the paperwork for college. A first generation college student can be very stressed like all college students but for first generation students they have no one that has gone through the same thing and that could help them get through it. Financial issues are going to be stressful for every college student, but for first generation students it can get extremely difficult seen as they do not know that much about applying for financial aid. Some students can get scholarships that help to pay for their college, though they do not know how to apply for those scholarships sometimes.Students who are first generation do not get the advice of their parents on college, just like how they do not know how to sign up for financial aid and other resources that are useful.

Are you aware that at least forty percent of the United States is made up of first-generation students? (Earl, 1987.) Being given the label “first-generation,” by definition, means that a student is the first in his or her family to attend and finish college with a college degree. In Hicks 2006 study, he compared the educational barriers of first-generation students to those non-first-generation students. As a result, Hicks found out the first-generation students had different expectations of college, poor academic abilities, lack of social skills, low self-esteem, and more financial restrictions (Hicks, 2003; Thayer, 2000). There are many challenges that first-generation students face in pursuit of a college degree: academic challenges,

Over many years college has been known as a main path to success, yet many students find themselves being first-generation college student and face many challenges that come with it, despite the efforts colleges make to remove this stigma. “Thirty percent of higher ed students today are the first in their family to attend college, while 24 percent-4.5 million- are both first generation and low income” (Opidee, 2015, P.1). These percentages are very high, with 30% of students attending college being the first in their family many students and their families don’t know what they’re getting themselves into when they get to school. Students find that being a first-generation college students affects them even before they start college.

“Kids who are the first in their families to brave the world of higher education come on campus with little academic know-how and are much more likely than their peers to drop out before graduation” (1). Many people believe that school isn’t for everyone, and whoever goes is privileged for doing so. Countless people in the world today do not attend college, and this is mainly due to an influence of those in their family. Perhaps they are unsupportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as a break in the family system rather than a continuation of their schooling and higher learning. Most of the first-generation students decide to apply to colleges, because they aspire to jobs which require degrees. However, unlike some students whose parents have earned a degree, they often seek out college to bring honor to their families, and to ensure they make a decent amount of money for their future.

Molly Bang’s article “Nine Ways Colleges Should Support Underrepresented Students”, advised “remind students they are not alone.” If first-generation college students have a support system or a mentor, then they are more likely to be comfortable in high school to college transition rather than they feel overwhelmed and stress. However, there is a high chance that they will need financial assistance to pay school, housing, and expenses.

My time spent at Cogswell Polytechnical College has been one of a great experience thus, making me more appreciative of the financial hardships my family continues to endure in order for me to attend such a prestigious university. There is no one in my family to have made it this far academically as I am living the life of a first generation college student. Now, being the only person out of my other nine siblings to identify as a college student raises a lot of concern from the adults of the family as well as intrapersonal stress. The annual income my family lives off of could be considered at poverty level, therefore financials are allocated properly by priority with my education not being one of them. Just as society views eighteen to be the threshold of adulthood, so do my parents. Consequently, I am attending college strictly on my own and this is what makes me suitable candidate for the Dragon scholarship. Simply put, anything to financially assist in my schooling would definitely relieve the stress of wondering if Cogswell will just one day become too expensive for me to attend.

Families of first-generation students do not know how to assist their children when it comes to exploring different careers, or searching for scholarships. These students can easily get discouraged as they do not have a role model figure to look after. In a study by Royster, Gross, & Hochbein (2015), it was mentioned (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie & Gonyea, 2008; Lloyd, Leicht, & Sullivan, 2008) that parents that do not have the firsthand knowledge of academic resources or college expectations do not encourage their children to challenge themselves with course that will lead them to be college bound. In addition, students may not feel motivated or supported by their families. It is important to understand that early exposures to college or career conversation do not necessary starts until their high school years.

Holland, a professor of Educational Inquiry and Curriculum studies, and African and African American Studies at the University of Illinois, argues that, the message that students receive regarding college preparation varies because of the students’ race/ethnicity, socio-economic background, and generational status. She also believes that even though these students receive encouragement from their social networks, there was a shortage of individualized, concrete, and compressive college planning. Her findings suggest that college

Many parents, from the day their child can walk or is even born, dread the day their child goes to college. This view on college is not only because “their little bird is leaving the nest”, but because of the unfavorable college prices. College is becoming more essential, yet more difficult to afford. A plethora of graduating high school students hope to pursue in the American Dream, graduating from college. Because of the rising tuition prices, however, students and parents are now more concerned about how much damage they will endure financially, more so than the quality of education their child would be receiving. College is now nothing more than a price tag and a hole in parents’ wallets. Knowing this, students often

Being the first one to go to college in my whole generation carries lots of pride, and pressure. I am all on my own; from preparing my grade, taking tests to filling out applications, FAFSA; it's all me. Aside from my supportive counsellors, the Internet has been my main resources on this journey. I wish if there were more guidance, as early as freshman year, for first year college applicants like me. No matter how stressful it is, I know for a fact that my parents' smiles when they receive my acceptances are priceless.

The intended audience for this project consists of my instructor, Brian Royce, and other members of this English 111 online course. The levels of knowledge will vary when it comes to this article’s topic. Some people may have knowledge on this subject due to their upbringing and some may have never thought about it before. This topic has great relevance today as higher education is more readily available. Still many low-income parents don’t take their children’s education seriously. I believe many educators and parents can relate to this topic as a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families (Layton, 2014, para. 1). This article not only has to do with the author’s personal experiences as a student, but also his study of first-generation college students. I found this article to be particularly important to me because I myself am a low-income parent of four boys and certainly hope that the author’s thoughts, coupled with my own, may spur change in many educators’ teaching styles. The medium I am using is a formal academic manuscript.