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Diversity in Academe: First-Generation Students

2015-Spring Diversity

If you’re a low-income student whose parents never earned a degree, simply getting to college is hard enough. You probably didn’t get much help from your parents, let alone from pricey private counselors or test-prep courses. And once you enroll, you’ve got a bunch of new stuff to figure out — like what to study or maybe even how to study. You may need to take remedial courses. You may feel work and family pressures. And if you’re at a selective college, you may feel left out when your classmates travel abroad or work in unpaid internships.This special report focuses on the challenges facing first-generation students, whose numbers are growing as demographics shift.

Our report also looks at efforts underway on some campuses to help such students. Says a spokeswoman for Hamilton College, which has several such initiatives: “It’s not just about access. It’s about equalizing the experience once students get to campus.”

Tae-Hyun Sakong migrated from South Korea at age 7 and today majors in neuroscience at Trinity U. His life is a world apart from that of his parents, 
neither of whom attended college. “I would kill to be able to explain to them what I do,” he says.
A Growing Population
The Challenge of the First-Generation Student
By Katherine Mangan
Colleges amp up efforts to retain them, but hurdles remain.
Nancy Thompson (right), dean of students, with a colleague, Allen Harrison (second from left), and three Hamilton students. All were or are the first in their families to attend college.
Paving the Way
At Hamilton College, Top Administrators Were Themselves First-Generation Students
By Ben Gose
Hamilton College gives special consideration to students who break family barriers by pursuing a higher education.
Ryan Flynn (right, in the library archives at Illinois College), says the Yates 
Fellowship Program gave him connections other students didn’t have.
News
At Illinois College, a Fellowship Helps Students Succeed
By Ben Gose
The program begins with a summer session for incoming freshmen and continues with special classes and social opportunities.
Valerie Barrientos (left), 
a student in the U. of Texas at Brownsville’s South Texas Engineering, Math and Science program, trains a mentor 
in how to work with 
high-school students.
Support Programs
Student Mentors Keep High-Schoolers Engaged Through College
By Katherine Mangan
Near the border with Mexico, a program helps first-generation students pursue careers in the sciences.
Gabriella Perez hugs Susana Pinzon at year’s end 
at Saint Mary’s College 
of California. The college’s High Potential Program steered them both toward helpful campus resources.
Retention
Program Helps Students Navigate the Unfamiliar Terrain of College
By Ben Gose
Saint Mary’s College of California helps out when family issues, racial taunting, and other challenges threaten to derail an education.
Karen Perez, executive director of the child-care center at Passaic County Community College, plays with children. The college’s 
president hopes to expand the program in coming years, but it’s not clear where the money would come from.
A 'Critical Student Benefit'
Campus Child Care Is Disappearing
By Scott Carlson
At community colleges, 30 percent of students are parents, and the availability of care can make or break their educational dreams.
Virginia Yans: “When the student succeeds, I feel I have made an impact 
upon another human being’s life, and I am confident that the student, 
having experienced such a relationship, will do the same for his or her students.”
Faculty
How a White Historian Nurtures Diverse Ph.D.'s
By Stacey Patton
Virginia Yans, of Rutgers University, talks about her enjoyment in working with candidates from a range of backgrounds.
Singing the First-Generation Blues 1
Commentary
Singing the First-Generation Blues
By Dwight Lang
For some students, college is a portal from one social class to another, and the transition can be rough.
The Double Life of a Blue-Collar Scholar 1
Diversity in Academe
The Double Life of a Blue-Collar Scholar
By Liz Mayo
The professor with all the degrees used to be a girl with gritty nails who worked at the factory.
6136-Sanacore-Diversity
Diversity in Academe
Let’s Help First-Generation Students Succeed
By Joseph Sanacore, Anthony Palumbo
Too often, colleges take their tuition money, then leave them floundering.
Diversity in Academe
7 Ways to Attract Diverse Students to Study Abroad
By Aaron Bruce
Such programs could be more sensitive to low-income and other students who haven’t traveled much.
Diversity in Academe
Why Elite Institutions Need to Welcome Students From Community Colleges
By Laura Huober
A first-generation college student, now in graduate school at Yale, transferred from a community college in California to Amherst.
Diversity in Academe
Mentors Matter
By Eric Rodriguez
The ability to overcome challenges is often framed as individual achievement when it’s anything but.