On my first day of orientation at Roosevelt University, thirty students – myself included – filed into a classroom. It was one of the many seminars you receive at orientation that teaches you about resources available to students on campus. While I cannot clearly recall what exactly the seminar was about or what resource it was advertising, I do have a vivid memory of the activity we took part in. The seminar leader directed first-generation students to stand on one side of the room, and those who had parents and other immediate family with college degrees to the opposite side of the room. As I stood on the first-generation side with only one other person, I realized that being first-generation wasn’t as common as I thought it would be. In that instance, a sense of isolation encompassed myself, and there was a single thought I couldn’t shake for the rest of the day: How am I going to do this?
The isolation, while exaggerated by the physical distance between myself and the other students, was all-encompassing. I realized, perhaps not for the first time, that those students had a valuable resource that I had been lacking throughout the beginning of the college process: familial advice. First-gen students often times have to figure things out on their own with little help from parents – there are no stories about college acceptances and experiences passed down through the generations, no wisdom passed from parent to child before they embark on the next four years of their lives. Whether it be applications, college stories, or financial aid, we often times don’t have someone in our immediate family who knows how to easily navigate forms or who can bestow their college-related wisdom upon us. In fact, the very notion of pursuing a higher education is often alien, both to parents and to their children, thus making the college process more challenging and tenser than it is supposed to be.
Of course, it is not a parent’s fault that they didn’t attend college – higher education is expensive and costs both money and time, two valuable resources those from lower income backgrounds cannot afford to freely expend. In my family, college wasn’t really an option if one wanted to start making money quickly. It’s expensive, and often times it is too hard to maintain a full-time job and be a full-time student. Even today, many first-gen students put themselves through college by working and taking out large loans that help them pay their way through school. Around 48% of first-generation students can only attend school part-time, which often means that it can take up to six years for a first-gen student to get their degree if they don’t drop out before then. Drop out rate amongst first-gen students is also typically higher than others, and most will leave school before their third year (PNPI).
Depressing, trust me, I know.
Without the right resources – both before and after college – first-gen students more frequently express lower rates of college readiness than a typical student. Whether it be inside the classroom or in the financial aid office, there’s innumerable moments where I’ve felt dumb for not knowing something that seemingly is basic information. It’s not so much about not understanding the material, it’s more like having a lack of knowledge regarding the college experience as a whole that can hinders students, myself included. Questions like what’s a personal statement? Or what’s an assistantship? Or How do I apply for outside scholarships? Constantly plague our minds, and much too often we’re too nervous or embarrassed to ask faculty or friends for help.
So, what? College is nothing but challenges for those who are first-generation? Luckily, it’s not all bad – Roosevelt provides an extremely valuable on-campus resource that caters specifically to first-generation students and students of color who have questions about the college experience as it pertains to them. I cannot stress enough how important it is to utilize resources like Multicultural Student Support Services (MSSS); MSSS provides academic support created to improve retention and graduation rates of first-gen students through programs such as advocacy and financial literacy. MSSS is literally designed to help first-gen students with questions we may have. It’s natural to ask about something your unfamiliar with, and I can definitely say it helps in the end. Not only that, but creating ties on campus, both with faculty and friends as well as through various programs like MSSS, first-gen students are more likely to acclimate to the college environment (PNPI).
So, yes, there are a lot of challenges. I still dread filling out FAFSA every year because my mom and I still don’t understand what we’re doing, I still occasionally feel isolated from my peers who have seemingly endless knowledge of the college experience, and, at times, I still feel like I’m not entirely prepared and ready to be in college courses. But I’m here – I was accepted and I’m passing classes and I am most certainly not dumb. In the end, the thought that motivates me the most is that I will be the first in my family to walk across the stage at graduation to accept my degree. I genuinely do want to make my family proud, and I want to prove that even though I may have started with a slight disadvantage, I will still prevail and graduate just like everything else. If you too are a confused, first-gen student who feels insecure in their status as a college student, I urge you to remember what you’re doing it for. In the end, it will be worth it.
Sources:
“First-Generation Student Fact Sheets.” PNPI, 26 Sept. 2018, pnpi.org/first-generation-students/.
By: Kaitlyn Greenholt