Empowering First-Generation College Students: Navigating the Path to Higher Education

Anthony Perez, Assistant Director of Admissions, Multicultural Recruitment and Outreach at Western Michigan University

Navigating the college search process is an exciting and stressful time. Consider searching for a college or university while being a first-generation college student—the challenge is increased. Depending on one’s upbringing, the college-going culture in their environment, or the resources at their school, students may face an even larger challenge. Then, we must consider the differences in institutional types (i.e., private versus public), institutional sizes, religious affiliations (if any), and much more.

As a first-generation college student myself who navigated the college search, I did so because of the school environment that I was in. I was fortunate, and I acknowledge my privilege, to attend a private high school in San Antonio, Texas. College was something that my school stressed and is the norm for many high schools. There is an expectation that college is the next step after high school. However, issues arise when one encounters a first-generation family navigating the college search.

Professionals within education, regardless of K-12 or higher education, can become creatures of habit. Unless one consistently keeps thinking about the challenges and barriers experienced by first-generation college students and their supporters, our experiences can be taken for granted, which then influences how we work with our students.

Being a senior in high school participating in extracurricular activities while balancing academics and home responsibilities is already stressful; adding on exploring options for continuing education after high school adds another layer of stress. Professionals within both realms of higher education, especially those within high schools, are the go-tos for understanding the college search process and the steps that need to be taken to get in.

However, first-generation college students are a hidden population, not only on college campuses but also within the primary school system. Unless a student consciously informs their high school counselor that they are a first-generation college student, the counselor may not recognize the added layers of support that are needed to guide the student. In my opinion, it is a lack of awareness, not the fault of anyone, regarding the definition of who is a first-generation college student, understanding the challenges and barriers that they may experience, and understanding how we, as professionals in higher education, may be able to assist.

Every institution may define who a first-generation college student is differently. The Federal Government defines first-generation college students as someone whose parents have not received a bachelor’s degree. This definition does not include siblings, and it does not include grandparents. Additionally, it explicitly states ‘bachelor’s degree,’ meaning a student may still be considered a first-generation college student even though one or both of their parents obtained an associate’s degree.

"If we want to grow the number of students who choose to go to college after high school, we must take action to educate, inform, and inspire them to do so"

With that definition in mind, you then have to consider that there are students in two different first-generation college populations. Students whose parents went through the college search process and those who did not. Those whose parents went through the process, whether they entered college/completed an associate degree or not, have the cultural capital to know what the process is like. Thus, parents with cultural capital can guide their students through the application processes, completing FAFSA (if they did), etc. Whereas, families without the cultural capital do not have the knowledge to operate with. That is where professionals within education have the opportunity to serve as a resource and inform families of the processes.

Once you know which families do and do not have the cultural capital to proceed through the college search process, you then encounter financial hardships or families whose primary concern is affordability. Navigating the college search is one thing; applying to FAFSA for federal funding is a challenge that has the added pressure of tax information and social security numbers, which can impact mixed-status families in the United States.

If we want to grow the number of students who choose to go to college after high school, we must take action to educate, inform, and inspire them to do so. The number of times that I have had students share how grateful they were for the intentional and additional support I gave them and then reveal that they are the first in their family to go to college, or the parents that share this is their first child going through the process. We need to stop operating under assumptions that everyone just knows how to do the college search and be prepared to help everyone get into and through it.

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