Brendan Barry

The First-Generation College Student

Prof. Saud

6/25/20

Crest University First-Generation College Student Pre-Orientation Program Proposal

The number of first-generation students in the United States is continuing to rise as twenty-four

percent of undergraduate students have parents who did not have any form of post-secondary education

(NASPA Center for First-Generation Student Success). Ward, et.al. (2012) defines a first-generation

college student as “a student for whom neither parent attended college’’ (p. 3). With this growing number

of students, it is important for college administrators to understand the unique needs of these first-

generation college students in order for them to persist in elite colleges like Crest University. These first-

generation college students lack the social and cultural capital that their more affluent peers bring to

campus. Due to this disparity, first-generation college students face unique challenges that affect their

ability to persist and get their undergraduate degree. In order to improve the persistence of these students,

college administrators need to create programming that will give these students the support that they need

in order to be on a level playing with their peers. As the Director of Student Engagement and Persistence,

my team and I designed a pre-orientation program to increase the persistence rate of incoming first-

generation students at Crest University.

Understanding the Problem and Need for the Program

One of the key reasons for the design of this pre-orientation program is that first-generation

college students lack the social and cultural capital that their more affluent peers bring to college. Nash

(1990) states that Bourdieu’s theory states that capital is intended to “provide no less a powerful means of

investigating systems of cultural reproduction” (p. 432). Nash goes on to talk about how society and

members of society need to reproduce and in order to manage multi-generational transmission of capital,

society must develop “appropriate structures which enable successful cultural reproduction” (p. 432).

With these findings, Bourdieu is trying to illustrate the point that capital, whether it is financial or in other
social advantages such as connections is transmitted through a person’s family. For Bourdieu, this type of

social capital can be just as important as financial capital (Nash, 1990, p. 432). Crest University is a very

affluent college where only fifty percent of the students are receiving some type of financial aid. With the

dynamics of this small, private, and selective college, first-generation students are going to be behind

their peers in terms of social and cultural capital. Due to this drastic difference in financial and cultural

capital on campus, first-generation students are going to face unique challenges during their college

career.

One of the main challenges that first-generation college students face is navigating how to pay for

college. Bers & Schuetz (2014) talk about how many first-generation college students come from lower

income families and lack the financial knowledge that students whose parents went to college have. These

students lack the knowledge on how to navigate the financial aid process and may miss out on certain

opportunities because they just didn’t know. On top of that, these students do not have the same access to

vital information as their more affluent peers. Prof. Daniyal Saud (2020) said that many of these families

don’t have the chance to go in for a visit and meet with an admission counselor to discuss the financial

aid process. This is a glaring example of the lack of social and cultural capital that first-generation

students have as they start the journey to attaining higher education.

As difficult as it can be to navigate the financial aid process, the financial concerns for first-

generation students do not stop when they start their undergraduate education. Bers & Schuetz found that

many first-generation college students work full time in order to pay for school and contribute necessary

funds back to their families. Working full-time and going to college at the same time is a very daunting

task and creates barriers for first-generation college students. In one of his course lectures, Prof. Saud

(20202) said that a lot of these students try to take classes in the morning, work in the afternoon/evenings,

and do their homework at night. With that type of schedule, they lose access to on-campus resources such

as office hours and other supports that their more affluent peers utilize during their free time. These

students need more academic support and having to work as much as they do is only going to put them at
a further disadvantage from their peers. Colleges need to find a way to accommodate their schedules and

get them the support that they need in a medium that is accessible to them.

On top of the challenges that students face as they balance work and school, they also have to

navigate a more privileged campus. As discussed above, many first-generation students come from low

income families and do not have the luxuries that many of their peers flaunt when they go to college. In

his book titled The Privileged Poor, Anthony Jack (2019) talks about how his classmates at Amherst

College would swap stories about “summer fun. Multi Week trips abroad. Fancy parties at summer

homes. Courtside seats at professional basketball games'' (p. 56). When these first-generation college

students go to college, it can be very difficult to navigate this type of privilege because they do not know

how to relate to what these students get to do on a daily basis. This difference in lifestyle can make first-

generation students feel like they do not belong on campus. This cultural divide is something that needs to

be addressed by college administrators because this is something that is embedded in the DNA of the

campus. At a school like Crest University, there is an implicit culture of privilege that needs to be

addressed in two different ways. First, they need to work as a campus community to create a campus

culture that embraces diversity and unique backgrounds. They also need to create a precedent of

understanding that not everyone comes to college with the same privileges and that flaunting the nice

things that they have creates a feeling of uneasiness for some students. On top of changing the campus

culture, college administrators need to educate these first-generation students about how they are going to

be interacting with people who have different backgrounds and how it may be a shock to them at first. If

they are briefed beforehand, this privilege will be a lot less jaring and they might feel more comfortable

on campus.

Due to their lack of social and cultural capital, first-generation students lack skills to be prepared

for college. Pitre and Pitre (2009) define college readiness as “ academic and practical knowledge needed

to be successful in higher education.” Many first-generation college students are lacking in many areas of

college readiness and this can have a negative impact on their entire experience. Many of these students

have attended low-performing PreK-12 schools (Hudley et al., 2009). Since these students are attending
schools with less academic prestige, research has shown that first-generation students are less prepared

academically to effectively take standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT (Balemian & Feng, 2013).

These students are already behind before they even get to college. College administrators need to

intervene as early as possible to ensure academic success for their entire college career.

Once these first-generation students get into college and decide where they want to go, they are

still unaware of the academic rigor that they are going to face in college. Parents of many first-generation

students are not able to properly prepare their children for the academic challenges that they are going to

face as they transition to college. These students have to utilize their resources at their high school for

support (Hudley et al., 2009). Even in their high school, these students are lacking support because their

high school mentors are not always as focused on supporting these students who want to pursue a college

education. Hudley states “It is rare for high school staff to discourage college aspirations or limit access

among students of color and low-income students, but when they do, FGCS are forced to rely on

themselves for academic success.” A lot of these first-generation college students are lacking the support

that they need to be successful in college because they have no idea what to expect from college course

work. Since these students are already coming into college without the proper academic preparation, not

knowing what is coming is only going to put them further behind their peers who have more social and

cultural capital. Without the proper support, these first-generation students will be coming in blind to

Crest University.

On top of the difficulties of not knowing what to expect academically, they also lack the social

and cultural capital to understand what is going to happen in the non-academic aspects of college life. As

many multi-generation college students understand, there is so much more to college than just going to

classes. First-generation students may not be aware of these other aspects of college and how to balance

the different aspects of their lives. Ward, et.al. (2012) talks about how all students deal with the process

of anticipatory socialization which is imagining what college is going to be like before they get there (p.

23). Ward, et.al. (2012) talks about how this phenomenon affects first-generation students by saying

“First- generation students are equally vulnerable to false impressions about college, but because they
may lack some of the preparation and parental wisdom about the college experience that other students

enjoy, those impressions may be farther off the mark and harder to dispel” (p. 24). Every college student

imagines what college is going to look like, but first-generation students face a larger barrier because they

do not have a source to correct these false narratives. This misperception hurts their college experience

because all of their expectations are not being met and they feel like they are not doing anything right.

The lack of guidance and perception is a major concern for these students. Proper advising needs to

happen through early-intervention programming from their college.

The Pre-Orientation Program at Crest University

As I have discussed throughout the first section of this paper, first-generation college students

face unique challenges on college campuses because they lack key social and cultural capital to be

successful in college. In order to effectively address these challenges, it is crucial to intervene early to set

these first-generation college college students up for success from the start. As the director of Student

Engagement and Persistence, my team and I were tasked with creating a program that addresses the

pipeline from high school to college. For our office, the best way to effectively address these concerns is

by having a pre-orientation program for first-generation college students at Crest University. In an article

about pre-orientation programs on NASPA’s Center for First-generation Student Success, Joshua Clary

(2018) says that the goal for his pre-orientation program is to “to grasp a better understanding of the

university structure, and feel connected! Another fundamental component of a pre-orientation program is

that students are able to create authentic relationships with administrators, faculty, staff, as well as upper-

level students. These individuals reinforce a stronger sense of community.” This goal is the vision behind

the pre-orientation program that we are going to design. On top of that, we want to be very intentional

about the programming that we design so that we address the challenges of first-generation students from

day one.

One of the key elements of this pre-orientation program is that the first-generation students are

going to live in a living-learning community. Karen Inkelas (2007) defines living-learning communities

as “residential communities with a shared academic or thematic focus” (p. 405). At Crest University, we
are going to have all of the first-generation students live in the same residence hall. By having them all

live in the same space, we can give them resources in the residence halls. We can plan programming

efforts that will ease their transition into college that go well-beyond our pre-orientation program. In her

study, Inkelas found that participating in this community programming made their academic and social

transition to college easier (p. 423). We are going to start this programming and try our very best to ease

their transition into college.

Our pre-orientation program is going to start three days before the other freshmen arrive on

campus. On the first day of the pre-orientation, we are going to have students move into their living-

learning communities. As they are moving in, we are going to have current first-generation students on

hand to assist with moving items into the residence halls. Some of these students may have to move-in by

themselves because their parents can not take the time off from work. These current students will be there

to make sure they are doing this difficult work alone. More importantly, they are going to serve as our

initial student ambassadors to address any initial concerns that these students may have as they enter

campus for the first time as college students.

Our goal is to have students finish move-in by 11:30 in the morning. From there, we are going to

start our formal pre-orientation programming. In one of his class lectures, Prof. Daniyal Saud (2020) said

that admission personnel should be involved in orientation and oversee the handover of students to

student affairs staff. As an office, we believe that this is an effective idea because the admission

counselors are aware of these students’ academic and social backgrounds. So, our welcome ceremony

after move-in is going to be run by admission staff. In an ideal world, we would love to have the Dean of

Admission do an overall presentation on navigating the campus resources and how to pay for school. This

presentation will be recorded and uploaded to our first-generation student website so that parents can still

access it even if they have to work. It is crucial to put this type of information in multiple mediums so

first-generation students have access to it at any time.

After the initial presentation from the Dean of Admission, we are going to have an intentional

lunch program. All of the admission counselors are going to sit with the students and families from their
recruiting territory. During this lunch session, they can take a more individualistic approach to addressing

concerns. The counselors can be a point of resource to answer any questions because they have a better

understanding of what these students are coming to campus. It also gives these first-generation students a

familiar face to talk to and hopefully express any concerns that they may have as they start this new

journey in their lives. The goal of this programming with admission is to create a sense of comfort and

give these students the opportunity to get acclimated to campus with some familiar faces.

After lunch, our office is going to take over the programming. I am going to give a brief overview

of the resources that our office provides for first-generation college students on Crest’s campus such as

advising, mentoring, and forming partnerships with other campus resources. After I talk, we want to have

a first-generation student speaker. This first-generation college student would talk about the different

resources that they took advantage of at Crest and what they wished they had done to be more successful

as they started their college career. Although every first-generation student has their own unique

experience, the hope is that the student speaker would serve as an example and motivate the new cohort

of first-generation college students to understand that it is not easy and it is okay to ask for help

throughout the process. We want this message of dealing with challenges and seeking support to be clear

from day one.

After the formal programming has ended, the first-generation students have to say goodbye to

their families. In his book. Ward, et.al. (2012) provides an example of Angelo State University’s “First in

the Family” programming. He describes the program by saying “ASU has created, among other things, a

host family program that helps first-generation students adjust to the new experience of being in college”

(p. 40). This is a helpful program because it gives students the opportunity to get valuable information

from a trusted source that has similar experiences. At Crest University, we are going to modify their

program by pairing new students with current first-generation students instead of pairing these incoming

students with an entire family. By making this a student to student mentoring program, the new cohort of

first-generation students will feel more comfortable sharing their concerns. At the same time, these

mentor students have been through these difficult experiences and can give real advice that no
administrator could ever give. The new cohort of first-generation students will leave the formal program

with their newly assigned mentors where they will spend the afternoon getting to know each other by

playing some icebreaker games and addressing initial concerns. This is an instrumental piece in starting

the mentoring process because they are building a relationship of trust amongst the group as well as

finding common interests to make new friends. Once they feel comfortable, these students will feel more

comfortable in their new environment and will be more likely to buy in to the support that is being offered

by students and staff.

After spending the afternoon getting to know each other, the groups will proceed to dinner. The

first-generation student mentors will show these students how to navigate the dining hall and how to use

their meal plans. This is a key element to address because many students lack the cultural capital to know

how to eat in a cafeteria style setting. It is important to have these new students understand the food

system because they need these skills in order to survive on campus.

After dinner, the students are going to return to their residence halls to spend time with their

living-learning community. As an institution, we hired a male and a female RA who are first-generation

students. They are going to run a brief meeting where they provide information about living in a residence

hall that these first-generation students may not know. We also want them to emphasize the point that

they have been through the struggles of being a first-generation student and are there to be a point of

resource for these students for the duration of the school year. This is a great opportunity for students

because they have access to them where they live and at times that are accessible to them. After that

meeting, the RAs are going to get some pizza for the common room so that students can get something to

eat and get a head start on making friendships.

The next morning, students will get another chance to practice eating in the dining hall for

breakfast. After breakfast, the mentors will give the students an extensive tour of the entire campus. As

they go through the tour, representatives from all of the on-campus offices will be outside of their doors

to greet the students and take a few minutes to talk to each individual student. The goal of these extensive

tours is to give students a good view of campus and feel like they already belong because college
administrators are taking the time to listen to them and offer their support. These relationships will

continue to be fostered even further because students will have the chance to sit with these administrators

at lunch. We are trying to build a culture where first-generation students trust the administration and feel

like they can talk to them about anything.

In the afternoon, first-generation students will have the chance to make relationships with faculty

members. Each student will have the opportunity to meet with their faculty advisor for an hour. During

this meeting, the faculty member will get to know the student on a personal level and discuss their

academic and personal goals. Faculty members are also required to explain the concepts of office hours

and reaching out to professors when they have questions. These meetings are designed to help first-

generation students understand that professors are there to help and that going to office hours is not a sign

of weakness. These meetings will help eliminate the misconceptions that first-generation college students

have about working with faculty. If students are not currently meeting with a faculty member, students

will be with their mentor where they will have the chance to ask questions, explore campus, and get to

know more of their peers.

After a busy afternoon of working with faculty, students will return to their residence hall for a

special evening program. At Syracuse University, they have a program called the First-Generation Story

Project. Ward, et.al. (2012) says that the Story Program gives first-generation students “a chance to reflect

on their college experiences and to tell their story to other students” (p. 61). These stories can be told

through a variety of mediums such as videos or online articles. At Crest University, we are going to use

our living-learning communities to our advantage by having all of the first-generation students gather in

the common room to hear their mentors share their stories of success and failure. Once all of the mentors

have shared their stories, they will open up the floor to let the new cohort of students share their stories or

just talk about what scares them about starting college. This program has two benefits to it. First, the new

cohort of students get the chance to learn from more experienced students and what they should do to be

successful in college despite their challenges. The second goal is even more important to our institution as

it starts the process of building a cohesive community. When you bring people together to share their
vulnerabilities in a safe space, they start to form inseparable bonds. By making these valuable bonds,

these first-generation students will use their living-learning community as a support system and a way to

make lifelong friends. All of these efforts will make people feel like they belong and have a group that

they can go to for support.

The last day of the pre-orientation program coincides with the move-in day for the rest of the

freshmen class. Due to this, we only have a half day of programming for our first-generation college

students. To end our programming, we are going to look towards the future for these great students. At

DePaul University, they run a six-week career development program for first-generation students that

“engage in guided self-exploration exercises. The activities involved have been selected to help

participants identify the unique combination of personality preferences, values, skills, interests, and

family influences that define their identity and form the foundation on which sound academic and career

choices can be made” (Ward, et.al, 2012, p. 42). Throughout our pre-orientation program, we have been

making strides to make these students feel comfortable on campus and address the unique challenges that

first-generation students face. We are going to take this six-week program and condense it down into a

morning program for our students. Not only does this introduce these students to the career services

office, but it gets these students to start thinking about their futures and how they can use their resources

on campus to get there. It can be a great way to motivate students to finish their degree and be successful

during their four years at Crest University.

Assessing the Program

Once the first-generation students join their peers for the rest of the University’s orientation

program, it is time for us as administrators to assess our programming. There are a couple of different

ways that we can measure the success of our pre-orientation program. The first thing that we can do is

measure how many of these first-generation students make it to the spring semester of their freshman year

as well as how many years they stay at Crest University. On top of that, we can measure what percentage

of students graduate from the University. As important as the quantitative data is, it is just as important to

look at the qualitative data. After the students finish their orientation experience, we are going to send out
a survey that gets their perspective on how helpful the programming was and see what they would have

liked to learn during this three day pre-orientation program. We will use this valuable information to our

advantage to make our pre-orientation programs even better going forward as this is going to be our first

attempt at a program like this. As Prof. Saud (2020) said in a class lecture, higher education professionals

need to go beyond the survey results to get even more information about the effectiveness of this

program. To address this point, we are going to select a diverse group of students to interview during the

fall semester. By doing this, we can see what they thought of the pre-orientation program. On top of that,

we can use these interviews as an opportunity to see how they are doing academically, see what they are

engaging in on campus, and see what else we can do to support these students even further.

Conclusion

Throughout this paper, we have looked at the unique challenges that first-generation college

students face as they complete their undergraduate degree. These challenges are caused by the fact that

they lack the key social and cultural capital that their more affluent peers bring to college. These first-

generation students struggle to understand key elements of college life such as finances, being on a

campus of privilege, the difference between the academic rigor between high school and college, how to

talk to college professors, and get used to living on campus. The root of this problem is that they don’t

have anyone in their life who can give them the guidance that they need to understand these key factors.

Due to these difficulties, these students have a harder time transitioning into college. Crest University's

pre-orientation program is designed to help ease that transition. We start off by having the admission

staff, who have a better knowledge of these students’ profiles, hand them off to the students affairs

professionals in a seamless manner and makes the students feel comfortable in their new environment.

From there, we have three days of intentional programming that addresses academic and social concerns

by having first-generation student mentors, fostering relationships with faculty and staff, creating lifelong

bonds through our living-learning communities, and helping them define their career goals. We hope that

all of these efforts will make them feel like they belong on campus and earn that coveted degree.
 As important as the pre-orientation program can be to the persistence of first-generation college

students, Crest University’s efforts can not stop after the last day of orientation. At the end of his book,

Tony Jack (2019) cites a student who said that she still felt “uneasy” on campus even during her senior

year. This shows that intentional programming and intervention needs to continue well-beyond their

freshman orientation and their year in the living-learning community with their peers. There are still

challenges that come up throughout their four years and colleges need to be prepared to address these

challenges so that these students can graduate and have success in the world.
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