The Collegiate Experience of First-Generation Students

Ricardo Valladares

Department of Counseling and Higher Education, Northern Illinois University

HESA 509: Campus Environments and Student Cultures

Quortne R. Hutchings Ph.D

December 10th, 2021

 The Collegiate Experience of First-Generation Students

The opportunity to attend a higher education institution is a dream and goal many desire

to achieve. To be able to attend and complete a postsecondary education will not only provide

those students the opportunity to learn more about a field of interest, but to also gain leadership

skills and qualify for better paying jobs. At these institutions, many students of different

backgrounds and identities come together and learn. From each institution’s student body, there

are subcultures that go through different successes and challenges throughout their experience.

One subculture that has gained more focus from higher education institutions within the

last couple of years is that of First-Generation students. This paper will first describe what

students may identify as a first-generation student in the perspective of a higher education

institution. I will then highlight the history of first-generation students in relationship to higher

education by emphasizing on social, legal, and political conditions that have impacted first-

generation student enrollment. The experiences of first-generation students within a campus

environment are a critical aspect of this paper, as well as my implications regarding the topic. I

will finally conclude with some recommendations and how I will use my gained knowledge soon

to support first-generation students as a full-time professional staff in higher education.

Who Are First-Generation Students?

Many higher education institutions are seeking to enroll first-generation students into

their institutions but for most people not familiar with this group, may be wondering who falls

within it? The Center for First-Generation Student Success (n.d.), an initiative created by

NASPA (the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) and the Suder

Foundation, stated that there may be different definitions to the term “first-generation students”

but the mostly widely known definition is for a student whose parents did not complete any form
of higher education. Each institution may have different definitions to the term “first-generation

student” and depending on certain aspects, may still be identified as part of the group. The

Center for First-Generation Student Success (n.d) highlights that even if the student’s parents

attended a higher education institution but did not complete a program, parents having received a

degree from an international institution, or having non-direct family members attend & received

a degree at a higher education institution, may still be identified as a first-generation student.

Overall, being a “first-generation student” is not only applied to one particular race, ethnicity,

gender, sexuality, or identity as many students can identify as one if meeting the criteria and

defined by their respective institution.

First-Generation Students in Relationship to Higher Education

As a first-generation student, I would always hear from my direct and extended family

about them not being able to attend and complete a degree at a higher education institution. As a

result, I would receive words of encouragement to do my best in school, go to college, and be

financially prepared compared to them by having a good paying job. At first, I didn’t quite

understand why my family would be saying all this, especially why they didn’t have the chance

to receive a postsecondary education. As I got older and began to learn more about higher

education, I became aware of social, legal, and political conditions that may impact a student’s

eligibility to enroll and continue their education.

Social Conditions

As students, a lot of the work we put in will help us be successful in our education but

there are other factors that also dictate our success. As first-generation students, there are two

challenges that they may face throughout their experience, those being the lack of support and

lack of knowledge & experience.

 Lack of Support

For many students, the lack of support can be a huge factor that may impact the student’s

success. One major source of support for students can come directly from their parents. Mitchall

and Jaeger (2018) determined that motivation was enhanced when their parents were involved

during their experience, provided encouragement, and set expectations from the start. On the

other hand, parents who did not show support and provided feedback to their student would

result in low motivation from the student. Another factor similar to the lack of support from

parents would be the guilt of leaving home. Moreno (2021) highlights some of the thoughts that

first-generation students go through when leaving for school. Moreno states that negative

influence of guilt was especially hard whenever they missed their family, felt an obligation to

support their family, or care for family members if ill or babysitting siblings. Students with these

thoughts even felt like they were betraying their loved ones and were being selfish.

Lack of Knowledge & Experience

When looking into information about colleges, their respective applications, and any

other details, the student needs to have access to this information to ensure proper enrollment.

But what if the student doesn’t have the resources to do so? Cataldi et al. (2018) states that “first-

generation students enroll in postsecondary education at lower rates than their continuing-

generation peers do” (pg. 8). Parents are usually the first point of contact for any advice that the

student may be looking for and if the parent is lacking the knowledge around higher education,

the student may not be directed to the appropriate resources for a successful enrollment.

In the case that a student does have the available resources provided by their school for

example, parents still wouldn’t know what to do with the information provided to them. Tieken

(2020) explains in depth the perspective of rural parents and their students applying for a
postsecondary education. During the application process, most rural parents do not fully

understand all the details that come with applying and attending a higher education due to the

lack of experience. Even if the parents were explained all the details, they still wouldn’t know

how to best support their children aside of letting them do whatever the student thought was best.

Legal Conditions

There are different legal aspects when it comes to first-generation students enrolling into

a postsecondary education, one of the most notable being the financing. Tym et al. (2004)

focuses on the different demographic characteristics that first-generation students hold, primarily

consisting of lower income & working-class students and families. “42 percent of those who

were dependent were from the lowest family income quartile (making less than $25,000/year)”

(Tym et al., 2004, pg 6). Families want to take the necessary steps to ensure their students finish

their postsecondary education but may not have all the resources available to do so right away.

Lombardi et al. (2012) was able to determine that one of the lead factors for first-generation

students not being able to complete their postsecondary education is financial stress. Due to the

lack of resources or knowledge on financial assistance, many students relied on working

part/full-time or applying for private loans.

Political Conditions

Lawmakers and policies dictate hugely on the enrollment of first-generation students. Not

only are we talking about the available funding that will be distributed through financial aid

packages, but the possibility to even apply & enroll is impacted by their decision. This decision

mostly impacts immigrant students as one of the programs that has been in the risk of being

removed is DACA. Rogers (2020) defines DACA as “the government program that provides

protection to Americans who immigrated without proper documentation into the United States as
children and now are eligible for work authorization and access to higher education” (pg. 3). The

DACA program provided students with the security and possibility to pursue a postsecondary

education but with the 2016 election of now former U.S President, Donald Trump,

DACAmented students (students enrolled in the DACA program) were at risk. Rogers (2020)

tells the story of a DACAmented student that experienced anxiety and distress when hearing the

news of the DACA program being at risk, fearing for their own safety.

First-Generation Experiences with Campus Environments

Throughout the collegiate experience, there are many things that may impact a first-

generation student’s experience within the campus environment. For this section, I will highlight

some key points from a conversation I had with some of my closest friends who are also first-

generation students and additional key takeaways.

Line Brothers

I am a firm believer in the universe doing its magic and bringing people together. In my

case, some of my closest friends are some of my fraternity brothers that joined the same semester

as me. We had all joined the fraternity as first-semester freshman at the University of Illinois at

Chicago (UIC). As first-generation students, we each came into the institution with different

knowledge and experiences under our belt such as:

- Davin coming from a heavily catholic-oriented family with older brothers who have

graduated from college before him.

- Gabriel lived his entire life in Puerto Rico and decided to give higher education in the

U.S. a chance, knowing he would be the first one in his family to have ever attended and

being far away from home.

 - Carlos being the second member of his family to attend higher education (his older sister

attending at the same time) but having commuted back and forth in CTA.

- Ricky (myself) being the oldest son of two to attend higher education, having cousins

attend/graduate from college from his mom’s side but being the first one in his dad’s side

of the family to ever attend.

After not seeing each other since the pandemic started in 2020, we haven’t had the

chance to catch up as a group and reflect on our experiences. There was one day we all attended

a fraternity event and had the chance to reflect on some key points from our experiences.

Adjusting to College Life

At first, being able to adjust to college was very challenging near the beginning. For

Gabriel and I who lived in the residence hall and didn’t know anyone else on campus, it was

quite lonely and difficult adjusting at first. Even for someone like Carlos who commuted back

and forth from home, it was quite challenging even to connect with others at UIC. This was the

case for Carlos as he had to ensure he had enough to get on the train back home and arrive at a

safe time. Now when it came to Davin, who had older brothers that graduated college before him

attending UIC, received the best input on how to best tackle his first year, making those

connections with folks, and finding ways to get involved in organizations. For most of us, we

didn’t have the necessary knowledge and tools to adjust right away. Unlike Davin, he was given

advice by his direct family on how to best adjust to college right away.

Microaggressions

Though not experienced by my entire friend group, many times first-generation students

experience different forms of microaggressions in different settings at higher education

institutions. Microaggressions is defined at “everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environ-mental

slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional” (Lee & Harris, 2020). Many first-

generation students, especially those considered minority students, experience different levels of

microaggressions in and outside of the classroom setting. Though sometimes considered as

“jokes” it may result in those students feeling negatively and impacting their motivation (Lee &

Harris, 2020). For Gabriel, having lived his entire life in Puerto Rico and coming to the U.S. to

pursue higher education, had mixed emotions on some of the things brought up to him. Many

times, he would be asked about his experience living in Puerto Rico and people being interested

in culture. While on the other hand, there were times where people would make comments about

the way he speaks and his culture just being too different. Many times, he would try to brush

those comments off as he knows those people don’t appreciate his culture like he does but

sometimes they do hit a nerve or two that make him uncomfortable. This can be a common

experience for first-generations students, especially for those in minority groups. Some may be

able to brush off those comments that may seem light-hearted, but continuously repeating such

comments can negative impact the students (Lee & Harris, 2020).

Finding A Home Away from Home

Being part of a new environment can be intimidating at first if one doesn’t really know

what is available for the students. In the case of my friend group, we were trying to find our

home away from home, allowing us to connect with others that not only shared similar

experiences to us, but encouraged to do better. Lee & Harris (2020) state that students typically

attempt to joining communities, social events, or other meetings where they can connect with

others like themselves and feel welcomed. For my line brothers and I, our fraternity and a

department on campus called LARES helped us thrive the most during our undergraduate

experience. For our fraternity, we were able to gain leadership skills that we gained from our
individual chapter roles, regional roles, and attending national leadership conferences. For the

LARES department (the Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services) provided us

with the necessary tools to prepare us for course registration, studying skills/tutoring, career

development through cover letter & resume preparations.

Implications

The goal for many higher education institutions is to enroll and support their diverse

student body through academia, social, and leadership skills. But as these institutions attempt to

increase student enrollment of first-generation students, there seems to be a trend where students

are made to fend for themselves after a certain amount of time at an institution. Even from my

personal experience through my undergraduate and graduate program, I’ve felt like higher

education institutions develop departments that will essentially become responsible for certain

groups of students and will hold them responsible for anything related to that group, whether it is

support or following up.

Recommendations For Higher Education and Student Affairs-Practitioners

Higher education and student affairs practitioners have the capability to help first-

generation students to be successful. To do so, there needs to be continuous support throughout

the collegiate experience and provide opportunities for first-generation students to also be a part

of the change.

Counterstructures

The term “first-generation students” is an umbrella term as students of different

backgrounds can identify as such. Even within the term of “first-generation students” there is a

subgroup that needs some guidance and that is the low-income and working-class students. This

group of students isn’t always given the necessary attention and resources as needed. Lee &
Harris (2020) first explain that most institutions focus on counterspaces in which it is defined as

“settings that promote positive self-concepts among marginalized individuals… through the

challenging of deficit-oriented dominant cultural narratives and representations concerning these

individuals” (pg.1136). What Lee & Harris are saying is that most of the services provided at a

higher education institution mostly focus on providing based off the experiences of middle and

upper-class students. As a result, Lee & Harris focus on “counterstructures” which is the

development of LIFGWC-affirming services. Instead of not being able to assist these students

due to a lack familiarity or knowledge of the group, institutions must provide necessary training

and advocacy for the LIFGWC students.

“Lifting While We Climb”

Part of the learning experience is that you learn as you go and that ends up being the case

for first-generation students. Luedke (2020) highlights the experience of first-generation students

of color learning how to navigate through their collegiate experience. As the students learn more

skills to be successful while in school, many of them want to help other incoming students

through their high schools. Some of the things these students do are hosting workshops for first-

generation students, providing general advice to students applying to schools, and explaining in

more depth financial assistance. The way higher education institutions can assist with this is by

encouraging and providing these students the opportunities to help. This can be provided through

departmental assistance & advising of those students or providing these students the necessary

tools to provide accurate information.

Personal Reflection & Application

Being a first-generation student can be one of the most challenging experiences a student

has to go through. Many times, students must find available resources to be able to apply and
continue with their postsecondary education by themselves as they may not have the support and

knowledge from their direct family. As a first-generation student myself, the adjustment process

can be quite lonely when you don’t have anyone else to talk about your experiences with or

someone to guide you. From the moment a student decides to apply to a higher education

institution, these students may experience a lack of knowledge for application processes, looking

for financial assistance, or even have the possibility to ask questions to a knowledgeable source.

After reflecting on my experience as a first-generations student and learning more about

the experience of others, I have ideas I would like to implement soon. As I soon graduate with

my master’s in higher education student affairs, there are two pathways I wish to follow at a

university. The first one being able to work at an institution’s orientation department. My first

interaction with student affairs was through the orientation department as it sparked that fire in

me to want to work with introducing a college to incoming students and parents. The way I

would use this knowledge in the future is by demonstrating counterstructures through our

programs. As discussed earlier, counterspaces mostly consider experiences for middle- and

upper-class students but not really considering the lower-income, first-generation, working-class

students. By incorporating more of a counterstructure approach, I would ensure training to my

staff (orientation leaders and professional staff) about how to best serve all students. This could

also be demonstrated through programs for guests with a larger language-barrier community in

the institution such as Spanish for example.

The second role I would like to consider is within advising. As an advisor either at a

community college, university, or even high school, I want to ensure that the student receives the

appropriate information and resources needed to be successful. Sometimes it can be approached

by having those “tough” conversations. I say tough on behalf of the student because as first-
generation students, they may not know what to ask, or especially who to ask it to. Especially for

those first-generation students that have no knowledge or experience coming from their direct

families, by allowing myself to be present and guiding the student based off their own needs may

come a long way.

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