Teaching First-Generation College Students

What does it mean to be first?

“Even when presenting academic credentials and a level of academic motivation equal to that of their peers whose parents graduated from college, first-generation students are at a somewhat greater risk of being academically, socially, and economically left behind.” Pascarella, et al., 2004: 276.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latino and third ever woman to hold that position, graduated first in her class at Cardinal Spellman High School in the Northeast Bronx. Her path to class valedictorian was hardly a certain one. A child of Puerto Rican immigrants, Justice Sotomayor grew up in the New York City projects known as the Bronxdale Houses. She was diagnosed with Type I diabetes as a young girl. Having overcome all of these odds to beat out her peers for the number one spot at “a school for high achievers,” why was she warned that she’d need to bolster herself to make it through college (Stolberg, 2009: A1)? Yet, this is precisely what happened to Justice Sotomayor. A neighborhood friend who had gone to Princeton one year ahead of the young judge, Kenneth K. Moy, remembers telling her, “I don’t want you to come here with any illusions. Social isolation is going to be a part of your experience, and you have to have the strength of character to get through it intact” (qtd. in Stolberg, 2009: A1). While Sotomayor did make it through intact, Mr. Moy was right to warn his friend. Not only did this young woman from The Bronx face racial and sexual barriers to access at Princeton—when she entered in the fall of 1972, Latinos on campus numbered in the double digits and the school’s first female students had entered only three years earlier, in 1969—she also had to confront barriers because she was the first in her family to attend college (Stolberg, 2009: A1).

Justice Sotomayor is a first-generation college student, a group that includes such famous figures as Senator Elizabeth Warren, First Lady Michelle Obama, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and Ruth Simmons, 18^th president of Brown University. Estimates suggest that first-generation students comprise between 15% and 40% of all college students in the United States (Davis, 2010; Nuñez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998).

What exactly defines the term “first-generation student” varies somewhat. The definition used most frequently—and that of this guide—defines students as “first-generation” when neither parent has completed a four-year college degree (Davis, 2010). These students, research shows, struggle to succeed in college when compared to students whose parents attended college, so-called “continuing-generation students.” Sticking points include longer time to degree completion (Chen & Carroll, 2005), lower family incomes (Lohfink & Paulsen, 2005), and higher dropout rates among first-generation students (Engle & Tinto, 2008). Of course, many first-generation students, like Justice Sotomayor, will succeed at college.

Even matriculating to a four-year institution as a first-generation student is no easy feat in light of the many financial, emotional, and academic obstacles set against them. In other words, the first-generation students we encounter in our classrooms have already overcome great barriers, and they deserve respect for their tenacity and perseverance. Despite these positive characteristics, discrepancies persist in the academic achievement and overall college experience of first-generation students as compared to continuing-generation students. Unfortunately for the college educator, many of the obstacles faced by first-generation students have already been established before they ever set foot on campus. Factors such as income, pre-college educational resources, and guidance in the college selection process cannot be altered through our teaching. This is not to say, however, that there are no ways we can facilitate the successes of first-generation students on campus. Many of the necessary interventions will be undertaken at the institutional and administrative levels.

What can we do in our teaching to support institutional efforts? This guide answers this question by offering evidenced-based high-impact teaching practices. Best of all, the majority of these high-impact practices will benefit all students in your classroom. It turns out that this is a case where a rising tide can indeed lift all boats.

This guide is organized according to the trajectory of a first-generation student through process of college. Following this introduction, we offer data on first-generation students before they enter college, followed by a section about the college experience for first-generation students. From there, we describe a number of high-impact teaching and learning strategies that can be employed to facilitate the success of first-generation students in the classroom. Lastly, we provide a conclusion with a number of resources for educators, administrators, and first-generation students themselves. Each section has its own purpose in the context of this teaching guide, but they can, nevertheless, be read out of order.

• What does it mean to be first?
• Before College: Aspiration and achievement deficits
• At College: Struggles with isolation and invisibility
• In the Classroom: Make expectations visible and respect difference
• Conclusions
• References

Before College: Aspiration and achievement deficits

As we have already pointed out, many of the obstacles that first-generation students face have been set in place long before the first day of classes. Indeed, college attendance itself represents a significant milestone for first-generation students. According to the data 2012 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, the proportion of Americans with a college degree—around 40%—hovers just slightly higher than the proportion of the current college population that is first-generation—roughly 32% (Georgetown University Center on Education, 2012). That’s a lot of first-generation college students!

Data from a comprehensive survey by researchers at the UCLA Higher Education Research Institution (HERI) show college attendance and degree attainment are highly correlated with parental education (Saenz et al., 2007: 8). Students whose parents have not completed more than a high school education are much less likely to attend or graduate college than their peers with college-educated parents (Pascarella et al., 2004; Astin & Oseguera, 2005). The difficulty to be the first person in your family to earn a college degree represents a solidification of the current social system. First-generation students are disproportionately likely to be low-income, female, Hispanic, and African-American (Terenzini et al., 1996).

Many are the challenges faced by first-generation students. First and foremost, first-generation lack the critical cultural capital that their continuing-generation peers have been soaking up their entire lives (Davis, 2010). The “culture of college,” to borrow Davis’ turn of phrase, comprises “the insider knowledge, the special language, and the subtle verbal and nonverbal signs that, after one has mastered them, make one a member of any in-group, community, or subculture” (Davis, 2010: 29). Or, in the words of journalist Laura Pappano, “the bright children of janitors and nail salon workers, bus drivers and fast-food cooks may not have grown up with the edifying vacations, museum excursions, daily doses of NPR and prep schools that groom Ivy applicants” (Pappano, 2015). Making the transition to college—always a fraught experience—is a particular difficult process of first-generation students. Other significant characteristics of first-generation students include:

Financial concerns: Lohfink and Paulsen (2005) point out that first-generation students are disproportionately low-income (418). Lack of access to financial capital and lack of information about financial aid negatively affect students’ college persistence rates and overall college experiences. Indeed, researchers observe that first-generation students with “higher incomes were significantly more likely to persist than those with lower incomes” (Lohfink & Paulsen, 2005: 418). In one study, researchers showed that first-generation students who are also low-income dropped out of college at a rate four times their non-low-income, non-first-generation peers (Engle & Tinto, 2008). What is more, first-generation students more regularly assume financial responsibility for their education (Aspelmeier, 2012: 774).

Motivations for attending college: First-generation students often attend and persist in college for different reasons than their continuing-generation peers (Saenz et al., 2007). These students are more likely to attend college in order to help their parents, bring honor to their family, and gain personal respect (Bui, 2002). Moreover, first-generation students more commonly internalize their educational attainment (Aspelmeier, 2012). This internalization places students at increased risk for experiencing “stereotype threat” (Steele & Aronson, 1995) and “impostor syndrome” (Claude & Imes, 1978; Ewing et al., 1996).

Levels of Parental Engagement: Upon making the decision to attend college, first-generation students may feel disconnected or misunderstood by their families and communities (Davis, 2010: 192). These students commonly report feeling they are being disloyal to their parents and peers (Inman & Mayes, 1999). Differences between the goals and life paths of parents and first-generation students is “likely to cause dissonance,” according to Somers et al. (2004: 429). This dissonance has been termed called, alternatively, “survivor guilt” (Somer et al., 2004: 431) and “breakaway guilt” (London, 1989: 153) by researchers. Regardless of the term used, feeling unsupported has consequences on the educational attainment of first-generation students. Parental involvement in education has been shown to improve students’ educational aspirations and reduce the shock of transitioning to college (McCarron & Inkelas, 2006).

Sources of knowledge about college: The transition to college may be especially difficult for first-generation students because of the foreignness of the experience among their social networks. Davis (2010) reports that first-generation students are likely to limit themselves to “one or two sources of information” about college culture (30). As a result, integrating into this new culture is a much more fraught experience. First-generation students must learn not only the content of their classes but the social rules and roles of academia. Even the vocabulary of college—words like “registrar,” “bursar,” and “GPA”—may be completely unfamiliar to these students.

Educational differences: First-generation students are more likely than their continuing-education peers to attend lower performing schools and take less challenging courses while in high school (Harrell & Forney, 2003; Martinez, et al., 2009; Pascarella et al., 2004). Taking less rigorous courses in high school may be at least partially to explain for first-generation students’ weaker cognitive skills in reading comprehension, math, and critical thinking (Terenzini et al., 1996). K-12 educational experiences have a large effect on college academic performance and psychological health (Tinto, 1993). During the first year of college, first-generation students report markedly lower GPAs than continuing-generation students (Warburton et al., 2001: 38).

The characteristics of first-generation students, of course, do not exist in a social vacuum. The first-generation label exists in conjunction with other social differences— race, ethnicity, religion, dis/ability, nationality, citizenship, gender, and sexual orientation, for example—and these differences must also be considered along with students’ first-generation label. An intersectional lens can help educators account for the unstable, combinatory nature of difference.

“Intersectionality” refers to the overlapping nature of social differences in the creation of unique social identities (Crenshaw, 1989). In its simplest form, it is the understanding that race, class, gender, and sexuality always exist in relation to one another. To be a black woman, then, is not the same as being black, or as being a woman, but rather it is a specific embodiment. This term, popular in the social sciences and humanities, is a valuable analytic to understand student experience. For more information on intersectionality in teaching and learning, see the Vanderbilt Guide to Feminist Pedagogy. To read Crenshaw’s original paper outlining intersectionality, click here. For more on teaching and difference, see the following guides from the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching: Disability, Stress, and Feminist Pedagogy.

This is all to say that, the following picture of first-generation students is extrapolated from existing data, but, significantly, it does not apply to every situation or student. Differences that make students unique must be accounted for.

In demographic terms, though, there are useful data for us to consider on race, class, and gender. While the portion of first-generation students, relative to all students, has diminished since 1971—a fact attributable, in part, to greater educational attainment in the United States overall—the demographic composition of this group has also shifted (Saenz et al., 2007). Since 1971, the first-generation student population has skewed increasingly toward women and Hispanic. This shift should gives us pause because it represents decreasing access to higher education among certain populations. The decline in black first-generation students, for instance, “is faster than the relative proportion of African American adults without a college education” (Saenz et al., 2007: 13). This discrepancy should motivate us, as educators, to comprehend the pervasive social consequences of college attainment and universalize the experience for all who seek it.

At College: Struggles with isolation and invisibility

Academically, first-generation students perform poorly compared to their continuing-generation peers. Not only do first-generation students have lower overall college attainment rates (Billson & Terry, 1982), but those who do complete their undergraduate degrees take significantly longer than non-first-generation students (Terenzini et al., 1996). While in college, first-generation students report lower GPAs than continuing-generation students (Warburton et al., 2001).

In a 1995 study, average freshman GPA was 2.7 for all students but only 2.4 for first-generation students (Warburton et al., 2001).

They are both more likely to be enrolled in remedial classes (Chen & Carroll, 2005; Horn & Bobbitt, 2000) and less likely to be enrolled in college honors programs (Pascarella et al., 2004: 251). Unfortunately, a need for remediation is significantly linked to dropping out of college (Pulley, 2008).

A deficit of rigorous high school coursework often leaves first-generation students unprepared for the learning practices that facilitate success at college, such as effective studying, peer collaboration, and efficient note taking. When combined with the general invisibility of study skills in college classrooms (Wingate, 2006), the newfound rigor of college coursework places first-generation students at a disadvantage compared to other students. Research shows that first-generation students study fewer hours than other students (Terenzini et al., 1996: 10). What is more, this studying is often less effective because first-generation students “need to be introduced directly to the methods and procedures of efficient study” (Davis, 2010: 41). For example, Treisman (1992) found that almost 90% of first-generation students studied only by themselves for a college calculus, a sharp contrast from other students, who were much more likely to combine studying alone with studying in peer groups.

The distinct academic lives of first-generation and continuing-generation students is partially attributable to the different courses and majors first-generation students are likely to choose. Perhaps because, as we have seen, first-generation students are more likely to attend college to get ahead financially and help their families, they are more likely to choose vocational or vocationally-oriented programs. For instance, first-generation students are more likely to major in business or a technical field than other students. Conversely, they are less likely to choose a major in the humanities, fine arts, and sciences (Terenzini et al., 1996; Chen & Carroll, 2005). Without the informed advice of parents or other college-educated adults, first-generation students often struggle to choose courses that are appropriate for their academic level and correspond to their motivations for pursuing a college degree. These students may not find the advising they need on campus, either. Academic advisors are not always trained on the differences between first-generation and continuing-generation students and thus often fail to meet the needs of the former (Kocel, 2008; Payne, 2007). That first-generation students take significantly longer to choose a major—an early indicator of college attrition—is evidence of their poorly met advising needs.

In the classroom, first-generation students demonstrate several notable characteristics that may alter their experience in the classroom and negatively impact overall learning. First-generation students often hold back in classroom discussions, unsure of the rules of the classroom space or unfamiliar with the practice of academic discussion (Rendón, 1995). When it comes to academic aspirations and achievement generally, first-generation students report anxiety more frequently and more acutely than other students (Martinez et al., 2009; Terenzini et al., 1996). Researchers, including Davis (2010) and Peetet, Montgomery, and Weekes (2015), attribute this anxiety to the imposter syndrome and the stereotype threat phenomenon. Feelings of anxiety intensify the isolation of first-generation students in the classroom. Not only are they less likely to speak out in class than other students, but first-generation students are also much less likely to report positive interactions with faculty. Indeed, first-generation students have fewer interactions with faculty either in or outside of class when compared to continuing-generation students, even when controlling for other social factors like race and gender (Kim & Sax, 2009). Regardless of parental educational attainment, “positive and close interactions between undergraduates and their professors” positively affects student GPA, as well as personal growth and enjoyment of learning (Kim & Sax, 2009: 437). Thus, the distress and isolation of first-generation students further hampers a successful college experience.

Unfortunately, impostor syndrome and stereotype threat hinder first-generation students beyond the classroom, as well. As Mr. Moy told Justice Sotomayor before she entered Princeton, “social isolation is going to be part of your experience” as a first-generation student. The data support Mr. Moy on this point. When asked to reflect on their college experience, first-generation students report feeling less confident and isolated at higher rates than continuing-generation students (Davis, 2010). Indeed, first-generation students are more likely to “suffer from depression and other emotional problems” (Davis, 2010: 199). Compared to the average student, first-generation students participate in fewer extracurricular activities, credit-bearing or unpaid internships, and networking opportunities (Glenn, 2004; Moschetti & Hudley, 2008). Several groups of researchers have pointed out how common it is for first-generation students to feel socially and emotionally marginalized (Francis & Miller, 2008; Bui, 2002; Lundberg, et al., 2007). Considering that these students are also more likely to live off campus (Davis, 2010: 193), work more hours in a job outside of school (Saenz et al., 2007), and have dependent children (Terenzini et al., 1996), college can be a very lonely moment in the lives of first-generation students.

In the Classroom: Make expectations visible and respect difference

How does all of this research about first-generation students translate into classroom principles and practices? Unfortunately, little research exists about the most effective strategies for enhancing the learning outcomes of first-generation students. At least partially, this dearth in the research literature should be understood as an effect of the complexities of collecting reliable data from the patchwork quilt of classrooms that make up higher education. Differences between institutions (4-year vs. 2-year; public vs. private; large vs. small) and disciplines, along with demographic variation at the campus and classroom levels, make it difficult to issue generalized recommendations on how to improve academic achievement and increase learning among first-generation students. Lastly, as mentioned in the introduction to this guide, interventions for first-generation students at the institutional level may yield the most significant positive results, given that students will take many courses from many different instructors during their path to an undergraduate degree.

This is not to say, however, that classroom instructors are powerless in the effort to help first-generation students be successful. The following list comprises the most impactful recommendations for teaching first-generation college students.

Conclusions

In Investment in Learning (1977), former president of Grinnell College and the University of Iowa Howard Bowen argues that society must vigorously support higher education. A college degree is an investment whose benefits exceed the individual degree holder to disperse throughout society. This simple idea—college completion benefits the individual and the community—is central to the missions of many institutions of higher education. It should give us pause, then, that first-generation students attain college degrees at lower rates and with more difficulties than continuing-generation students. Although our nation has more college students than ever, the majority of these college degrees go to students from higher income brackets. Between 1970 and 2013, the percentage of students earning a degree from the top quarter of household income increased from 40 to 77%; among the lowest quarter of household income that same rate rose from 6% to 9% (Pell Institute, 2015). What happened to the social mission of higher education?

The findings of this teaching guide can be summarized as follows. First-generation students learn differently from other students. Before college starts, they are likely to have missed out on many opportunities that facilitate attainment of a college degree, including completion of rigorous coursework, development of study skills, and accumulating cultural capital. Once at college, first-generation students are likely to experience isolation from their peers and faculty. Classroom instructors can foster first-generation student success by addressing the unique obstacles facing first-generation students.

The composition of this guide relied heavily upon the report of UCLA Higher Education Research Institute First In My Family: A Profile of First-Generation College Students at Four-Year Institutions Since 1971 (Saenz et al., 2007) and Jeff Davis’ The First-Generation Student Experience: Implications for Campus Practice, and Strategies for Improving Persistence and Success (2010). These texts are invaluable resources for educators and administrators seeking to learn more about first-generation students, along with any of the texts cited in the references section of this guide.

Several advocacy and research organizations exist for first-generation students. FirstGenerationCollegeBound and I’mFirst! both offer plentiful resources for first-generation students, and their parents and advisers.

This guide focuses on teaching first-generation undergraduate students. For information on first-generation graduate students, the InsideHigherEd articles “Graduate Study for First-Generation Students,” by Jess Waggoner (2013) and “From First-Gen College Student to First-Gen Grad Student,” by Alicia Peaker and Katie Shives (2013) serve as useful departure points.

Lastly, in following the recommendations offered here within, the author of this guide, Ben Galina, would like to come out as a first-generation student.

References

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