Three Statistics to Know About First-Generation College Students

What if the key to enriching our educational system lies in a group that's often overlooked? Discover why first-generation college students are crucial to the lifeblood of higher education in my latest solo episode. I'll take you through three compelling data points that highlight the massive presence of first-gen students in U.S. colleges—over half of undergraduates! Yet, these students face a staggering gap in graduation rates compared to their peers, raising critical questions about institutional support and retention.

Join me as I unpack my philosophy: once a student is admitted, it's our duty to ensure their success. As we look ahead to demographic shifts, understanding and supporting first-gen students becomes not only a moral imperative but a strategic advantage for enriching the entire educational community. 

Please help others find this podcast by rating and reviewing wherever you listen!

You can find me at https://www.firstgenfm.com/ and on LinkedIn. My email is jen@firstgenfm.com.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to the First Gen FM podcast. I'm Jen Jennifer Schoen and I'm here to share ideas from around the country from myself, from other people, about what we're doing in the first generation space for first generation college students. Thank you for joining me today and subscribing to the First Gen FM podcast. Hi, it's Jen here and I'm going to do a solo episode today. That is going to be very brief. What I wanted to do is just to give you, just to share with you, a few data points about why our work is so important, who's in the college now, what's coming up next and why first-gen students are really important to the lifeblood of our institutions and important for us to pay attention to. Probably, if you're listening to this, you already know this, but I think this is very good information for us to have when we're talking to upper-level administrators or to anyone who's curious or wants more information on first generation students. First, the good news More than half of the undergraduates in the United States, about 5 million students, are considered first generation. That is a huge number, more than half and five million. The question is they're getting to college, they're getting that access more than they ever have, but what are we doing to retain them and sadly, there is some bad news on that side. Graduation rates for first gen students depending on what you read and depending on how the authors or the researchers are defining first gen can be anywhere from 24% to 48%. The reason is that first generation students are nearly 30% less likely to graduate than their continuing generation peers. Now, I know that there are many reasons for that, and probably a big reason is that institutions are not giving them the support that they need. They're getting accepted to colleges, they're getting that access, but how are we helping them attain their degree? What programs, what people do we have in place to increase that graduation rate?

Speaker 1: 2:28

It is my philosophy, and it has been my philosophy in my 35 plus years of working in higher education, that if we admit a student as an institution, if I admit a student to my scholarship program at Northeastern University, then my job is to do everything I can to help them graduate. So, whether that's looking at policies that are in place that are affecting them and placing unnecessary obstacles in their way to graduation, or whether that's something that maybe we're doing in our selection process that is a detriment to first-generation students, my job, then, is to help, to talk to the folks that I'm working with and find the people to get rid of some of those barriers, find out what ways we can support what resources, what people can be in place or can be trained to specifically work with first-generation students Not necessarily to increase people at the institution, but so that everyone knows first-generation students are unique and special and wonderful and if we give them some assistance where they need it, then later on we'll be able to just kind of get out of their way and watch them blossom. So again, my philosophy is, if we accept them, we certainly need to do everything we can individually as an institution to help those students succeed and reach that milestone of graduation. So the good news is that more than half of our undergraduates are first gen is that the number of first generation students entering college is only projected to grow over the next decade. And considering we always talk about the demographic cliff that's coming with the number of students who are graduating high school and getting ready to go on to college, then this is a group that we really need to consider in how we're doing recruitment.

Speaker 1: 4:33

But again, getting them to the institution is one thing, getting them to succeed and get their degree at the institution is another thing. So, asking admissions, how are you finding first-generation students? And hopefully not just the ones everyone is going for, those high-achieving first-generation students or the first-generation students who are also from high incomes who can afford to pay the full ride to college, but that we're also looking at first-generation students from all economic backgrounds. This group is going to grow, so not only do we want them to come to our universities and add their unique and wonderful way of going through college, we want these students to come to our college because having first-generation students on a college campus makes the college campus that much better and adds to the diversity of the institution. Now, I'm saying that right now, coming from a highly selective, predominantly white institution that happens to be very expensive, so I know how difficult it is to recruit the type of students that we would like to see more of from the first generation and perhaps middle class and lower income student groups. But keep fighting the good fight, everybody, we'll get this done. In case you're wondering, where did I get this information about more than half of America's undergraduate students are first gen, or they're nearly 30% less likely to graduate, or that it's only projected to grow over the next decade.

Speaker 1: 6:12

I am privileged to be part of First Gen Forward, which is a program that comes through the Center for First Gen Student Success. So if you're looking for more information on first generation students, I highly encourage you to go to the Center for First Generation Student Success. Their resources are incredible and they are dedicated to working with first-gen students at all college levels community college, two-year, four-year, you name it. Check out their website. Check out all of the information that they have there for you. Now I know if you're listening to a podcast called First Gen FM. This is probably in your wheelhouse and you're really excited to work with first gen students. But in case this is new to you, welcome and please help us support our first gen students getting to and getting through college.

Speaker 1: 7:03

I'm about to launch another podcast called College TNT that's going to be part of First Gen FM and College TNT. Did I call it that because it's going to be explosive? Not necessarily. I'm calling it that because I want to help students and their families get to and through college successfully, and so I'm going to share strategies and ideas that will help students and their families make that happen. So that will debut shortly. So, as long as you're subscribed to FirstGenFM. You'll be hearing more about that in your feed. Thank you for listening. You can always reach me at Jen at FirstGenFMcom. Thanks again.