Fitting In On Campus: Challenges For First-Generation Students

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/02/16/385470288/fitting-in-on-campus-challenges-for-first-generation-students

The University of Michigan was a strange, terrifying place for first-generation college students Chris and Anna, who both grew up in blue-collar towns with parents and peers who didn't have a clue about their new college experiences, and who both struggled to find their footing, socially and academically, at the large institution.  Chris recounts how, on his first day on campus after a 9-hour drive from home, his father left him after an hour of unpacking because he couldn't afford the cost of a hotel for the night and drove home.  Anna describes having to "out herself" as a first-generation, low-income student when she didn't understand some of the experiences her peers were describing.

The two students are actually friends who met through a support group for first-generation college students.  Anna says without the group, she might have dropped out after her freshman year, like many other students whom she knows actually did, but that she also could have used more support.  Jennifer Engle, a policy expert for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, says that institutions ought to provide more support so that students like Chris and Anna don't have to "out" themselves.  Engle recommends supports like financial aid (which we all know institutions might be strapped to provide) as well as mentoring for these students.

This brings up again the increasing diversity of current college campuses and highlights yet again that some aspects of diversity are not visible.  Scholars might be looking for traits like "first-generation" and "low-income" and understand the implications of what these mean without putting them into practice, and student or academic affairs practitioners might see students like Chris and Anna every day but might not know that they may need an extra hand.  It seems nearly a Catch-22 in which the students themselves might know that they need help but not where to turn, and that practitioners might be looking for those students, but not know who they are.  But it's a good thing that programs or organizations are out there to catch some of these students and provide the support that they need.