Does Your Campus Effectively Support First-Generation College Students?

The collegiate pursuit at any level is a challenging step for students, regardless of background or circumstances. For first-generation college students, studies show that the challenges could be even greater at each stage of their higher-ed journey; moreover, the residual effects have an impact even beyond college and into the professional careers of these students. First-gen students (defined as students without at least one parent/guardian with at minimum a four-year degree) make up a significant portion of the applicant pool and greater college population. In our work, we see a lot of the factors challenging students in the higher education ecosystem. Within these observations lie insights for action to drive student success. The following will provide high-level considerations, specifically about first-generation college students of today.

Institutions and society recognize the importance and challenges of first-gen students. A recent Pew Research publication showed that 46% of Americans believe someone being a first-gen student should play either a major or minor factor in admissions decisions, ranking slightly higher than factors such as athletic ability and race/ethnicity. A significant number of applicants and active students in the US are first-generation, consisting of the widest array of backgrounds. Colleges and universities acknowledge the unique journey of first-gen students and offer special programs to help guide these students through their collegiate pursuits, only to find that students in this category on average tend to lag when compared to respective non-first-gen peers. Colleges and universities understand that first gen students often do not receive the same guidance and directives towards higher education pursuits because their parents/guardians (by nature of the definition) also don’t have the understanding to share. This missing knowledge can cost prospective students time and money. To help combat these challenges, most institutions offer customized orientations specifically for first-gen students to bridge the gap. A study conducted by the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) showed that only 48% of first-gen students were on track to graduate three years into their coursework compared to approximately 66% of non-first-gen students. First-gen students are also more than twice as likely to abandon their educational pursuit within the first three years when compared to non-first-gen peers. The NCES also found that ten years after their sophomore year in high school, a lower percentage of first-generation college students than continuing-generation students had obtained either a bachelor’s degree (20 vs. 42 percent) or a master’s degree or higher (3 vs. 13 percent).

As noted previously, the disparities can often continue beyond graduation. Recent research shows that first-generation college graduates typically earn less than non-first-gen peers. The study concluded that first-generation earners had a median annual income of $99,600 while non-first-gen earners brought in $135,800. Highlighted by PNPI, student debt also plagues first-gen students more on average; 65% of first-generation college graduates owed $25,000 or more in student loans, compared with 57% of second-generation college graduates.

Like most things in higher education, data tells the story. Moreover, data will provide a path forward for short as well as long-term solutions. It’s imperative to note that not all data is created equal. In fact, data will yield knowledge, but that’s assuming the correct data is processed in the correct manner to draw reasonable and accurate conclusions. Furthermore, “dirty” (incomplete or inaccurate) data is useless and will undermine the best laid strategies, especially when higher education institutions try to achieve such focused and nuanced results. To add even more complexity, there are thousands of data points that ultimately make up the picture of “academic success” in and among each student, and that data exponentially expands when considering different snapshots of time through a student’s academic career.  

So for first-gen students facing the winding road of higher education, there’s no single magic answer. There are tools offered to help institutions at all levels cultivate data to support students. Gathering, compiling, and organizing data is great, but what institutions do with this data is paramount. How do institutions leverage data effectively for student success? What tools are available? 

Integrate by RAGASEDU takes in many data points on students and uses that data to provide focused and actionable information for faculty and staff in real-time.  Integrate synthesizes admissions, enrollment, registration, and academic data on a single dashboard to help administrators, advisors, and student support services understand their institutions as well as identify and help struggling students before it’s too late. This data is custom tailored for different “user-types” at each level of an institution, so that only the most relevant data gets prioritized. Integrate gives each user accurate, actionable, and multi-dimensional insights for their specific roles in the chain of student success. 

Aside from the traditional key performance indicators (GPA, testing scores, etc), the computation in Integrate factors into consideration first-gen students and the unique challenges and needs of these students. The trends associated with first-generation students are accounted for in the direction provided by Integrate to faculty and staff. By understanding the path unique to first-generation students, Integrate can maximize efficiency compared to alternatives. The idea is that more students realize their goals more efficiently and avoid the common pitfalls of first-gen students, saving them time and money now as well as in perpetuity. Ultimately our mission is to offer a simplified solution that gives institutions reliable and predictive data to promote student success at all phases of their educational journey. By focusing on the details of today’s higher education landscape, Integrate takes LMS and ERP data and produces concise insights for student success, which yields overall institutional success.  

1.     Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NECS) – First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, Stats Brief, Emily Forrest Cataldi, Christopher T. Bennett & Xianglei Chen
2.     Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NECS) – First-Generation and Continuing-Generation College Students: A Comparison of High School and Postsecondary Experiences, Stats Brief, Jeremy Redford & Kathleen Mulvaney Hoyer, September 2017
3.     Postsecondary National Policy Institute (PNPI) – First-Generation Students in Higher Education, Factsheet, February 2021
4.     Pew Research Center – As courts weigh affirmative action, grades and test scores seen as top factors in college admissions, Vianney Gomez, April 2022