First Generation College Student

Congratulations, and welcome to college!

Perseverance, resilience, resourcefulness and hard work have helped you make it this far. As a first-generation college student, this is a particularly important achievement. First-generation college students are those students whose parent(s) have not attained a college degree. These students, who have little or no family collegiate history, may enter a college with limited knowledge about the jargon, traditions and patterns of expected behavior. These factors may prevent first-generation students from fully engaging in a college setting and may contribute to early departure from the campus before the completion of a degree.

No matter how intelligent and capable, first-generation students benefit from additional support as they adjust to a new environment. It can be helpful to learn more about what other first-generation students have experienced as well as what can be done to help maximize your performance and experience as you work towards attaining your degree.