First Generation Students Essay

High school graduation marks the start of young adults’ lives, a time where they are expected to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Many young adults are pressured into attending college, whether they have determined their goal or not, but is it necessary? “The Case Against College,” an article written by Linda Lee, a mother who has questioned the former belief that college equals success, claims that “not everyone needs a higher education.” College, though beneficial to many, is not for everyone and should not determine an individual’s life.

The article “Motivating Firs-Generation Students For Academic Success and College Completion” by Tanjula Petty describes the additional challenges first generation students have to overcome while attending college. A well-heeled diversity and world of opportunities are a few of the positive outcomes of attending college. According to Tanjula Petty (2014), “Yet, the most cited and widely used definition for first- generation students is someone whose parents has not completed a college degree”. Students whose parents did not acquire a college degree, have a lack of support at home. Their family members are not equipped to provide information required for college difficulties students may have. They lack knowledge and resources that students that students with college-educated parents have. The article states that these students are less psychologically prepared for college. Many low-income families do not understand the benefits of graduating from college. First generation students spend more time working and less time studying unlike their classmates. (Petty 2014) Coming from low-income families, many of these students have to divide their time between college and working. Leading students to prioritize money before school. Many work full time while going to school. Working more hours than studying can potentially harm students ' success.

Evaluating: This essay has good detail, such as comparing and contrasting the first-generation student to college. Where do they face the biggest challenge of their lives and solving the problem with a help of older peers, teachers and guiding

First generation college students are those who are seeking to be the first in their family to earn a degree, according to UCLA. First- generation students can come from low, middle, or high income families without a history of going to college. Families of first generation students can either be supportive of the students plan for a high education or make them feel family pressure to enter the workforce right after high school like they did. First generation students often do not know their options regarding higher education and have fears about going to college and it’s cost. Currently, 42% of UC undergraduates are first generation.

Did you know that 40% of the United States population is made up of first-generation students? (Earl, 1987).

The first-generation students makes a bigger amount of population. So for that we should help these student as much as we can by providing them resources as much as we can. Giving them more opportunity to them and make them step forward to seek help. Colleges and universities should start more and more programs for them which can help them achieve their goals and help them through the process of education and making the college staff to handle them nicely which will make them feel like the family.

Going to college as a first generation college student is a hard experience to go through, students whose parents did not go to college have a disadvantage because they do not know how to adjust well to living at college.

Parents typically set the example for their children, but students that are the first to attend college have to be their own example; first generation college students have to go against the grain in order to succeed when pursuing a higher education. With all this pressure on a first generation college

Are you aware that at least forty percent of the United States is made up of first-generation students? (Earl, 1987.) Being given the label “first-generation,” by definition, means that a student is the first in his or her family to attend and finish college with a college degree. In Hicks 2006 study, he compared the educational barriers of first-generation students to those non-first-generation students. As a result, Hicks found out the first-generation students had different expectations of college, poor academic abilities, lack of social skills, low self-esteem, and more financial restrictions (Hicks, 2003; Thayer, 2000). There are many challenges that first-generation students face in pursuit of a college degree: academic challenges,

Over many years college has been known as a main path to success, yet many students find themselves being first-generation college student and face many challenges that come with it, despite the efforts colleges make to remove this stigma. “Thirty percent of higher ed students today are the first in their family to attend college, while 24 percent-4.5 million- are both first generation and low income” (Opidee, 2015, P.1). These percentages are very high, with 30% of students attending college being the first in their family many students and their families don’t know what they’re getting themselves into when they get to school. Students find that being a first-generation college students affects them even before they start college.

First generation students are characterized as unprepared for college. The Latino first generation is so pervasive and over population that many Latino first generation do not have a affliction as those whose family has been in the United States for a while. A first generation student especially that is Latino, are usually from income are notoriously low compare those to all American family. Over the past decade, the latino population has grown from 35.3 million to 50.5 million , composing 16.3 percent of the total population. In fact, more than half of the growth in the total population in the U.S from 2000 to 2010 can be attributed to the increase in the Latino population. Latinos clearly constitute a vital population of the U.S population. Only 37% of Latino high school complete between the 18 and 24 are enrolled in college and one at of ten hold a college degree. Overall , there household plays a huge part into the minds of a first generation

With the growing importance of higher education, more people than ever are attending college. According to a middle-class parent, “[Higher education] seen as a means of developing a career and getting secure employment.” (30, Higher Education, social class and social mobility) Moreover, “parents believe that their children need a university education to get on in life… over the past decades (parents) fearful that without a degree their children will be in danger of downward social mobility. (32, Higher

Across universities throughout the United States, the presence of first-generation college students is on the rise (Stephens 1). Students whose parents do not have a degree of higher education, are being given the opportunity to shape their future for the better as they embark on a journey to receiving a four year degree unlike their parents who were not given such an opportunity. With the number of first-generation college students on the rise from the past, I became interested in seeing how the views, relationships, and ideas of these students was unique, and how they differed from the average student attending a university; an average student coming from at least a

The decision of a first generation student to pursue higher education comes with the price past the inherent financial cost, of leaving their families behind. Many of these kids may feel like they are abandoning their parents or siblings, although, sometimes they feel like they are being abandond as well. They are leaving everything they know behind to pursue something that they have either dreamed of, or pushed towards their entire life. There are a few conflicting feelings that they may have, first generation students desire

Students from all over the United States are told all through their life that they need to attend college if they ever want to be successful, however, this is far from the truth. Often schools are culprits for driving students to attend money driven colleges, in other cases it is family. While schools all too often make the push on students to continue their schooling, parents can cause the same situation, as they may not have a degree and be working a low-paying factory job. Now kids already don’t want to be like their parents when they get older, so seeing them suffer in poverty or barely above the poverty line can cause some dissatisfaction, further seeking a degree to live a life that they never got. What many