Navigating Resources Colleges Provide First-Generation Students: Is It Enough?

First-generation students are children of parents or guardians who did not earn a college degree from a four-year university or college. Forbes notes that first-generation students comprise 56% of the undergraduate population nationally [1]. First-generation students are provided additional resources at their respective colleges to ease the transition from high school into unknown territory. These support programs are a good starting point, but are they enough to help first-generation students navigate the higher education system?  

Different colleges have various programs specifically created to support their first-generation students, most of which are oriented toward providing them with academic support and career advice. UVA has all these programs and more instilled within the Hoos First organization. Hoos First strives to ensure that the “Wahoo experience is accessible and enjoyable for all” through the different resources they provide [2]. For example, the Hoos First Center is open seven days a week, and students can drop in and receive face-to-face support. Additionally, UVA hosts a “Hoos First Look,” where students are invited to a three-day trip in the fall for better insight into the experience of a first-generation student. Hoos First appears to have sufficient resources to guide first-generation students and ensure their success throughout their undergraduate years.  

After interviewing first-generation students at UVA, it became clear that they have their qualms with the programs available. In particular, multiple students emphasized that there should be more mentorship and hands-on support for first-generation students who are also first-years. All first-year students are weary of entering a new environment and starting college, but at least students know that their family members have been through this process before. First-generation students, however, do not have this subconscious reassurance. They are entering an entirely new phase of their life, one that even their parents cannot guide them through, by themselves. One student at the College of Arts and Sciences noted that students need to be given major-specific advisors, which is especially harmful for first-generation students. Majors have prerequisites, applications, and different credit hours, all overwhelming things to navigate for any student. This harms first-generation students since they do not have the support other students receive from their parents or siblings, who can help them set up their schedules. Now, they aren’t getting the proper support from the person assigned to assist them with the scheduling and course load process. Additionally, 7/10 of the first-generation students interviewed believed they should have been provided more support with the FAFSA application from UVA. Since the parents of the first-generation students are also filling out this financial aid form for the first time, this process can be considered very difficult and indirect. Usually, first-generation students rely on financial aid, and not receiving the help necessary to fill out the form adds unnecessary stress and is not reassuring for these students.  

A survey that asked first-generation students to rank different resources and support programs at their college revealed that 31% of first-generation students wished that their college prioritized providing help for how to complete the financial aid process [4]. This shows that students nationally believe they could receive more help from the FAFSA, not just UVA students.  

It is clear that UVA attempts to provide its students with different resources for first-generation students to utilize, but these programs do need to focus on the desired aspects. Changes to the Hoos First program can make first-generation students more satisfied and confident with UVA’s ability to provide first-generation students with the necessary support. For example, Hoos First provides students with additional resources, such as textbooks and educational resources, available for checkout. Still, the program lacks the extra step of guiding these students through these resources. Other colleges have a more hands-on approach when importing their first-generation students, which would be more beneficial for students to navigate the resources provided successfully. The University of Pennsylvania has a Gateway Student Mentorship Program (GSM), which pairs incoming first-years and transfer students with upperclassmen and faculty members considered first-generation [5]. From the interviews conducted with first-generation students at UVA, it was clear that modifications could be made to the Hoos First program to account for incoming first-year students' need for more support. Implementing a similar program to the GSM would provide first-year students with resources that give them a clearer direction about their college education, which is something that upperclassmen first-generation students wished they had.  

Looking beyond first-generation students’ undergraduate years, it became evident that these students continue to be disproportionately affected and remain at a disadvantage in advancing their economic position. In modern society, a bachelor’s degree is now considered to be equivalent to a high school degree since an undergraduate education has become so normalized that it does not provide graduates with an advantage within the workforce as it used to [6]. This encourages graduates to turn towards post-graduate schooling to make themselves more appealing candidates for hire and to have more job security [6]. First-generation students, however, do not turn to post-graduate schooling due to a lack of financial resources to enable them to pursue another university degree or even a lack of confidence due to the insufficient support that these students received during their undergraduate years [6]. In short, first-generation students remain in a continuous cycle where they are economically disadvantaged despite their bachelor’s degree, largely due to the circumstances of their undergraduate years. It is clear that these undergraduate programs implemented for first-generation students have a more significant impact on the students than just their four years at the university, which highlights the importance of tailoring these programs to the specific needs of first-generation students. 

Overall, Hoos First can make changes to their program to provide first-generation students with support systems that they would find more appealing, like guidance regarding the financial aid process and more specific support for first-year students. Implementing these changes will allow more first-generation students to utilize Hoos First in a way that they believe will benefit them and will encourage their overall success not only during their undergraduate years but throughout their lives.

All content is the intellectual property of the Virginia Undergraduate Business Review.

REFERENCES

[1] Hamilton, I. (2023, June 13). 56% of all undergraduates are first-generation college students. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/online-colleges/first-generation-college-students-by-state/ 

[2] Hoos first: First-generation & limited income student initiatives. Hoos First: First-Generation & Limited Income Student Initiatives | Student Affairs. (n.d.). https://studentaffairs.virginia.edu/subsite/hoosfirst 

[3] Personal communications, September 29, 2024

[4] Ezarik, M. (2022, July 28). First-generation students support helping, but colleges could do more. Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/07/29/first-generation-student-supports-helping-colleges-could-do-more 

[5] Mentorship. Penn First Plus. (n.d.). https://pennfirstplus.upenn.edu/mentorship/ 

[6] Carlton, M. (2015, December 7). Helping first-generation college students succeed. Research Gate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264726685_Helping_first-generation_college_students_succeed

[IMAGE] Via Clara Castle, University Communications. (2023). https://news.virginia.edu/content/hoos-first-celebrates-first-generation-limited-income-students