Motivating Firs Generation Students For Academic Success And College Completion

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.

There are many challenges that first generation students face in pursuit of a college degree:

Being a first generation college student is a heavy load to carry due to the constant reminder of having to be a good role model for my siblings. Children of immigrants are often highly expected to excel in their academics and to be involved in extracurricular activities. His/her parent immigrated to the “Land of The Free” in order to receive a better life and to give their children a place to call home. They work from one to two jobs a week just so that we can dig through the pantry, and raid the refrigerator. We sometimes take our parents for granted unknowingly, and constantly fill our heads with a question that we all seem to ask. “How do I please my parents?”, “What do I have to do to make them happy?”. As students we should all be voicing “College!”. Yes, maybe our folks’s dreams have faded away, however that should be our motivation to aim higher; to achieve our American Dream. Throughout our years of education, our very own relatives and teachers have emphasized on the importance of receiving a higher education. I have come to realize that I should not be asking myself “How do I please my parents?”. Instead, “How do I please myself?”, “What will my lifetime goals be?”, “Will it leave my parents hard work in vain?”. Obtaining a higher education will not impact their lives, but will affect yours drastically. My American Dream has always been to become an immigration lawyer that deals with international relations or to become a professor teaching my true passion for

The first determinant of one’s fate is their family’s background. Almost none of the children from low-income families made it through college. With the expenses of college today, I’m actually not surprised by that statistic. Of the children from low-income families, only 4 percent had a college degree at age 28, compared to 45 percent of the children from higher-income backgrounds. "That 's a shocking tenfold

Understanding how students are motivated can help educators engage students in learning activities and ultimately improve their academic performance. Researchers Mandy Sedden and Kevin Clark summarizes students’ and instructors’ perspectives on motivation and explores instructional strategies educators can use to motivate college students (Sedden & Clark, 2016). This journal article discusses the impact student motivation or lack of motivation has on the overall outcome of their educational experience. Sedden and Clark noted that many students of the millennial generation view education as an acquisition rather than a process of learning (Sedden & Clark, 2016). In other words, the thought of the high-paying job or improved intellectual status that awaits after completing school is more alluring than the process of attaining knowledge. According to the research students are intrinsically motivated when the instructor is motivated themselves, the lessons are interactive, the atmosphere is positive and well-organized, and the instructor demonstrates they care about the students.

Coming from a smaller town where a lot of families do not have the money to send themselves or even their children to college was tough, I was always worried about what was going to happen after high school was over. Applying for financial aid and signing up for classes without having a family member who has done it before is very difficult, the student don’t know what classes to take or how much money to take out for loans, as a first generation college student myself it has been hard to do all the paperwork for college. A first generation college student can be very stressed like all college students but for first generation students they have no one that has gone through the same thing and that could help them get through it. Financial issues are going to be stressful for every college student, but for first generation students it can get extremely difficult seen as they do not know that much about applying for financial aid. Some students can get scholarships that help to pay for their college, though they do not know how to apply for those scholarships sometimes.Students who are first generation do not get the advice of their parents on college, just like how they do not know how to sign up for financial aid and other resources that are useful.

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.

Students from low-income and first generation backgrounds often struggle in different academic subjects. Subsequently, students have lower expectations for themselves when it comes to academic achievement. The majority of first generation students come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Seeing that, families work countless hours in factories and other places where they are underpaid because of the lack of educational opportunity they experienced themselves. According to Blackwell and Pinder (2014) in the United States higher education is becoming the outlet to different avenues of opportunity whether it is through social mobility or economic progress. While screening out possible topics of interest for a research proposal, one of the challenges I encountered in my field experience was the lack of college access education and funding for the families in the urban high schools. The first generation student family typically is unaware of the college process because the student’s parents have not attended an institution of higher education. Therefore, the students cannot count on their knowledge of the process. Eventually, when students reach the financial aid process it becomes difficult because parents usually cannot afford full tuition expenses and at the same time do not understand the process. In these situations, schools with a college going culture can prepare staff to provide extra support to students by developing professional training in college access, mentorship

“First-generation” is a commonly known term, yet most people do not actually know the extent of being a student who is the first in their family to go to college. The majority of the general population assumes that in order to be considered first generation, a students’ parents must never have attended college before. However, this is not always the case. The University of Florida defines first-generation as students whose parents never earned a bachelor’s degree. Therefore, a student can be considered first generation if their parents have an associate’s degree. Regardless of the definition, a first-generation student’s major issue is staying enrolled in college.

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

In reflecting on the background of these students, I realize that they often lack the resources necessary to successfully transition, not only into college but once they graduate and are looking for careers. For this reason, I feel that the purpose for pursuing higher education for first-generation, low-income students is to provide them with better opportunities than they would have with only a high school diploma. This is especially important for these students that lack cultural capital,

“Kids who are the first in their families to brave the world of higher education come on campus with little academic know-how and are much more likely than their peers to drop out before graduation” (1). Many people believe that school isn’t for everyone, and whoever goes is privileged for doing so. Countless people in the world today do not attend college, and this is mainly due to an influence of those in their family. Perhaps they are unsupportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as a break in the family system rather than a continuation of their schooling and higher learning. Most of the first-generation students decide to apply to colleges, because they aspire to jobs which require degrees. However, unlike some students whose parents have earned a degree, they often seek out college to bring honor to their families, and to ensure they make a decent amount of money for their future.

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

When a student goes off to college, they begin to no longer rely on their parents as much as they once have. The majority of college students choose to live on campus. They start becoming more independent. They learn to make their own food, do their homework and clean up after themselves without being told, and they start providing for themselves for the most part. They discover they have to be responsible with their money because they now have tuition to pay; and books, tuition, and other miscellaneous items to buy. They also gain a better sense of responsibility by deciding their major and choosing their career