The Experience of a First-Generation College Student

By Rafael Grandi

I am a first-generation college student and going to college as a first-generation student can be quite stressful and frightening as there is a lot of doubt.

When I first applied to college I thought I was going to be the only person there who was going to be a first-generation student, since in my high school everybody else had parents or relatives who attended college. In the middle of this stress and anxiety, I decided to find out how many people in the United States are first-generation students and I can say that we are not alone! Nearly a third of undergraduate students in the United States are first-generation, and at my university around 20% of students are first-generation. 

This was a relief for me but still, the majority of students are not first-generation. This means that a majority of students have a relative who understands the collegiate process and can provide mentorship and other resources. It can be hard to navigate college when even your parents don’t understand the situation you are in, but I never saw this as a disadvantage but as a challenge that would help me grow and also help educate my parents so they can help my brother when he goes to college. 

Being a first-generation has its challenges and benefits and this is what my experience has been like at college.

Challenges:

There are a couple of things that I experienced that I wished I had more guidance to over-commit, but all these challenges helped me work harder and made my college experience unique.

One thing I experienced was a lack of understanding and guidance from my family. As a first-generation student, I lacked direct guidance and support from family members who didn’t navigate the college experience themselves. This made it challenging to understand the college application process, financial aid options, or even how to select appropriate courses. I had to ask a lot of my high school friends questions to help me with the process. 

At the start my parents thought I didn’t have enough classes since hours in class in college are pretty small compared to high school. Explaining to them how it worked was infuriating but I couldn’t blame them since they never experienced it before. Apart from this they also expected me to get a full-time job like they did after school but it would be really hard to manage that with my academics. Thanks to other students at my university and friends I managed to show my parents that things work differently and it is a completely different experience, making the situation easier to deal with. 

Another thing was that I had a lot of doubts. I faced limited access to information about college resources, scholarships, internships, and other opportunities. I wasn’t aware of the available support systems, such as academic advising or tutoring services, and struggled to locate relevant resources. Apart from this, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in and that just became a big issue with my family. Me being in college and not knowing why I was there was really stressful for my parents, I understood their concern but having them doubt my decisions made me confused about what I really wanted to do. Thanks to friends and resources at my university I managed to decide on a career path that I liked and helped my parents relax. 

Benefits: 

As I reinforced before all of these challenges just helped me grow and I never saw myself at a disadvantage to other students. Being a first-generation student made me want to work harder a succeed even more in everything I did in college to have the best experience and make my parents proud of this opportunity they gave me. 

At my university, there was a program designed specifically for first-year students who needed guidance and help whenever I needed it. Being in a group with other people I could relate to also helped me create my own community at my college that supported me a lot. This also helped me want to go out and meet as many people as I could making as many friends to expand my network. I joined a variety of clubs and organizations which were really helpful in my first year.

Although being a first generation-student may seem like a big challenge and a big disadvantage, I would encourage any first-generation student to look at it in a different way. Look at it as a learning and growing experience, it taught me how to be more independent and resilient. Without having to conquer all the challenges of a first-generation student that I have been through in my academic journey, I don’t believe I would be the person I am today.