Chavez 1
Rebeca B. Chavez
Professor Needham
English 1109
30 November 2022
The Struggles of a First-Generation College Student
Seeking higher education is expected if you plan to succeed in the future. A college
education is one of the most secure ways to guarantee yourself a decent income and a solid
career with benefits. However, not everyone has the resources or opportunity to attend college.
Some people are never able to attend higher education, and instead, work to provide the
opportunity for their children. It all begins with one person or one generation. Those who are the
first to attend college in their families are called first-generation college students.
First-generation college students are faced with financial, social, and academic struggles that
make their college experience more difficult, so more resources should be available to support
their education.
First-generation college students are often the first in their families to attend college
because their parents and other family members were unable to study or did not have the
opportunity. First-generation college students are more common in immigrant communities who
migrated to the United States to give their families a better life; however, this better life comes at
a cost as the immigrants work extra hard to provide for their children. These children often have
their issues as they pursue higher education in this country. Some of these issues include
educational barriers, familial responsibilities, and financial struggles. Adding onto these issues,
Pei-Wen Ma and Munyi Shea, in their journal, “First-Generation College Students’ Perceived
Barriers and Career Outcome Expectations: Exploring Contextual and Cognitive Factors,” stated
Chavez 2
that, “FGCS with a below average or average level of campus connectedness are more likely to
have a negative attitude toward their future career when they encounter educational or career
barriers,” (99). Being the first generation to choose their education is difficult, but it only takes
one person to set an example and be the change.
In most cases, first-generation college students come from low-income households and
face financial struggles as they further their education. Pei-Wen Ma and Munyi Shea found that
first-generation college students receive less support from family, whether it be emotional,
information, and/or financial than non-first generation students. The financial struggles that
first-generation students face are likely because their family is not willing to financially support
them (92). The reason for this may be because they do not believe the student is making the right
decision or are simply ignorant of the situation. Carmelitia Coleman, in her dissertation
“Financial Aid Knowledge and Resources Among First-Generation College Students,” highlights
that first-generation college students struggle to complete the financial aid process, which
negatively impacts their financial and academic well-being (abstract). Failing to complete
financial aid properly easily leads to a student not receiving the help they are relying on;
therefore, these students struggle financially and have to search for ways to pay for their
education. Those that do find a way to afford their education, are often met with social struggles
and the demand for face-to-face interactions.
First-generation college students may find it difficult to open up and interact with others,
creating social barriers which hinder academic growth. Failure to interact with others or get
involved can easily result in a student lacking the motivation to succeed. Studies characterize a
correlation between the level of social support and a first-generation college student’s ability to
achieve success within the academic environment. Ma and Shea highlighted the following:
Chavez 3
In their qualitative study, Tate and colleagues (2015a) noted that some FGCS reported
having families that showed a great deal of support for their academic pursuit, but at the
same time, some expressed that their parents lack the knowledge to help them navigate
college and career development processes. (92-3)
Success begins with the social environment you are in. For a student to feel motivated, they must
first feel comfortable, and accepted, and have a positive learning environment. However, a
drastic change in one’s environment tends to result in first-generation students feeling out of
place. Better social integration on campus has shown a strong correlation with college students’
persistence, retention, and graduation. Research has shown that FGCS tend to have a lower sense
of belonging on campus and the reasons for this could be affiliated with their school, work, and
family obligations. Ma and Shea go on to argue that FGCS “are at a higher risk of dropping out
due to various stressors such as financial pressure and difficulty balancing work, school, and
family demands,” (99). The added obligations that first-generation students carry, lead them to
have limited time for social engagement and involvement in campus activities, which in turn
leads to them losing motivation in their higher education.
Most first-generation college students face educational struggles that affect their career
outcomes and the grades they earn. Gibbons and Woodside, in their article “Addressing the
Needs of First-Generation College Students: Lessons Learned from Adults from Low-Education
Families,” suggest that the perceived barriers that first-generation students face have the power
to interpret their academic and career development, essentially shaping their career outcome
expectations (23). As a student begins college, they quickly get a feel for the level of difficulty
and the amount of time they will have to dedicate to ensure they pass their classes and continue
with their education. Gibbons and Woodside found that, “...both men and women from families
without college experience display strong work values” (12). It is easy for a first-generation
college student to see the level of difficulty and make assumptions as to their career expectations
Chavez 4
and this can be either positive or negative for their future. Gibbons and Woodside go on to assert
that “First-generation college students are more likely to need remedial course work, attend
college part-time, feel less prepared for college, and earn lower grades” (22). For many
first-generation college students, English is not their first language and because of this, they have
to work twice as hard to earn their grades.
Educational struggles haunt most college students, if not all of them, but facing a
language barrier only makes it harder for FGCS to succeed. In their book, The Education of
Language Minority Immigrants in the United States, Terrence Wiley and others, examine the
struggles that first-generation students face when their first language is not English. They take
into consideration the number of individuals in the United States who are not native speakers and
the various languages that they speak, (3). Wiley and others also discuss the need for more
bilingual educational programs to ensure that first-generation students are provided with all the
resources they need to succeed, (9). A language barrier is a problem that most FGCS are faced
with, and living in a country that primarily speaks English, can make it difficult for them to
succeed in their higher education, if the proper programs are not implemented.
Non-first-generation college students face their own set of struggles and they are not
disregarded, but the lack of support and resources that a first-generation student is faced with can
have a strong negative impact on the future of these students. First-generation means “first” and
for there to be a second generation, the first generation needs the motivation to get through to set
the example for the generations to come. One way that society can make a huge difference is by
creating more financial assistance opportunities for FGCS. This would help with the financial
struggles that these students face and lessen the load that they carry. Many of the students who
are forced to get a job to pay for their education, would have the ability to shift focus to passing
Chavez 5
their classes and essentially helping these students combat the educational barriers and with more
time on their hands, also combat the social barriers. In their study, “Inequitable Impacts of
Textbook Costs at a Small, Private College: Results from a Textbook Survey at Gettysburg
College,” Sarah Appedu and others, found that, “The cost of course materials also has negative
effects on learning, with first-generation students about twice as likely to report struggling
academically as a result of book costs than their counterparts,” (45). Lowering the amount of
money that a first-generation college student has to pay out-of-pocket for their education, would
allow them to focus on actually earning their degree. Another way that society can make a huge
difference in the lives of FGCS is by offering more workshops or other related centers for these
students to have the support and motivation that their families may not be giving them. In their
journal, Ma and Shea claim that, “...targeting ways to improve FGCS’ sense of coherence and
ability to manage difficulties with emotional strength and promote their willingness to utilize
resources on campus could lead to positive academic and career outcomes,” (98-99). Providing
more support for these students will increase the likelihood that their future careers will be
something that they want to do, rather than the safe route because of a lack of resources, support,
and motivation.
The journey through college is already a difficult one for the average student, but for a
first-generation college student, financial, social, and educational disadvantages create an undue
burden. The pursuit of higher education is something to work for, but there are ways to lessen the
blow for first-generation students who already have a lot of barriers in their way and still strive
to seek a college education. Accessible financial aid, better workshops, and more resources to
support, motivate, and better prepare first-generation college students need to be implemented
for these students to succeed in higher education.
Chavez 6
Chavez 7
Works Cited
Appedu, Sarah, et al. "Inequitable Impacts of Textbook Costs at a Small, Private College: Results
from a Textbook Survey at Gettysburg College." Open Praxis, 2013,
https://doi.org/doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.13.1.1147.
Coleman, Carmelitia. Financial Aid Knowledge and Resources Among First-Generation College
Students. 2022. Walden University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, Dissertation or
Thesis.
Gibbons, Melinda, and Woodside, Marianne. “Addressing the Needs of First-Generation College
Students: Lessons Learned from Adults from Low-Education Families.” EBSCO, 2012,
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1882.2014.00045.x.
Ma, Pei-Wen, and Shea, Munyi. “First-Generation College Students’ Perceived Barriers and
Career Outcome Expectations: Exploring Contextual and Cognitive Factors.” Sage
Journals, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1177/089484531987650.
Wiley, Terrence, et al. The Education of Language Minority Immigrants in the United States. 1st
ed., vol. 74, Multilingual Matters, 2009.