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Challenges faced by first generation students
Essay on first generation college students
Essay on first generation college students
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Being a first generation student, my parents always emphasized the importance of school and the many opportunities I have, that they never had growing up. I remember looking at some universities’ tuitions my sophomore year and wondered, “how can anyone afford to pay this much?” Although at first just the thought of college scared me, I knew I couldn’t accomplish anything, much less pay for college, being scared. Listening to my parents’ advice, I decided to embrace the opportunities I was given, including this scholarship. Even though, applying does not guarantee me this scholarship or any for that matter, it is a risk I am willing to take and an opportunity I am not willing to
While first-generation college students are over half of all students in postsecondary education, exclusionary practices block their admittance into elite institutions. The outliers who receive admittance to the Ivory Tower may think they have made it—that their American Dream and long-held belief in the meritocratic ethos has finally paid off. Instead, they are confronted with educational stratification and social reproduction that was stacked against them long before they received the piece of parchment granting them access. The onerous task of navigating through unfamiliar academic and social situations often results in leaving. Can first-generation college students learn how to activate, manage, and accumulate social and cultural capital to navigate elite universities?
Throughout the length of schooling, students go through various changes. In their first year of school, children are required to make the transition from being at home for the entire day to being in school for a number of hours a day. These transition periods happen many times through the schooling years, but the most drastic changes occur during the transition from high school to college, where students weather numerous lifestyle changes. While each individual student goes on their own journey, certain themes remain common between different students. Studies are done to look at these themes identifying the numerous differences and similarities.
Upon the completion of my high school career I was faced with the sudden realization that I was growing up and on the verge of becoming independent. A few months prior, I had applied to Montana State and received my acceptance letter. The future was before me and my ambitions were truly limitless. That is, until the fact set in that I was going to have to pay for this education that I desired. I knew that with my busy schedule, I would be unable to make enough money while only working a few hours here and there. I was beginning to lose sight of hope. Then one day I talked to my counsellor about what I could do and he pointed me towards dozens of scholarships that I could apply for. The exigence or purpose
The author, Julia Brookshire Everett commenced the article, “Public Community Colleges: Creating Access and Opportunities for First Generation College Students”, by first characterizing first- generation college students and also expounding on the difficulties first-generation students encountered when acquiring post-secondary degrees. According to Everett (2015), the term ‘first- generation college student’ was first coined in the 1960s in order to regulate student eligibility for federally financed programs to aid students from low-income households.
Immigration has a great impact on first generation immigrants. Studies show that acculturation and assimilation have wide-ranging effects on the groups involved, but mostly on the immigrants' lives. There are positive and negative attributes. Attributes that are due to the issues associated with integrating cultures, and broadly related to the greater issue of immigration. The issues and discrimination towards first generation immigrants cause them to have limitations throughout their lifetime, in the country that they have moved to. Furthermore, the Hispanic and Latino community have lived through this problem for so long. They are always the group to be affected by it because they lose a sense of self and are never really accepted by the dominant or other group involved. This is a big issue that requires more attention and efforts to come up with a solution.
The competition in today’s job market makes it seemingly impossible to be considered a competitive candidate without having some sort of college degree. This very fact has pushed researchers to analyze and report on the performance of students with various educational backgrounds along with the factors that affect their ability to obtain a college degree. One particular subset of students who show interesting graduation patterns are first generation students, whose parents have do not have a college degree. First generation students frequently encounter difficulty in school and must jump over many hurdles in order to graduate and receive a college degree. These hurdles include language barriers, intergenerational gaps and social class achievement
A first-generation college student is someone whose folks didn’t attend or graduated from college. Many times, students face this reality and have no one to rely on. Some of the challenges this students face are unique psychological challenges. Although there is upportive staff in college, one of the most important roles of a family is support. Their family may see their entry to college as an insult or misunderstood their reason for wanting to have a major. In families, role are assign to each member such as working, cleaning or taking care of others. When one of the family members decides to interference with this system to attend to college, this one leading the student to a loss of personality.
When students are looking for colleges to apply to, one consideration might be how much it will cost them to attend that college. This is a very important matter to consider because the cost of going to college is the highest is has ever been. Even though there is some aid to assist students in paying for college, those services are not available to everyone. Some students are awarded scholarships but some of them are only for a few thousand dollars, which means that they still have a considerable amount of debt to pay off. When you take into account the cost of text books, classes, application fees, and room and board, the final bill ends up being overwhelming. The large total at the end of the bill could scare students who cannot afford all of this. Lankford poses the question “Can anyone attend college?” He ...
I am Nursing major and with that degree to become a Nurse Practitioner who specializes in the Cardiovascular System to reduce the rate of heart diease in America. I am a hardworking individual and I take my academics very seriously. I understand that I am at school for a purpose and know my purpose is to further my education. I am just trying to make it. My parents always told me growing up “ In order to get something you never had that I will have to do things I have never done.” No one prepared me for college, because I am a first generation college student. In addition to being a first generation college student ; I am also a first generation high school graduate. I use my my parents trials and tribulations as my motivation, because I want
As high school students begin to look into getting a higher education, certain factors determine what college they may look into: locations, academic profile, graduation rate, school size, and, to some the most important, the cost of the university. The cost of a university can play one of the biggest deciding factors in furthering one’s education. Many students do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars for college. There are many poor people in this world who want to attend college and earn a degree to support themselves and their family and be able to live a more comfortable life. Everyone should have the opportunity to go to college. Every year, college prices are increasing, causing it to be less affordable. This will discourage people
Unfortunately, my family and I fall into an area of the middle class that prohibits us from receiving need-based aid. Although I have graciously been awarded the Elizabeth Ann Seton Scholarship, without some additional form of aid, a Seton Hill education may be prohibitively expensive. My fourth year’s tuition alone would cost $37,520 with my current scholarship, and I would still have to pay for living expenses. Once my undergraduate and fifth years’ expenses are included, I will be over $150,000 in debt when I graduate. As a student who has worked exceedingly hard in the classroom and as a leader for four years, this amount of financial burden feels like a punishment. If I do not receive the Seton Scholar Award, I am not confident that I can attend Seton Hill and make the impacts I have described in this
In the 21st century, if an individual decides to make a major commitment or resolution, they have the utmost support from their peers and family members. However, when a first-generation college student decides on furthering their education, the dearest people close to the student seem to disappear. Linda Banks-Santilli (2015) claims that first-generation students apply to a single college and without the help of a parent (para. 13). Although Banks-Santilli does not say so directly, she assumes that the students can not afford multiple application fees and the students are unsure on how to determine which college is a good fit, as their parents have not taken them on a college tour. I agree that first-generation students have far less help
When the time comes to talk about college, a large number of questions arise. Although many come forward, the first question is if college is even affordable. The main problem families’ face is the difficulty to pay for college, especially with the current economy’s condition. Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, states “Given the financial hardship of the country, it’s simply astonishing that colleges and universities would have this kind of increases” (Lewin). What if a young adult has a dream to attend a certain university in a different state? Residency regulations cause the cost of out-of-state schools to raise tuition to almost three times the cost of in-state; however, this alters many students’ decisions on where to attend college. While personally experiencing this problem, I was forced to go to an in-state school instead of following my dream and attending Auburn University. ...
Thayer (2000) presented demographic characteristics and strategies that addressed the unique issues related to students who are both first-generation and low-income college students. Thayer found that students who were both first-generation college and low-income were less likely to attend college and if they did enroll were more likely to drop out after the first or second year (Thayer, 2000). He explained that more programs like Upward Bound, which addressed the challenges of this student population, were needed on America’s college campuses. According to Thayer (2000) first-generation and low-income students lacked sufficient knowledge to navigate the college process; they are less likely to enter college with the proper academic preparedness and are more likely to perceive a lack of support from their family for attending college. These characteristics have been found to be significant with
I’ve strived mightily for a lot of things in my life, such as a spot on a varsity team, Valedictorian, or a UIL district championship, but recently I've never have worked mentally as hard as I've had to this year in my pursuit of scholarships. My goal right now is to earn enough scholarships so that I don't have to pay a dime for my post secondary education (this includes my Bachelor's and Master’s degrees and perhaps even a Doctorate). Now I understand that you may be reading this and feel that getting a few scholarships here and there isn't really the big life changing movement that you might have been looking forward to reading about today, but I need you to understand that I'm the type of person that thinks big picture and long term. For most of my peers, having a