Running head: FIRST GENERATION STUDENT TRANSITIONS 1

White First Generation Students: Transitions into Higher Education

Scott Salsman

Azusa Pacific University

FIRST GENERATION STUDENT TRANSITIONS 2

White First Generation Students: Transitions into Higher Education

First generation college students are a well documented and a well-researched student

population on college campuses. Even with the amount of research on first generation college

students there is very little on first generation students that identify as white. The goal of the

research teams was to identify some of the challenges that white first generation students face on

a predominately white campus. These students are the ethnic majority on campus but they are the

minority when it comes to parents education. Each focus group and interview gave in sight into

the different challenges that students face on a daily basis and how being a white first generation

student differs greatly in terms of knowledge of college, the resources that are made available

and the understanding between them and other first generation students.

Results and Discussion

There are six main themes that will be discussed further throughout this paper, but it is

important to lay the foundation for what the research is rooted in. This study found that students

were influenced by parents mentors and coaches to attend college. These influences were major

factors to their college going experience. Students also reported that they have needed help

several times throughout their time in college but they did not know what resource to go to or if

there was a resource for them. These students also discussed the difficult transitions that take

place. These transitions are academic, social as well as with family during their time at school as

well as when they return home. The last two themes that our research showed were identification

and advice to new students. The identification theme was an important link in all of the research.

Students felt different being a majority race on campus but a minority parent education wise. The

last theme we will discuss is advice to new students. The students that participated in the study

were adamant about having better resources and providing more inclusive spaces and knowledge
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for first generation students. These themes will be discussed in further detail throughout the

paper.

Influence to Attend College

The first theme that will be discussed is the influence that parents, coaches and mentors

had on students to attend college The study found that many of these students had various

reasons for coming to college. The students in the study stated that parents, mentors and sports

were their main reasons for coming to college. Heather stated that she was not planning on going

to college I wanted to go straight into the mission field, but my dad was like no I worked hard

for you to go to school. She said that college was not on her mind until her father but it in her

head that she was going to go. This was a common theme with many of the students that

participated. Other students indicated that the thought of college was not one that they had on

their own. It was an expectation that they had from someone close to them. This aligns with

some of the previous research that was done. The intrinsic motivation for first generation

students to go to college is usually relatively low (Inkelas, Daver, Vogt, & Leonard,

2006). The students can see college as something that is not an expectation for them because of

their familys background or because it is something that they believe they will not be able to

afford. Financial responsibilities of students will be discussed later, but it is a major reason why

some students do not decide to go to college. Craig stated that a coach was what pushed him to

go to college. He said that his coach was the one that said hey you have talent, you need to go

and play sports in college. This drive was what motivated him to get good grade as well as

perform at a high level on the field to try and get a scholarship to school. This leads us into the

next point of sports having a major impact on first generation students journey into college.

Many of the students that participated in this study listed sports as one of the major reasons that
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they decide to even think about college. Jeremy said that playing baseball was what motivated

him to go to school. Chris mentioned that he was the captain of his high school baseball team

and that the desire to come to college was driven by his sports. Shelby earned a college

scholarship to play tennis and that was a major reason that she chose to continue her education.

Todd also stated that he only looked colleges because he wanted to keep playing basketball

competitively and the only way to do that was to go to college. He says that the only reason he

knew the difference between Community college and a four-year institution was because of

sports. What is interesting is that of all of the students that mentioned sports as reason that they

were influenced to go to college. Only one of the students actually played a sport collegiately.

This shows that even though the drive for these students to come to college was the sport that

they played it turned out it was not the reason that they ended up coming to college. The

motivation to come to college is derived from many different areas and that the factors that many

first generation college students base their college decision on is different than that of a

traditional student (Inkelas, Daver, Vogt, & Leonard, 2006).

Challenges: Financial Process

It is well documented that first generation college students have difficulty understanding

and finding resources that are available to them on campus. It is not their fault; they have never

been exposed to many of these resources before. One of the main themes in the research was

financial resource at the university. Many students do not believe that they can afford college and

that they do not have the opportunities available to them to receive money to go to school. This

transition into college is difficult for many students but especially the students who do not

understand how to fill out financial aid information or how to apply for scholarships. In the

interviews and focus groups conducted a common theme was lack of knowledge relating to
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financial resources (Wang, 2013). One student Jill said that she is a first generation American and

a first generation college student. She said that when it came time to fill out financial aid she had

extreme difficulty because not only was she having a hard time filling out the forms but the

people she has relied on her entire life do not understand the language and do not know what that

form is either. It is hard when you are trying to interpret a form that does not have a Norwegian

interpretation, especially since college in Europe is free my parents did not get why they had to

pay for college. This thought of not knowing how to pay for college is something that is shared

with many students. Jessica says that she did not know what any of the loans she was taking out

meant. She just knew that it was free money and that she did not think that she was going to have

to pay it back. Now she says that she is in tremendous debt because of it and that her education

was worth all of it but she just wished she would have known how to better pay for college.

Another point that these students made regarding finances was that growing up they relied on

their parents for everything, which is true for most students. The challenge for many first

generation students is that when applying to college and figuring out how one is going to pay for

school there is no one to look to or no one who will be able to help with that application. Craig

said that when applying for financial aid I had to learn it myself because my mom did not know

how. This is a shared value for many students. Their parents were there to support them, but

when it came down to having to figure things out financially many students had to learn how to

do it themselves and unfortunately they do not always end up making the best financial choices.

The literature shows us that not having someone knowledgeable walk along side the first

generation students path can often be difficult for the students. Research shows that many

students have to learn the financial aid process by themselves and are unsure of the help and

financial resources that are available to them (Covarrubias & Fryberg, 2015). Much of the
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research that was done here aligns with previous research and student testimonies. It is quite

common to have a student who is unaware of the resources and help that are made available to

them. This shows that higher education, as a system needs to do a better job of assisting all

students in these processes.

Support: Family, School

Now that the largest support piece financial resources have been discussed it is not

important to look at support for the first generation student as a whole. During the focus group

and interview process students where asked what support do you wish you had received or wish

you would have known about on campus. Many students discussed that they wish they would

have known more about the resources available to them on campus but also the support from

family back home. Resources that are available to students on campus are one of the major issues

that first generation students face on our campuses. As previously discussed knowledge of

resources on campus are difficult for first generation students. Many students such as Todd said

that they thought that they only needed tutoring from the student success center if they were

struggling or needed Crazy help. These resources are readily available but they are not used

because of either access of knowledge of the resource. Students also seek support from their

families. Many students expressed a disconnect with their families. Carlie said that when she

talks to her parents they try and support and they do not

Challenges: Identification

An important part of any students growth in college is their identity. Students often seek

to find themselves at their respective university and that happens through their knowledge and

growth of their own personal identity. The issues that white first generation students are that they

often do not know that they are first generations students. Jessica said I did not know I was first
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generation until I got an email on graduation day saying I am invited to a First generation

breakfast. Craig said that he thought that you were only first generation if you were a minority

ethnicity. These are common misconceptions that many white first generation students have.

Banks-Santilli (2010) says that identification is one of the major challenges facing first

generation students today. There is such a varying criteria when it comes to parents education

that many students are confused by the language used and are unsure of whether or not they

qualify to be first generation students (Smith, 2016). This population also discussed that at times

they were embarrassed about their status as first generation. People are surprised when I tell

them I am first generation said Carlie. People think that because I am white that I am not first

generation. Craig goes on to say that white families are supposed to have education and the fact

that his family does not he felt embarrassed and found it difficult to talk to friends about.

Understanding what it means to be a first generation student is challenging. Jill said that since

she is a first generation American and a first generation student she was always consistently

confused on what advice people were giving her and she had a difficult time understanding how

one identifies. Since college plays a major role in the growth of a student it is important that

there is a clearly defined path on what ones identify is it is difficult to identify and get the help

you need when you are uncertain of what your identify is (Quaye & Harper, 2014).

Transitions: Social, Academic, And Family

Transitions for any student on a university is a challenge. What was interesting was the

amount of students how said that they were academically and socially not ready for college. In

the research there was almost a perfect split between students who were ready academically and

not socially and those who were ready socially but not academically. Their were students like

Craig, Jeremy and Carlie who said that high school was easy, they did not really have to work
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hard so academically they exceled and when they got to college they were prepared but socially

they had a difficult time because they spent so much time on academics and sports that making

new friends away from that was difficult. Then there were students like Todd, Chris, and Heather

who said that it would was difficult academically because they had not really been challenged in

high school so understanding that having to make time to do homework and having actually put

effort into their academics made it difficult to succeed right away. Saenz et al. (2007) says that

first generation college students tend to be further behind both academically and socially because

they are not usually pushed very hard to succeed academically and socially. Many first

generation students also have strong family roots so breaking away from those and going to

college is difficult for many students (Borrero, 2011). These difficult transitions are not only

made going to college, but they are also made when returning home. Every student expressed

that the return home from his or her first year of college was different. Craig said Oh yeah

things changed big time Carlie said yeah, things were way different Todd said I told my dad

I am a grown ass man now. These are just a few of the quotes that students had when returning

home after their first year of college. A common theme was that they were now on a different

level than their parents. They viewed life through a different lens and felt more mature about

their situations. The challenges came because parents did not understand what they had just gone

through. They did not know that feeling of moving away for college then coming back. The

growth that one has through their first year away is vast and many students felt that this was a

challenge when trying to share their college experiences. Some felt like they changed but for the

better. Craig said that it actually mended the relationship with his stepfather. He said that he

respects him more and now they can have a conversation and there is a better understanding of

one another.
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Advice to White First Generation Students

The last theme that I want to discuss is the theme regarding advice to new students. After

interviewing all of the students it was clear that all of these students had a heart and a passion to

give back to future students. The statements that student gave were Have fun, be engaged,

dont be afraid to ask questions. These are all things that these students wished they would

have known going into college. Jeremy said that he wished that he would have known to just

have fun and be yourself. Todd said be engaged, dont be afraid to go out of your comfort zone

because that is how you grow as a person. This was the common theme among all of the students

interviewed. Research shows that involvement among first generation students is among the

lowest of any student population (Lightweis, 2012). What was interesting about these results

is that from a population that has low engagement historically the advice that they would give

younger students would be to get involved. This shows that as students have progressed through

their college journey whether that be post grad or one semester students felt that involvement and

engagement were are the core of college success. This advice goes on to say that asking for help

is something that they wish they had been more comfortable with during college. An example

would be how to ask for tutoring help, or how to write an email to a professor. Heather says that

something so simple as writing an email to a professor was one of the challenges that she faced

early on in school. Difficulty asking questions is a common theme and is one that the participants

would advise others to try and do early on.

Limitations

There are several limitations to this study. First of all of the students that we interviewed

where from the same medium sized private Christian campus. This altered the results because

many of the answers that we received came from a Christian lens. Many of these students grew
FIRST GENERATION STUDENT TRANSITIONS 10

up in a church setting so they had opportunities for many mentors throughout their life. This

might not have been the same if we did the study on a large public campus.

Another limitation to the study was the students that were interviewed. These views are

from students that identify as white students on a predominantly white campus. These results

would have been different if the students that were interviewed were on a multi ethnic campus. I

believe that students on a campus like this would be more willing to identify as first generation

because they would be free to express who they are without the stigma of having the majority

student population, who they look like, treat them differently because of their parents education.

The last limitation for this research would be the way the data was collected. The

research teams largest focus group was three students. This was due to students not being able to

attend and scheduling conflicts with the participants. If the focus groups were larger there would

have been different responses. In the larger focus group of three students each student responded

to comments that the other students made. This back and forth commenting and thinking made

for richer answers and more thought provoking response because these students were getting

other ideas from their peers and it made them think more critically. Larger focus groups could

have potentially generated different answers from students. Also the sample size played a role in

the data collection. The research team had nine participants but the results could have been very

different if there were have twenty or thirty participants.

Implications and Conclusions

This studied aimed to gain knowledge on a student population where there was limited

research. The goal of the research was to look at white first generation students and how they

transitioned onto a college campus where they are the majority race but the minority when it

comes to their parents education. The research found that many of these students did not know
FIRST GENERATION STUDENT TRANSITIONS 11

that they were first generation students until middle of their college careers. They were unaware

of many of the resources that were available to them and they were not confident in asking for

help even when the resources where presented to them. Another finding indicated that white first

generation students wanted support from their families and people close to them. They expressed

a disconnect after coming to college with their families and they felt that they had a better grasp

on what they wanted to do, but that their families struggled to understand their situation.

Many of these factors aligned closely with previous literature. This research showed that

there are needs for all first generation students across college campuses. Even with the research

that has been conducted over the last 15 years the system for supporting these first generation

students in not perfect. These students still feel a lack of support and a lack of knowledge when it

comes to their own identity.

The purpose of this research was to increase awareness of a student population that is on

every campus but has very little support or resources. Being a first generation student is difficult

in it of itself so not understanding ones identity makes that culture shift that much harder.

Hopefully this research with encourage conversations on college campuses on how to make an

inclusive space for all students and a place where all students can be fully supported throughout

their time in higher education.

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