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First-Generation Students

Get to know your students. Even though you may have been involved in the college environment for some time, it is still a first for a lot of people. Whitney

Defining “First-Generation” Student

First-generation learners are a diverse group; it can be challenging to define such a group in a simple way. 

RU First, a Rutgers–New Brunswick unit that supports first-generation learners, defines first-generation learners as students with “neither parent having received a four-year college degree” or “any student who may self-identify as not having prior exposure to or knowledge of an experience like Rutgers and may find having resources to assist in the transition helpful.” 

This definition of “first generation” is more inclusive of learners who may not neatly fall into the “first in their family to attain a 4-year college degree” definition, but who may experience college in similar ways—for example, a student with an estranged parent who attained a college degree, or a student with a parent who attained a 4-year degree in another country and in another language.

Likewise, there is a wide degree of variation among those who are considered “continuing-generation” learners (i.e. learners who have at least one parent attain a 4-year college degree). For example, a student whose parents received advanced degrees and work within the higher education space may experience college quite differently from a student with one parent who completed college and then went on to work in an occupation that does not require a college degree. 

FirstGen Forward, an initiative of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the Sudar Foundation, provides a nuanced discussion of “first-generation college students”.

Learn More About First-Generation Students