EAB Publishes Fast Facts About First-Generation Students

December 18, 2018

Share this

Title: 7 Fast Facts About Your First-Generation Students

Source: EAB

EAB has compiled a list of facts about first-generation students in the United States that draws from recently published research. As the data show:

  • Nearly half of all first-generation students attend community colleges, compared to 25 percent of students whose parents attended college.
  • Thirty-three percent of first-generation students drop out of school within three years, much greater than the percent of students whose parents have a college education who do so (14 percent).
  • First-generation students are more likely to be motivated by a desire to give back to a community (61 percent) than continuing-generation students (43 percent).
  • First-generation students are 4 percent less likely to work in the for-profit sector than continuing-generation students, and have starting salaries that are 12 percent below the starting salary of continuing-generation students.
  • First-generation students are less likely to have a professor as a mentor. In the 2018 Strada-Gallup Alumni Survey, 66 percent of continuing-generation students and only 61 percent of first-generation students identify a professor as a mentor.
  • First-generation students face obstacles beyond the cost of attendance, including difficulty in navigating and understanding the processes associated with enrolling in postsecondary education.
  • Not all first-generation students know they are first-generation. This lack of awareness may contribute to underutilization of available resources by first-generation students.

To read the full sheet, please visit the EAB website.

—Georgiana Mihut


If you have any questions or comments about this blog post, please contact us.

Keep Reading

Resources Designed for International Students Could Also Help First-Generation Students

Campus support services for international students and first-generation students are usually separated, based on the assumption that these two groups of students have different needs. But are there benefits to joint programs?

May 8, 2019
Roanoke College graduation

Supporting First-Generation and Low-Income Students at the University of Florida

First launched in 2006, the Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program supports nearly 1,250 undergraduates annually and will soon surpass the 2,000 alumni milestone. For the first-generation and low-income students in the program, early estimates indicate that they are 44 percent more likely to graduate in four years and 47 percent more likely to complete in six years compared to their peers.

September 21, 2015

How Predominantly Black Institutions Help Low-Income, First-Generation African American Students Succeed

Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs) are not well understood in the higher education lexicon, despite serving a large number of students of color: namely, a large number of black or African Amer­ican students. Robert T. Palmer and Jared Avery of Howard University look at the role of PBIs in facilitating access and success for low-income, first-generation students of color.

October 16, 2017