First Generation College Students at CSU

November, 2013

NATIONAL PATTERNS

First Generation Students• More likely to

– Be less academically prepared for college

– Have less knowledge of how to apply for college and for financial assistance

– Have more difficulty in acclimating themselves to college once they enroll

• More at risk for not completing a degree because they are more likely to

– Delay enrollment after high school

– Enroll in postsecondary education part-time

– Work full-time while enrolledTym, et al. (2004)

First Generation Students• Characteristics (Choy, 2001; Nunez and Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998)

– Older

– Lower income

– Part-time

– Live off-campus or with relatives

– Not be in a bachelor’s degree program

– Delay enrollment after high school

– Receive aid

– Work full-time

• Less likely to take loans (Schmidt, 2003)

• Disconnect between home and school cultures limits the effects of classroom learning as underserved students see few connections to their world. (Pell Institute, 2004)

Likelihood of Enrollment

• Likelihood of enrolling in any postsecondary institution, accounting for other factors:– 59% if parents had not gone to college– 79% if parents had at least some college– 93% among those where at least one parent had

degree

Proportions of First Generation Students by Institutional Type

less than 2-year 2-Year 4-Year0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80% 73%

53%

34%

Representation of First Generation Students by Institutional Type (Choy, 2001)

Not First Gen First Gen0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

12%

67%

Representation at For-Profit Institutions

Representation at For-Profit Institutions

Retention and Completion by First Generation Students at Four-Year Institutions

• Twice as likely to drop out (four-year institutions) before the second year (Choy, 2001)

• 1/3 as likely to earn a bachelors degree by age 24 (Mortensen)

FIRST GENERATION STUDENTS AT CSU

Trend in First Generation Student Enrollment

FA02 FA03 FA04 FA05 FA06 FA07 FA08 FA09 FA10 FA11 FA120%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

28.4%

25.8%

27.7%28.9%

27.5%

25.4%24.3% 24.6%

23.2%

25.8% 26.1%

Percent of First Generation Students in New Freshman Entering Cohorts

More than 1 in 4 students is first generation

First Generation Students by College

College of V

eterin

ary M

edicine and Biomedica

l Scie

nces

College of A

gricultu

ral S

cience

s

Intra-U

niversity

College of L

iberal A

rts

College of H

ealth and H

uman Science

s

College of N

atura

l Scie

nces

Warn

er Colle

ge of Natu

ral R

esource

s

College of B

usiness

College of E

ngineering

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

31.1%

27.5%26.5%

24.7% 24.2% 23.9%22.5%

20.0%

16.0%

First Generation Student Enrollment by College, FA12

University average = 26.1%

Graduation Rate Gap

FA98 FA99 FA00 FA01 FA02 FA03 FA04 FA05 FA06 FA07

NOT FIRST-GEN 0.680074 0.667539 0.6776 0.675849 0.656566 0.669811 0.673589 0.671 0.662 0.679

FIRST-GEN 0.558753 0.548052 0.57545 0.590164 0.592628 0.586278586278587

0.575703 0.584699 0.573 0.572

5%

15%

25%

35%

45%

55%

65%

75%

Rate of Graduation within Six Years for First Generation Students by Entering Fall (FA) Cohort

Average gap (10 years): 9.6 percentage points

Most recent cohort (FA07):10.7 percentage points

VARIABLES Model1 Model2 Model3 Model4 Model5 Model6 Residency (CO) 1.302*** 1.307*** 1.309*** 1.356*** 1.394*** 1.410***

(0.047) (0.047) (0.047) (0.048) (0.049) (0.049)

Asian Pacific 0.882* 0.877* 0.896 0.927 0.949

(0.127) (0.128) (0.130) (0.130) (0.131)

African American 0.645*** 0.651*** 0.901 0.954 1.020

(0.160) (0.160) (0.163) (0.164) (0.165)

Hispanic 0.729*** 0.724*** 0.822*** 0.897** 0.921*

(0.074) (0.075) (0.076) (0.077) (0.078)

Multi-Racial 0.802 0.797 0.821 0.842 0.868

(0.138) (0.138) (0.141) (0.142) (0.142)

Native American 0.644 0.640 0.729 0.768 0.799

(0.291) (0.291) (0.296) (0.296) (0.298)

Gender (female) 1.188*** 1.124*** 1.141*** 1.147***

(0.039) (0.040) (0.040) (0.040)

CCHE Index 1.040*** 1.039*** 1.039***

(0.002) (0.002) (0.002)

First Generation 0.701*** 0.729***

(0.044) (0.045)

Pell Recipient 0.789***

(0.058)

Constant 1.433*** 1.484*** 1.349*** 0.017*** 0.019*** 0.019***

(0.042) (0.042) (0.048) (0.228) (0.230) (0.230)

Observations 11645 11645 11645 11645 11645 11645

Model Chi2 31.159 059.776 079.497 485.675 550.366 567.016

dfModel 1 6 7 8 9 10

McFadden R2 0.0037 0.0070 0.0093 0.0560 0.0633 0.0651

Logistic Regression Analysis, Six-Year Graduation (IR, 2012)

“First Generation” characteristic has a powerful association with lower odds of graduation success, even after controlling for other relevant factors

(odds of six-year graduation are .729 as great as the odds for non-first generation students)

Controlling for other factors, students who are first generation stand about a 67% likelihood of degree completion as compared to a 73% chance for students who are not first generation, a difference of six percentage points. (Difference significant at the p=.01 level)

Institutional Research, 2103

Association of First Gen Status with Other Characteristics

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

Series3Non-Minority

(White, International, NR)

White(excludes Interna-

tionaland NR)

Percentage of New Freshmen Who Are First Generation, Fall 2012(*Data on Pell eligibility are from Fall 2011 Cohort)

Perc

enta

ge o

f Stu

dent

s Who

are

Firs

t Gen

erati

on

Minority Status Income Race/Ethnicity Residency

Y-axis indicates percentage of given population who are First GenerationSize of Bubble indicates popula-tion size

THE POWER OF LANGUAGE

The Power of Language

• Inventing the term “first generation” in the TRIO community, 1980

• “Clueless?” Or “Pioneer?”

• The power of acknowledgement (“honorary,” not patronizing)

• First Generation students as assets: motivated, thoughtful, receptive