Empowering Resources by Dr. Jeannette Nance Frett

Media coverage in The New York Times, on network TV and elsewhere highlighted stories of first-generation college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. While research had already shown that financial stress, a sense of guilt about leaving one’s family behind, and a struggle to fit in could impact the first-generation undergraduate experience, these issues intensified during the pandemic. 

Now that graduation has arrived, first generation students will join their peers in preparing to find work that pays the rent and advances their career goals. The assumption may be that once they graduate, these first-generation students are basically in the same leaky boat as their peers- just with more student loans.

That’s not the case.