Parental Encouragement, Career and Financial Growth Motivate First-Generation Students to Attend College
First In My Family, A Profile of First-Generation College Students at Four-Year Institutions Since 1971
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Research Brief
Official Press Release
Order Book
First-generation college students are receiving increasing attention from researchers, practitioners, and policy makers with the aim of better understanding their college decision-making process and supporting their progress in higher education. This is a critical population of students to study because of the general perception that, relative to their peers, such students have poorer academic preparation, have different motivations for coming to college, have varying levels of parental support and involvement, have different expectations for their colelge experience, and have significant obstacles in their path to retention and academic success. As part of the 40th Anniversary of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, this report explores the changing dynamic between first-generation college students and their non first-generation peers by utilizing longitudinal trends data collected through the CIRP Freshman Survey (1971-2005).
About the Authors...
Dr. Victor B. Saenz is the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's (CIRP) Research Manager, responsible for managing research and reporting activities for the range of surveys conducted under the CIRP umbrella at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI). Dr. Saenz has worked at HERI for over five years in various capacities, including as a research analyst, a postdoctoral scholar, and as Director of Follow-up Surveys. He currently holds a joint academic appointment with the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Dr. Saenz is a former Spencer Foundation Fellow, and his research interests include: assessing the educational benefits of racial diversity on college campuses; desegregation issues; exploring the leakages in the Education pipeline for underrepresented students; and, chronicling the policy impacts of changing affirmative action and remedial education policies in higher education.
Dr. Sylvia Hurtado is Professor and Director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA in the Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences. Dr. Hurtado has published numerous articles and books related to her primary interest in student educational outcomes, campus climates, college impact on student development, and diversity in higher education. She obtained her Ph.D. in Education from UCLA, Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and A.B. from Princeton University in Sociology. Dr. Hurtado is completing a project on how colleges are preparing students to achieve the cognitive, social, and democratic skills to participate in a diverse democracy. She is also engaged in a National Institutes of Health project on the preparation of underrepresented students for biomedical and behavioral science research careers.
Doug Barrera is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA and a research assistant at the Higher Education Research Institute, where he assists in the development and administration of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s Freshman Survey, Your First College Year Survey, and the College Senior Survey. His research interests include community/campus partnerships, service learning, and the role of higher education in the expansion of democratic activity. He is currently conducting a study of sustainable community partnerships formed through service learning courses and the impact such partnerships have on the communities served.
De’Sha S. Wolf is a doctoral student in the Higher Education and Organizational Change Program of UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She is also a former research assistant of the Higher Education Research Institute. Her current research focuses on family relationships during the undergraduate years, college access and retention for underrepresented minority students, and financial aid literacy.
Fanny PF Yeung is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences at UCLA and a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Student Affairs Information and Research Office. Her current research interests focuses on access to success and student retention in higher education for first-generation college students, children of immigrants, and former participants of outreach programs. Currently, she is involved in a research project examining students’ ethical beliefs and behaviors in college.
For further information, please contact the Higher Education Research Institute at 310-825-1925 or via e-mail at heri@ucla.edu.