Nina Lam Professor Rebecca Agosta English 1102 3 April 2014 Stepping Stones As I was walking around campus

for the first time at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I was wondering how many people were like me, people who are the first to step down the college pathway, and the first to explore what it is like to receive an opportunity to become someone better. As I looked around, I could not tell who the first generation college students were and who were not. A few days later, I met a few people; they all seemed to be similar but they also seemed to be a little different. I could not tell. That was until, I started talking to Yasemine, a freshman at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I thought her parents went to college and she was a continuous college student, college students whose parents or family members have received a college degree, but she told me otherwise. She is also a first generation college student, the first to explore the untouched pathway of her family. I was shocked but at the same time, she had changed my opinion and was a breakthrough to my stereotypical opinion. Not all white people are continuous college students. Another person who proved my opinion to be wrong was Lauren, Yasemines suitemate. I thought she was a first generation student because she is also Asian and her father was from a different country but she told me that her parents did go to college. Her father went to college in Hong Kong and her mother went to college in America. After knowing all this information about two different people, I asked myself what is a first generation college

student and do all first generation college students come from different background, ethnicity, and race? First generation college student has a very broad definition. According to Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas, Zaneeta E. Daver, Kristen E. Vogt, and Jeannie Brown Leonard, first generation student can mean a breaking of family tradition, which in this case would be discovering a new path to college since their parents had never attended college. This definition is broader compared to other people that I have interviewed. For example, I had interviewed Yasemine Akduman and I asked her how she defined a first generation college student to you. She answered If both your parents havent earned a degree of any sort then you are a first generation college student, and if their parents received a degree in another country then they are still continuous college student. In her words, we can see that some definitions for firstgeneration college students is a lot more detailed and has more restriction than others. In the following, we will be exploring the different aspects of being a first-generation college students to help define what is first-generation college students. We will be exploring the advantages, the challenges, the goals, and the lifestyles of first-generation college students. All these different aspects is what shapes an identity of the first-generation college students, such as why they struggle more, why they may speak a certain way, or have a certain attitude towards education. Method: In order to gather the information that is needed to define first-generation college students, a few methods were put into place. The first and most common method is to collect some facts that have been proven by scholars and have been published. Some information has been collected through James P. Gees Identity As an Analytic Lens for Research, Research in Higher Education by Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas, Zaneeta E. Daver, Kristen E. Vogt, and

Jeannie Brown Leonard, Unseen Disadvantage How American Universities by Nicole M. Stephens, and The Journal of Higher Education by Ernest T. Pascarella, Christopher T. Pierson, Gregory C. Wolniak, and Patrick T. Terenzini. In Gees article, an overview of what an identity is, such as how an identity is identified through nature, institution, discourse, and affinity. Identity through nature is the identity that is given to you at birth, such as your race. Identity through institution is the identity that is given to you through the institution, such as a professors institutional identity was given to them by the university they work for. Identity through discourse is the identity that is given to you by your friends or peers, such as a person being a clown within their friends group. Lastly, identity through affinity is composed of sets of distinctive experiences (Gee 105), such as being able to go to college. In Research in Higher Education, they attempted to define first generation college students by giving a broad term. They had also identified a few differences between firstgeneration college students and continuous college students, such as total family income and race/ethnicity, with first-generation college students more likely to have a lower family income and to be from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds (Inkelas et al. 405). In Unseen Disadvantage: How American Universities Focus On Independence Undermines The Academic Performance of First-Generation College Students, they also described the differences between first-generation college students and continuous college students. They explain much more in depth about the different lifestyles and the different values that first-generation college students and continuous college students may have. For example, These working-class realities often promote socialization practices that encourage children to

recognize their place in the Hierarchy, to follow the rules and social norms and to be responsive to others needs (Stephens). In The Journal of Higher Education, Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, and Terenzini, described their research method on first-generation college students. Their research was based on three different categories. The first category was based on demographic characteristics, secondary school preparation, the college choice process, and the college expectations (Pascarella et al. 249-250). The second category is the transition from high school to college, including the social and academic transitions (250). The last category would be the early career labor market outcomes (250). The result of the research is that students having parents with a high level of post-secondary education attended institutions with a significantly higher average level of entering student academic selectivity (264). The second type of research method that was used to collect information was through interviews. The interview was conducted on both male and female and of different race. The reason for the diverse in gender and race is to eliminate any possibilities of stereotypes. The interview was generally conducted on three people: Yasemine Akduman, Joshua Parks, and Joneka Percentie. The people that were chosen to be interviewed were chosen by asking two simple questions: the first one is whether or not they are a first-generation college students and what first-generation college students means to them. Yasemine provided detailed information such as her feelings towards being a first-generation college students, her lifestyle, and her view of first-generation college students. The other two people also provided information about being first-generation college students, their lifestyles, and their views but differences occurred throughout the three interviewees.

Results: Definition of First-Generation College Student As stated before, first-generation college students has a very broad definition to it and to different people, it may mean different things. Yasemines definition was If both your parents havent earned a degree of any sort and if their parents received a degree in another country then they are still continuous college students. Joshs definition was Not having a generation that proceeded to help me go through my education. In other words, even if your parents went to college, whether in the same country or a different country, but did not assist you throughout your educational career, then you are still a first-generation college students. Jonekas definition was The first person to go to a four year university in your family, currently enrolled, and working on a degree. As it is seen, through just three people, we can already see a difference between their definitions and how they identify first-generation college students with some definitions are more in depth than others. The main points that were stated by the interviewees is that you have to be the first to get a college degree and with little or no assistance. Another source to help identify the definition of first-generation college students is through Gees article. In his article, he stated four different identities: nature, institution, discourse, and affinity. The natural identity of first-generation college students is that they were born into a family with parents or other family members who did not obtain a college degree. The institutional identity would be given to the first-generation college students through the school because the school is what identified them as students. The discourse identity is given to them by their peers because without have continuous college students, there would be no such thing as first-generation college students. Lastly, their affinity identity was given to them when

they are the first in their family to go to college because it is a distinctive experience for them and not all students are the first to go off to college. Through both sources, we learn that being a first-generation college students really means to be the first to get a college degree and that the identity of a first-generation college students is not just an identity that is earned by the individual but also given to them by the society.

Advantages versus Challenges Being a first-generation college student definitely came with some challenges but there were also advantages. According to Yasemine, some advantages were create your own identity, dont live up to those pressures as much, strong work ethic, able to rise above your current social class, develop own morals, able to make our own decisions, more independent, more determination to succeed and rise above the lack of education, and setting higher goals. Many of the interviewees have stated that they did not have to live under the standards that were already set by their parents and it was exciting to be able to explore a new pathway and break their family traditions. Yasemine even said As a first-generation college student, I get to create my own identity whereas if I were a continuous college student, I would feel the need to follow in my familys footsteps, which might set a limit on how well I could do further on in life. Joneka also expressed a similar feeling: first-generation college students have more motivation to finish. Continuous college students would take for granted to go to college because to their family it is no big deal. Knowing this information, it is clear that identity plays a significant part as an advantage.

Challenges definitely play an important role in being a first-generation college student. Joshua had stated that some challenges were Not having anyone to ask for help, you can ask counselors but not having family members to ask is what makes it hard. We all know that family support is important but first-generation college students have no choice but to face this new pathway independently. Yasemine had also stated some challenges, Some challenges were not necessarily having an academic support system, knowing how to apply to college and the scholarships, stress because I know I have to make the Akduman name look good, and knowing what to do, such as how to pay for things and how to get help. Most of the challenges and advantages that were stated by the interviewees made are very true. Coming to college as a first generation college student, I had faced many similar road block. Growing up in a family with parents with little education definitely made life harder because when it comes to applying for college applications or more advanced classes for the different subjects, my parents were never able to help much. On the contrary, continuous college students are able to ask their parents or anyone in their family to guide them through some courses and assist them with their college applications. Personally, continuous college students already have their stepping stones placed down on the path for them, while first generation college students must lay down each stepping stone on their own and making sure they are sturdy. Goals Everybody lives with a different goal but the interviewees all shared a similar goal, happiness. When asked what is success to Yasemine, Joneka, and Josh, they all replied with happiness. Yasemines response was a little more in depth and I agree with it. Her response was Being truly happy and knowing that youve touched people you know in the world around you.

For some people, their goals may be to make a lot of money but for first- generation college students, they just want to be able to finish their college degree and be happy with their job. For continuous college students, they may have the same dream of being happy but the main difference is the difficulty in achieving this happiness. First-generation college students has to go through a lot more challenges in order to reach their ultimate goal, happiness. On the other hand, a continuous college students has the choice of following their family members footsteps and remain in the same position and still consider to be happy. Overall, the ultimate goal of every one is to be happy but it is the pathway that is taken to reach this goal. Lifestyle The lifestyle between first-generation college students and continuous college students is very different. Typically, first-generation college students comes from a lower income background and are mainly composed of minorities while continuous college students comes from middle upper class. (Karen Inkelas et al. 405) According to Joneka, A lot of firstgeneration college students has financial problems and personally without a full ride given to me by the school, I would not have been able to go to college. Joneka is a female, African American and with her making that statement, it is proven that what Karen Inkelas and the other writers have said is correct. Even Yasemine had said something similar to Joneka, Some differences that I see between me and continuous college students is family support, financial support, and work ethic. As we can see, Yasemine had also stated financial support as a problem and she is currently a Turkish-American student who is counting on scholarships to help her way through college.

Personally, I was one of the more fortunate first-generation college students but my parents did have to go through a lot to put where my family stands today in the society. I do agree with first-generation college students having more financial issues than continuous college students because even research has shown that there is a huge difference between someone who did receive a higher education and someone who did not.

Business Insider, April 6, 2014. Another aspect of the lifestyle of first-generation college students is that they had almost always have to start working at a young age. For example, Yasemine and I have both started working and supporting ourselves since the day we were legally able to work. Yasemine stated I had to work a lot harder to get where I am today and save up money for college. Even experts

have stated that first-generation college students has to start working earlier on in their lifetime (Stephens). I have started working since about 14 years old and still working while in college far away from home. I agree with what Stephens said about first-generation college students having to work very early on in their life and must work and attend classes at the same time in order to succeed. Meanwhile, continuous college students can choose not to work and go to school or choose to work but start at a later age. Lastly, family support is always essential for success, either in school, work, or choices. First-generation college students have their family to support them but cannot get the physical support with their education. For example, like with physics, not many parents of first-generation college students would understand the concept of physics or even that level of mathematics. Yasemine had stated I cant rely on my parents which caused me to rely on myself to get help and also hindered my abilities to possibly to achieve higher scores academically. Similarly, Josh had stated that he could only rely on his friends whenever he ran into trouble with schoolwork. I also have similar experiences. Being the daughter of Chinese immigrants, who came from the country-side made my educational career much harder than it is compared to many continuous college students. I always had to try to understand the material on my own or else ask a friend. Otherwise, I would have to stay after school to attempt getting help from teachers, depending on whether or not they were available. Summary Overall, with all the resources that were pulled together, whether it was a research conducted by professors or experts or interviews that were conducted personally, we can see that first-generation college students has a hard time getting around their early life. First-generation college students must work with the limited resources that they have and attempt to become as

good as or better than continuous college students. First-generation college students are typically lower income minorities, who has little or no assistance from their family, yet they are the first to receive their college degree and break family traditions.

Works Cited Gee James P., "Chapter 3: Identity As an Analytic Lens for Research in Education. " Review of Research in Education. 25.1 (2000): 99-125. Print. Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas, Zaneeta E. Daver, Kristen E. Vogt and Jeannie Brown Leonard Research in Higher Education , Vol. 48, No. 4 (June 2007) , pp. 403-434 Stephens, Nicole M., et al. "Unseen Disadvantage: How American Universities' Focus On Independence Undermines The Academic Performance Of First-Generation College Students." Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 102.6 (2012): 1178-1197. PsycARTICLES. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. Ernest T. Pascarella, Christopher T. Pierson, Gregory C. Wolniak and Patrick T. Terenzini The Journal of Higher Education , Vol. 75, No. 3 (May - Jun., 2004) , pp. 249-284 Park, Joshua. Personal Interview. 27 Mar 2014. Percentie, Joneka. Personal Interview. 27 Mar 2014. Akduman, Yasemine. Personal Interview. 26 Mar 2014. Weisenthal, Joe. "Here's The Difference In Career Prospects Between People Who Did And Didn't Go To College." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 06 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.