The Importance of Understanding the Dilemmas Faced by First-Generation College Students: How Their Perspectives Differ from Continuing-Generation Students

The many obstacles faced by first-generation students are some that tend to be unnoticed. These obstacles usually pertain to social economic disadvantages and system faults in higher education institutions. Recent studies show how universities are accountable for selecting the best students based on a function of selection with a higher focus on high social class norms. These norms tend to leave out individuals whose backgrounds are different in the aspect of culture, social, and financial status. The values, ideas, and language use of high social class, inherently being promoted in America’s …show more content…
Socioeconomic status is the measure of an individual’s or family’s economic and social position based on education, income, and occupation (American Psychological Association, 2015). The socioeconomic background of first-generation students is an inconvenience based on the fact that most first-generation students belong to a low social class. In a study set up to research whether generational status acts as a risk factor or as a sensitizing factor, it was found that, first generation college students were more likely to report coming from lower socio-economic status backgrounds( Aspelmeier, Love, McGill, Elliot, & Pierce, 2012). These circumstances become a great difficulty when the parent’s educational level does not permit them to acquire the knowledge to teach their adolescents unspoken rules and norms that are needed to act accordingly and succeed in the American university systems. When students are not taught these important skills they develop a co-dependent self-concept that is not equivalent with the values promoted within the university system (Jury et al., 2015). A combination of these two confrontational factors consequently expose first-generation students to external harmful factors such as; nervous tension, lack of sleep, lack of nourishment, and most of all lack of support. These setbacks inherently cause first-generation