In a recent editorial for the Chronicle of Higher Ed, Eric Hoover discusses the complexities associated with defining “first-generation” students. Hoover writes that students come from a variety of backgrounds, including having no contact with a parent who has a degree or having a parent with a degree from another country. The author notes that there is often confusion over who constitutes a first-generation student, and institutions do not always use the same definition. Hoover discusses a new research brief from Common Applications that examines the impact of different ways of defining “first-generation” student and confirms that this status is a crucial, but very complicated variable. The brief authors encourage postsecondary professionals to challenge their existing pre-conceptions of and assumptions about first-generation students.
