Who is a first-generation college student? California colleges, universities can’t agree
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Across California’s public colleges and universities, one nearly universal admissions factor — first-generation status — is still up to debate because no one can agree how to define it.
The phrase “first-generation college student” is about the education level of a students’ parents and it’s a key predictor of that student’s success in school. For years, California schools have used first-generation college status as a means to boost campus diversity, especially after voters banned affirmative action in 1996. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 29 decision to end race-conscious admissions nationwide, the term is top of mind.
It’s more than semantics: For those who lack support from family to navigate college, the term “first generation” encompasses an experience, a part of their identity, and in some cases, access to targeted state and federal services. In the Inland Empire, first-generation students can receive thousands of dollars worth of tutoring and support through high school and college — if they meet a certain definition.
But these contradicting definitions leave some students unsure what first generation means and how they should proceed.
Who counts as a first-generation college student?
The University of California boasts a higher percentage of first-generation students compared to the community college system, which uses a more restrictive definition of the term. The UC system defines a first-generation student as anyone whose parents did not receive a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, while the California Community College Chancellor’s Office defines it as any student whose parents never attended college at all.
Cal State, meanwhile, includes numerous definitions on its website. In one scenario, 31% of CSU students are considered first generation; according to another definition, 52% are.
It’s a national problem. In one 2018 study, researchers surveyed 7,300 students using eight different definitions for the term “first-generation student.” Using one definition, 22% of students were considered first generation; according to another definition, 77% were.
“There’s nothing really clear and centralized,” said Sarah Whitley, who serves as the vice president at the Center for First-Generation Student Success, a national nonprofit and advocacy organization. “It’s something that we’re hoping to get to, but the data is just so messy everywhere.”
Mateo Fuentes’ parents immigrated from El Salvador where his father dropped out after middle school. Fuentes’ mother enrolled at Mt. San Antonio College, a community college in the Inland Empire, after they arrived in the U.S., but she left before completing her associate degree.
Fuentes qualifies as a first-generation student under the UC definition, but not under the requirements set by the Community College Chancellor’s Office.
He said it’s an unfair distinction. Even though his mother attended college, he said she was unable to help him navigate the system when he applied to college in his senior year of high school and eventually enrolled at UC Davis.
To the Community College Chancellor’s Office, calling Fuentes a first-generation student disregards the education that his mother received: Even students who drop out before obtaining their associate degree may receive certifications, such as for many healthcare or trade professions.
In an email to CalMatters, community college spokesperson Paul Feist said any definitions that exclude associate degrees and certificates — including the UC definition — “inaccurately and unfairly assumes that such experiences are not college.”
Other students who may qualify as first-generation status never appear in the state’s data. They may not know their parents’ education, they may decline to share it, or there may be challenges in data collection.
For example, a little more than one in five enrolled students in the 2021-22 academic year did not report their parents’ education, according to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. At the CSU system, it’s one in 10, and in the UC system, it’s about 3%.
Details get ‘tricky’ as colleges diverge
In many cases, individual schools use their own definitions.
For example, the UC system requires that students seeking first-generation status have parents without a four-year degree. But UC Riverside and a grant-based program at UCLA have a more expansive definition: If their parents have a degree from another country, the student still counts as first generation.
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