Key points:
- Success gaps persist between first-generation students and their continuing-generation peers
- Why this university has identified faculty as a key to student success
- Student success teams turning to AI to support students
- For more news on student success, visit eCN’s Success & Well-Being hub
Six years after starting college, 24 percent of first-generation students and 59 percent of continuing-generation students earned a bachelor’s degree, according to FirstGen Forward, which released a fact sheet detailing completion gaps between first- and continuing-generation students.
Additionally, 48 percent of first-generation students obtained a postsecondary credential compared to 70 percent of continuing-generation students, meaning the remaining 52 percent of first-generation and 30 percent of continuing-generation students had yet earn postsecondary credentials six years after entering college.
“More than half of the undergraduates in our country are first-generation, and these students are applying to college at twice the rate of continuing-generation students,” said Maurice A. Jones, CEO of FirstGen Forward. “These data reveal to us a 35 percent difference between the graduation rate of first-gen students and that of their continuing-generation peers. The health and well-being of our communities and our country require us to work together to close this completion gap.”
“By 2031, seventy-two percent of jobs in the U.S. will require a postsecondary credential; between 2021-2031, the country is expected to generate 18.5 millions job openings annually, 12.5 million of which will require postsecondary training,” said Jones. “Therein lies the work to be done, the opportunity we are pursuing. When we close this gap, we will help strengthen our country’s workforce and help first-generation students access opportunities commensurate with their skills, education, and training.”
This new resource, produced with RTI International, joins a growing series of national data fact sheets released by FirstGen Forward, formerly the Center for First-generation Student Success. These data are sourced from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17).
The fact sheet, First-generation College Students’ Achievement and Federal Student Loan Repayment, describes the completion gap between first- and continuing-generation students (overall and by race/ethnicity), a comparison of degree earners who started at private, nonprofit, 4-year colleges with other institutional types (public, 2-year, etc.).
The fact sheet also contains initial data points on federal student loan repayments. Highlights from the fact sheet include:
- Six years after starting college, 69 percent of first-generation students made at least one late payment versus 50 percent of their continuing-generation student peers.
- 81 percent of Black or African American and 71 percent of Hispanic or Latinx/a/o first-generation students made at least one late payment compared to 65 percent of White and 40 percent of Asian first-generation students.
“These data reinforce our call to action,” said Jones. “If we come together and provide the support needed for first-generation student success, the benefits–for the student, for the institution, for the workforce, and for our economy–will be immense.”
This press release originally appeared online.
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