Hello! I am currently going into my senior year of high school.
I’m not sure whether or not I am a first gen student.
My father never attended college. My mother didn’t finish secondary school in China, but after she immigrated to the US, she attended a college for 2 years just to learn English, but didn’t obtain a degree.
Yes, then you will likely be seen as first gen. The app doesn’t ask this, it only asks about what schooling your parents had, what diplomas they received. They each then decide what to make of that.
Simple answer: yes.
Longer answer: there are countless supports, insights, and perspectives that accrue when adults have had the good fortune to attend college and earn a post-secondary degree. When we share these with our children, they benefit from the experience of the parents’ educational experience. Colleges try to create a more level playing field by accounting for the relative "dis"advantage of students who don’t have the benefit of a prior generation’s higher-ed exposure. When poverty, migration, trauma, racism, cultural assumptions, or other circumstances keep a parent from college, there may be loads of other strengths, insights, and supports they do share with their children. First-gen status doesn’t speak to all of the complexity, but it is a rough and important step toward equity.
“First generation to college” typically means that neither parent has a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, but some colleges use a different definition, such as neither parent has attended any college.
For example, California public universities use the first definition, but California community colleges use the second definition.
Yes, you are a first generation student. Your mom just took english classes in College - as she could have done in any institution - but she didn’t take classes to obtain a College degree.
Sorry for the late reply, thank you all for your responses c: