My entire family are immigrants to the U.S., but my dad went to college in Korea. They don’t know anything about the American College stuff, so I basically research and find out on my own.
Am I considered first generation?
<p>no. your dad went to college.</p>
<p>but you know what i've always wondered, if they would ever find out whether someone was lying or not. i know it's not ethical, but do colleges ever check whether they are or aren't first generation.</p>
<p>wait..i thought it was first generation. I thought when dey say first genereation, i thought they meant going to college in America.</p>
<p>No, your dad went to college in korea</p>
<p>it doesn't matter if it's in america, cuba, haiti, france or hong kong</p>
<p>just say your second to go to college.</p>
<p>yep not 1st generation. On some applications (not most but a couple) it's simply if they attended, they didn't even have to graduate</p>
<p>ooo i see. but im pretty sure they verify or not your 1st generation</p>
<p>it's pretty easy to verify isn't it?</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, how do they verify? I think lying about it is wrong and should not be done. But for my own interest...how would they do it? Go through each colleges student body over the last say 40 years or so and see if your parent was there? How would it be done? Its like proving a negative- its easy to verify if someone went to a particular college in a particular year, but to prove someone never went to college anywhere, how would it be done?</p>
<p>well, i think they verify by checkin with the school or the state exams. They ask you in the beginning to say if they went to college or not. All the college has to do it call up the school</p>
<p>Probably can be checked using a SSN -- you have to provide your parents' SSN's on the FASFA.</p>
<p>If parents went to school in the US, their SSN is most likely on file somewhere and by now cross-linked with all the other personal info that is readily available on the internet.</p>
<p>^ yea what if they went to a school in another country></p>
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<p>I think that would definitely be more difficult to verify. But I would venture to say that if the parents have lived in the US long enough to have established some kind of credit history it may be possible that they have disclosed their educational background on some application, etc.</p>
<p>Overall, I'd say it would be much easier to verify college attendance for parents who attended US schools.</p>
<p>No, it wouldn't be that easy. There is no central data base. Do you really think each school would check on applicants' PARENTS? There are thousands of schools in this country. And remember, most parents are in their 40s and 50s. Things were not computerized back then. Now, on a job application a person claims a college to show they have an education. So the employer can check with ONE school. To prove someone never went to college ANYWHERE? And isn't FAFSA not connected to the application process? Aren;t they in two separate places? And what about technical schools? Art Colleges?</p>
<p>My point is, you can verify if someone claims to have GONE to a particular school. It would be extremely difficult to verify a person DID NOT go to any school any where. Who would have the time? What if step dad went to college but birth dad did not? What if mom went for one semester but left due to finances? What if Dad went in Europe. I lived in 10 different cities in five states, how would they be able to figure out where my mom went to school? </p>
<p>Colleges have enough trouble collecting all the data on the applicant, how in the world would they be able to prove someone never ever went to college? Umm, lets see Mr Smiths job application from 1982 at Jones Company (which by the way is private) to see if he went to college? </p>
<p>It would of course be wrong to lie. My point is that you can't prove a negative.</p>
<p>PS- The Social Security system, while good, is not that good. With all they have to do, do you think they would search old records to verify someone NEVER went to college? And with millions and millions of applicants, and millions of parents, with divorces, deaths, remarriages, moves, name changes, how would it be possible? And because the reason for asking the first generation question has to do with admission ot a school, and not really anything to do with money, why would the Social Security people even want to help....</p>
<p>Character is who you are when no one is watching.</p>
<p>There is an assumption that people will tell the truth. They even go as far as to sign declarations that the information they are giving is true. Do people lie on their applications, all of the time. Do people get caught yes. Are admissions and degrees rescinded, because of lies yes. Remember as the world is a really big place, it is also a really small place and is it really worth it to be constantly looking over your shoulder.</p>
<p>
<p>No, personally I don't think they would check on applicants' parents. I do think that if they wanted to, they certainly could. </p>
<p>Like sybbie, I believe that there is an assumption that people will tell the truth. Do they? Just based on the number of questions that get posted on these forums asking "how do schools verify such and such", I think there are some people who at least contemplate stretching the truth, or plain right out lying.</p>
<p>But that was not the issue I was addressing when I responded about SSNs facilitating the verification of information. In fact I was responding to:</p>
<p> [quote=citygirlsmom] Out of curiosity, how do they verify? I think lying about it is wrong and should not be done. But for my own interest...how would they do it?
</p>
<p>I don't claim to know that they do verify, but rather that the resources exist so they could You may be correct in saying, "there is no central data base". But in the past several years many federal/state programs & agencies have undertaken the task of transferring/storing their information electronically, thus creating their own data bases. Many of these federal agencies/programs ARE are already sharing the information on their data bases. Some agencies that already do this include SSA, IRS, Immigration, Federal Housing, Welfare Adm, etc. There are also non-government agencies that already share data bases such as insurance companies.</p>
<p>By no means am I claiming to be any kind of expert on the subject, I'm only a 17 yr old student. However, my mom works for a federal agency
and I am familiar with this topic. While the SS system is not perfect as you say, SSNs are the main link to information.</p>
<p>i have a quesiton.</p>
<p>i know that colelges will tend to be "softer" on students who are 1st gen. because they dont have "guiadance and opportunities"
...which implies that their parents are not as smart or educated.
^ I disagree with that.</p>
<p>well, I'm 1st gen too. my father didnt go to high school. mom finished high school. My dad's a factory worker. My mom works at marshalls. But besides this, my dad also does business, and it is doing very well. If i put on my App that my father has his own company, on occupation and stuff, will colleges consider my dad "average educated/smart, even though he didnt finish high school?"</p>
<p>i dont want them to consider my dad educated/smart...I want them to think my parents are stupid, haha (of course)...thats the point of "1st generation", right?</p>