<p>My parents attended college, but my mom didn't graduate and my dad receive an Associate's degree from a community college, transferred to another university, but also didn't graduate. I always assumed I was NOT first generation. Is this true, or do I qualify for that status because they didn't graduate?</p>
<p>I would like to know this as well. My mother attended but did not graduate - she reached her sophomore year.</p>
<p>General consensus here is that you are not first generation. First generation = your parents didn't go to college at all.</p>
<p>Couldn't the student also contact her HS college adviser or college rep to find out? Just a thought.</p>
<p>There seems to be some conflicting information. I have seen it stated as </p>
<p>Neither parent enrolled in a higher education institution</p>
<p>Neither parent holds a degree from a higher education institution</p>
<p>Does anyone one have clarification on this?</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing. My mom took ONE course at a community college and has 3 hours and my Dad took two or three and has maybe 12 hours, so I'm also incredibly curious about this question. I asked my guidance counselor, but he was not very helpful.</p>
<p>i too am confused at this. my dad, for example, didnt graduate from high school at all but when he lost his job he got a grant from the government to go to one of those private career colleges to get a diploma in being a daycare assistant.</p>
<p>does that mean i am no longer first generation? :S</p>
<p>This pdf states that the US Dept of Ed defines first generation college students as "Neither parent had more than a high school education"</p>
<p>However, I have searched the Dept of Ed website and could not find the definition stated there. </p>
<p>Here, the National Center for Education Statistics defines first gen students as "Undergraduates whose parents never enrolled in postsecondary education".</p>
<p><a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98082.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98082.pdf</a></p>
<p>So, it looks to me like a student is NOT considered first gen if either of their parents ever attended college.</p>
<p>^does first gen also include a parent attending community college for a bit but not finishing? Since community college is markedly different from "normal" college (anyone can just sign up and take classes)</p>
<p>Edit: It doesn't make any sense that being first gen means your parents never attended college period. The point of "AA" for first gens is to make up for the lack of opportunities that their peers whose parents hold college degrees have. A student whose parents dropped out doesn't have any distinct advantage over a student whose parents never attended at all. Both don't have degrees and so it's not like one got an advantage in the job market over the other, etc.</p>
<p>CC is college. It seems pretty clear to me in reading both of those definitions that the intent is that first gen means the parents had NOTHING more than a HS education.</p>
<p>They could very well have drawn the line at "not having completed a college degree" rather than "not having attended college", but in my reading that does not appear to be the case. Perhaps the intent of first gen is not to "make up for the lack of opportunities that their peers whose parents hold college degrees have", but rather to help those whose parents did not even have the opportunity to attend college at all.</p>
<p>True first gen is nothing past HS. College credits and AA degree is college, so you are not first gen. I think entomom has the logic of the thing.</p>
<p>*College credits and AA degree is college, so you are not first gen. *</p>
<p>But what about people whose parent attended CC for less than a semester, maybe only 2 months and didn't receive any college credits at all, let alone an AA degree. I don't think that should disqualify someone from being considered a First Gen. </p>
<p>Also, if you look at the common app, it does in fact ask for "degree earned" for whatever college your parents may have attended. So colleges do care whether or not your parents finished their postsecondary education and earned their degree(s).</p>
<p>Hippo,
The CA FIRST asks for: "College (if any)", THEN it asks for the degree and year IF in fact a degree was earned.</p>
<p>
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<p>The OP asked a question, I did some research and presented definitions from the most official sources I could find. I related my interpretation of these definitions INDEPENDENT of what I personally think first gen should mean. I am simply reading the information that I have found in a (hopefully) logical, verbatim way. If you don't agree with my interpretation, that's fine, don't use it. If you think the sources I have presented are incorrect, please present some of your own. </p>
<p>I have no horse in this race and feel no particular need to defend, justify or argue about the definition of first gen. And I'm getting tired of beating this dead one ;).</p>
<p>ENTOMOM -- Thanks to you and everyone here for your extraordinary efforts in clarying this issue for me, as I did find it very confusing. I appreciate all the time you spent looking into this, and (unfortunately) it does make complete sense to me, but it is nice to know that those applicants who do need true help (parents have no clue about college) will likely get the support they need.</p>
<p>Sorry it's taken so long for me to return to the forum. I've been swamped with work. I did have an opportunity to meet with my college adviser, and she indicated the same definition as Entomom about "first generation" and for the very same reasons. </p>
<p>Thanks again everyone!</p>
<p>What if it was in a different country?</p>
<p>ecoaz,
You're welcome and best of luck!</p>
<p>3Point,
Since it does not state "in the US", a literal reading of the definition would mean college anywhere.</p>
<p>what about those whose parent that attended college died? Or those who do not live with their biological parents?</p>
<p>wab technical college?</p>
<p>kingcat,
You put down where your parent(s) went to college and what degree (if any) they completed. After that, the college determines whether that fits in their definition of first gen or not. Each institution/program has their own definition, but unfortunately they do not publish that kind of information. You could always give a school a call and see if they will tell you their definition of first gen.</p>
<p>Each campus may have a different definition of what a first-generation college student is.</p>