<p>what is it? My dad never went to college, however my mom attended college for 1 year and dropped out. Does that make me a first generation college student?</p>
<p>Yes, your parents didn't graduate from a college.</p>
<p>It depends on the school you're applying to as there are two commonly used definitions of first gen college. One is what disasterous has stated, parent(s) attended some college, but did not obtain a degree. The other is that neither parent has enrolled in education past HS, here are two citation for this definition:</p>
<p><a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98082.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98082.pdf</a>
<a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001153.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001153.pdf</a></p>
<p>I have seen posts by long time CC members who state that colleges they have dealt with use the first definition, while others use the second. At least on the CA, it just asks what colleges your parents attended and the degree received, and from that schools determine if you fit their definition of first gen. If you want to find out which definition specific colleges use, give them a call.</p>