I work with first gen students in California so I have the following advice:
- Three websites that are really helpful are:
“Iamfirst.org” This website is devoted to first generation students and is a way for colleges to connect to them. It is also an organization that helps local organization and counselors. Colleges who are interested in first gen become “college partners”. In the listing of each college partner they will break up information such as diversity fly-ins, bridge programs, support systems, special scholarships etc. I find this website difficult to find things but if you practice with it you can get the hang of it. Each year they publish a guide for the first gen student which costs around $14 and I found that easier to use. However be sure to sign up for their newsletters and bog. Information they have sent me has been really valuable such as the addition of new diversity fly-ins etc. I know when I see who is a partner college who is really interested in my first gen students as well as providing support for my URM students who are not first gen. The other thing that is helpful is the blogs by other first gen students who inspire your students. Matt Rubincoff is the executive director and I know the Gates Foundation has given funding for this organization. They also publish the names of other organizations like yours. I use that to network and share information with other counselors.
I also use “getmetocollege.org” and click on the high school tab. This website was created by Dr. Rebecca Joseph, an professor at Cal-State LA. Now she has a separate website where she has an app you can paid for for essay help, that is not the website I am talking about. If you click “high school student” you will get to the relevant free website. This website has a ton of useful information which is especially relevant for California students both first gen and urms. Her diversity fly-in list is always one of the best. She publishes monthly tips which are great and has lots of California relevant info the far side. Again sign up for her newsletter for the latest updates.
I also use the website and book “The College Solution”. The author Lynn O’Shaughnessy is from California. This website focuses on the affordability of college. Read her book, it helped me not only with my students but with my own children. It is mandatory reading for my families. The website is also great because she publishes relevant articles on her website and really helps in explaining how to find affordable colleges and how to interpret awards etc. Lynn is very generous with her times especially to first gen so I suggest you contact her to see if she will speak to your organization. I have had her speak to my families and they love her.
- Think outside of the box. First gen students need a lot of support and in my experience California State schools have not really provided it (unless they are in an EOP program with good counselors). You have to remember that California colleges (and I know them well because my parent taught in them for 40 years) are impacted, For example at UCSB, the average class size for freshman intro classes is 800 students. My first gen students have done much better in smaller colleges. Pitzer Colllege has been great to my first gen students especially since the director of Admissions Angel Perez is a first gen himself(just found out he is moving on to Trinity College). Pitzer is extremely generous with financial aid. Plus it is test optional. In my experience my first gen have much difficulty with standardized tests therefore I have them apply to colleges that are test optional. You can find the list at fairtest.org. Occidental is another college that is generous with aid and small and supportive. One thing you have to do is ask each college how they treat first gen, such as do that have special scholarships etc. I find that my first gen do not necessarily have to the average gpa for acceptance to a certain college if they demonstrate other compelling factors in their application.
Look out of state for those colleges that are more generous with aid and would be better suited for supporting the first gen student than California state schools. A good place to start is the group known as “the colleges that change lives”. ctcl.org. For every college I ask about support and special aid. I have been able to successfully place students at great small colleges outside of California because of doing the research directly with the college. I find out who has a multi-cultural center or first gen center, what kind of support and do they have programs like “LAMP” etc.
- Look into programs like Jack Kent Cooke Scholars or Hamilton Scholars for your students. True you may only get one into those programs but even changing one student's life makes a difference. Costco has a special private scholarship for first gen students attending college in Washington. There is no one place with a list, you have to create it yourself but again with research you will happily be surprised with what you may discovered. In Southern California there is also the Tiger Woods Foundation. Southwest Airlines has a scholarship to award plane tickets for Latinos students. Again new scholarships are created each year, you just have to find them. Gates and Questbridge are other programs. Sometimes these kinds of programs can help the student over the financial aid hump.
- With these students you have to make college a possibility. I start with my students when they are freshman so that they can imagine themselves going to college. I try to find students like them to speak to them. I make them be responsible for themselves. I will admit there are days when it is very frustrating. A leading expert in college counseling created a free multi-day workshop in our area held at the library branch in the barrio. I literally had to drag students to it and then many did not return for the other sessions, but I look at it as a situation that if I can one student succeed it is a good thing. This year I have a student going to Harvard, students from his community do not typically go to Harvard, everyone is excited for him- he represents their future.
Good luck.