<p>I have been wondering about this. Do they give more money to first generation college kids?</p>
<p>All things being equal, being a first generation college student is actually a “hook.” Colleges have a mission to diversify and for some reason they include first generation college kids in that particular pool.</p>
<p>It helps to put the applicant in context. In general, the college will expect more from the student who has college-educated parents than from the student who would be the first generation to attend college. The student with college-educated parents probably has had more high level education experiences and is more comfortable with the overall college admissions process. The student who is first generation is at somewhat of a disadvantage throughout the process - the parents may or may not be supportive of his desire to go to college - even if they are suportive - they may be very confused by the process itself and worried about paying for college. So, it helps the college to understand the applicant’s background and hopefully to put additional supports in place as needed.</p>
<p>“diversity” .</p>
<p>Not neccessarily. First Generation college student does not neccessarily equal student with greater financial need. Some people become very well off without ever going to college. </p>
<p>But not having parents who went to college can make it a lot harder for students who go to college. They don’t neccessarily have the same emotional support, and for some of htem the fact that there parents didn’t have a college degree has really limited their parents’ earning potential and so they may not have the financial support either. But if you help one person whose parents werent’ able or did not go to college get a college education, you increase the chances that their children will in turn go to college. You can create a trend of upward social mobility that can have enormous benefits not just for that student, but for future generations. </p>
<p>And so many colleges, as part of an effort to be more accessible to more students, as a way of showing that they care about social equality, and also (let us not forget) becuase it can look good on a brochure, are reaching out to kids who are the first generation in their family to go to college.</p>
<p>I agree with rockville. Also, you should know that colleges don’t ask for first generation status (unless they ask on their supplement, which I haven’t seen). They just ask for a parent’s level of education. As far as I know, only top schools are reaching out explicitly to first generation students.</p>
<p>I really understand the part about not having emotional support and the parents not knowing about college admissions. My family was like that. Luckily, my husband’s family sent their kids to college so my son wasn’t a first generation.</p>
<p>I also think that some schools that claim to be need blind or maybe say they don’t look at financial statements when deciding on applicants can do this while still getting the basic information from the parental education.</p>
<p>We ask it of students after they are admitted, once they are retrieving their computer email accounts for the first time. I believe our Institutional Research office implemented it - sometimes we have to ask questions of all students or report student data as a condition of being allowed to disburse Federal Financial Aid, other times they are state reporting requirements.</p>
<p>i think militarymom may have hit the nail on the head.</p>
<p>Sounds to me like there are many different reasons.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^</p>
<p>add to that: encouraging class mobility</p>
<p>as we become more stratified some colleges - bless their hearts - still believe that it’s important for our society to have increased social and economic mobility, not less</p>
<p>yes, but easing stratification can be attempted without asking about parental education. parental income information can help with that. i find those questions a bit intrusive.</p>
<p>Does the school have a Federal Trio Program (Student Support Services)? Students have to be first generation, low income, or both (most have to be both) to qualify. SSS programs can give some fin aid above and beyond what the fin aid office gives (they can’t exceed need, but could replace some loans, for instance).</p>
<p>The UC app asks this question but it’s for the purpose of admission - i.e. being a first gen results in more ‘points’ when calculating whether to admit or not. I think the intent is to accommodate the possible differences that result from one whose parents are college educated versus not - i.e. the parents with the education are more likely to have made sure their kids received a better education, helped them with their education more, etc. which ultimately may result in higher SAT/GPA scores for the kid with the college educated parents versus those not (generalizing here) and this is one of the ways to level that.</p>
<p>^^Do the UCs actually have a box to check if first gen, and if so do they give a definition of what they consider first gen? The CA accommodates multiple first gen definitions (eg. parents never attended college, parents never received a college degree) by asking if the parents attended college, and if so, degree received, if any.</p>