What first-generation families want (And how to get it to them)
All families want the important info: tuition and other costs, financial aid and scholarships, payment plans, academic calendars, and more. But first-gen families need help finding it — on average, 20% more than continuing generation families.
And first-gen students are looking to their families for support more than their continuing gen peers. 59% of first-gen families talk with their students daily, vs 41% of their peers.
We turned to Julie Condon, Student Experience Coordinator at SUNY Oneonta, and Dana Bekurs, Director of Parent & Family Engagement, and Randi Hamm, First-Gen Programs at University of Alabama to get their advice on how to help this audience get educated, engaged, and help their students.
Let us help you blaze the path in supporting first-generation families. Read on, or watch the recording of the chat below!
Attitudes around first-gen families are changing. Colleges and first-gen offices need to evolve to meet them.
Many students don’t know the term first-generation, let alone know that they may be a part of this population.
“When I came back to campus to work here about eight years ago, that is actually when I first heard the term. And that's when I realized, ‘Hey, I was first-gen.’ All of a sudden my college experience makes a lot more sense,” shared Hamm.
It’s not like first-generation students — or graduates — look any different from their peers. Condon and her team want that success to be more visible at SUNY Oneonta, where 34% of students — and almost half of their first-year students — are first-gen.
She shared one example: “One of the things that we're also trying to do on our campus is that we have stickers that people can put on their office door that says, ‘I am first-gen,’ so that people can identify first-gen faculty and staff. You can also get one that says ‘first-gen supporter’ if you've done our office’s professional development or training.”
At the University of Alabama, where about 15% of the undergraduate population is first-generation, the first-gen office was established in December 2022 and started as just managing first-gen scholarships. Eventually that team merged with the staff managing the campus’s Legacy Scholars program to create a whole center focused on programming, mentorship, and advancement of this population.
Hamm takes every opportunity to increase Legacy mentorships, get in front of recruiting, and solicit feedback. UA also turned first-generation celebration day from a 1-2 hour event to a week of celebration, and her office will be presenting at the first-gen conference this year.
She also learns from others’ first-gen programming through their offices’ websites and their family engagement strategies. Laughing, she said, “I've been stalking Northern Arizona University hard because they have such great bilingual things on their family portal.”
When you’re proactive, so are first-gen families
First-generation families want to know information. They want to be able to push it back to their students, and they also want to be informed themselves. So a big burden lies on the institution to be able to provide them with this content.
When they do, the numbers speak for themselves: both schools saw at least 4% increases in click rates on content between continuing- and first-generation families.
The easiest way to get started communicating to first-gen families? Mirror the resources you’re sending to first-gen students to their families. Open rates for students are normally around 20%; in CampusESP first-gen families see well over 60% open rates.
Other tips from our pros?
Showcase first-gen student programming and opportunities.
How do you get students to attend speciality programming? By sharing it with their families. At Alabama, Hamm’s periodic emails promoting first-gen events to students are also sent to Bekurs, who pulls out a few good examples and shares them with the families. The result is an amplified message — and higher attendance.
Offer virtual and/or video resources.
Everyone consumes content differently, and many got used to having interactive virtual opportunities during COVID. A video where families can put a face and voice to a name or a webinar where they can ask questions and feel heard (literally) can go a long way to creating community.
Host in-person events for first-gen families to connect with one another.
Nothing beats the power of one-to-one connection. Use large campus events like Orientation and Family Weekend to host get together for first-gen students and families.
Consider other needs this population may have and meet them where they are.
For many first-gen families, this isn’t their only identity. They may belong to other populations and have other needs that you can address to improve their experience and access to information. For example, at SUNY Oneonta Condon saw that a large percentage of her first-generation families also spoke Spanish as their first language. In response, she shares content in both English and Spanish when she can.
Realize you don’t have to do it all on your own — use your campus partners.
We know it takes a village, because every office on campus is there to support students. In addition to first-gen programming offices working closely with parent and family programs, housing, financial aid, academic advising, mental health, and student experience may all have reminders, content, or events they’d love to be shared with families.
Parent engagement boosts retention for first-generation students
Building community and providing resources with any family member is always rooted in the goal of student success. With first-generation families that is even more important — both because of their greater needs as well as the potential for even greater outcomes.
In our annual case study reviewing the connection between increased family engagement and student retention outcomes, we saw that when a parent received updates from CampusESP on student progress, the student was more likely to remain enrolled. On average, student retention was 8.3% higher for students of parents receiving alerts from CampusESP.
This year we expanded and included trends on specific student populations. Data collected by Auburn University and Duquesne University showed that parent engagement had an even larger impact on retention for first-generation students.
By engaging first-generation families, who in turn will actively advise and support their first-gen students, institutions can create a stronger cycle of education and success.