First-gen students are more than 2x as likely to drop out of college within 3 years than students whose parents have a bachelor’s degree.

Nearly 1/3 of undergraduate students in the United States are first-gen, defined as those who have no parent with a bachelor’s degree. First-gen college students are less likely to persist and graduate from college. Based on a recent study by the U.S. Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, only 48% of first-gen students are on track to graduate three years after enrollment, compared to about 66% of non-first-gen students. First-gen students are also more than twice as likely to drop out of college within three years (33%) than students whose parents have a bachelor’s degree (14%).

These are some of the barriers we face as first-gen students:

• A lack of mentorship; we don’t have a family member to rely on for guidance

• Difficulty navigating the college culture and the underlying curriculum outside of the classroom

• More likely to be of a lower socioeconomic status and often work at least a part-time job to help pay for school expenses (90% of low-income, first-gen college students don’t graduate on time)

• We don’t know what we don’t know and thus, miss out on resources and opportunities that can advance our college career and job search

Although some Universities and community colleges are starting to develop programs to help improve enrollment and graduation rates of first-gen students, these programs are mostly focused on academic achievements and do not incorporate real-world experience. Other non-academic organizations are delivering solutions to indirectly address the above problems, but these programs are often segmented and do not provide a comprehensive resource specifically for first-gen students.