For students whose parents did not attend college or university, post-secondary education can feel like stepping into a world without a map. From applications to financial aid, from choosing courses to finding mentors, the process is often filled with unspoken rules and hidden pathways.
Barriers Beyond the Classroom
First-generation students face unique challenges:
Financial uncertainty: Limited family resources and less familiarity with navigating loans, grants, and bursaries.
Cultural disconnect: Feeling out of place among peers who may have stronger networks or inherited “insider knowledge.”
Family expectations: Balancing the pride of being “the first” with pressure to succeed and sometimes pressure to remain close to home.
Strengths That Matter
At the same time, first-generation students bring invaluable strengths: resilience, resourcefulness, and often a deep sense of purpose. Many are driven not only for themselves but for their families and communities, serving as role models and trailblazers.
What Support Looks Like
To level the playing field, institutions can:
Provide targeted advising and mentorship programs.
Expand financial literacy workshops.
Create peer support networks where first-generation students can share experiences and strategies.
Train faculty and staff to better understand the invisible barriers these students face.
The Bigger Question
If education is about opportunity, then what does it say about our system when those with the least “insider knowledge” face the highest hurdles? Shouldn’t being first be celebrated and supported—not penalized?
First-Generation Students
Walking Into the Unknown
For students whose parents did not attend college or university, post-secondary education can feel like stepping into a world without a map. From applications to financial aid, from choosing courses to finding mentors, the process is often filled with unspoken rules and hidden pathways.
Barriers Beyond the Classroom
First-generation students face unique challenges:
Strengths That Matter
At the same time, first-generation students bring invaluable strengths: resilience, resourcefulness, and often a deep sense of purpose. Many are driven not only for themselves but for their families and communities, serving as role models and trailblazers.
What Support Looks Like
To level the playing field, institutions can:
The Bigger Question
If education is about opportunity, then what does it say about our system when those with the least “insider knowledge” face the highest hurdles? Shouldn’t being first be celebrated and supported—not penalized?