The Deciders: Understanding the First-Generation College-Going Experience in Support of Enrollment and Diversity Efforts

Enrollment practitioners can learn important lessons from first-generation students who successfully navigated the path to college, lessons that enable them to tailor outreach efforts to this important population. A study by one of the authors (Holliday 2020) explored the identity of first-generation students as the deciders, or the primary decision-makers in their college-going journey. The authors expand on those findings, providing recommendations enabling higher education institutions of all types to expand first-generation access.