We advocate for first-generation college students because we once were first-generation college students. Our parents’ academic careers ended at eighth grade. To put ourselves through college, we worked jobs requiring hard, physical labor. We take it personally when low-income students, often the first in their families to attend college, are lured with loans, then left to flounder.
Many colleges have four-year graduation rates below 30 percent, some below 10 percent. Yet most of their students have loans that must be paid, whether or not the students graduate. We advocate that students avoid colleges with four- and six-year graduation rates significantly below their state’s average. Low graduation rates suggest that administrators take students’ money aware and unashamed that most of the students will not graduate and may not even complete their first year.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Let-s-Help-First-Generation/230125