HELPING FIRST-GEN FROGS MAKE THE LEAP

Our First-Gen Support System Emphasizes Connection at Every Stage of the Journey

By Texas Christian University

March 16^th, 2023

Editor’s note: This story originally ran in The Chronicle of Higher Education in fall 2022. It was updated in November 2023 to reflect recent the latest Princeton Review rankings.

Jasmin Gonzalez remembers checking the box on college applications that asked if she was a first-generation student, but not thinking much about it. She was a solid student, and by the time she was accepted at TCU, she was loaded with credits from AP courses and dual-credit classes she’d taken at her local community college.

By the second week of her first semester, she was in an academic “crisis.”

“It was a lot harder than I anticipated,” she recalls. “Because I had already taken introductory classes, I was stepping into sophomore-level classes. And roughly the second week of school, I was like, ‘Oh, no — I’m not sure I can do this.’ There was a lot of impostor syndrome.”

Gonzalez talked to her mother, and they discussed her transferring to the community college. But a TCU alumnus Gonzalez knew encouraged her to visit Student Support Services. She did — a week later. She laughs now about hesitating to take that step. “A lot of us,” she says, referring to first-generation students, “are pretty stubborn people who don’t like to ask for help.”

According to Cynthia Montes, Ph.D., director of TCU’s Student Support Services (SSS), a key trait of first-gen students is being highly resilient. They bounce back, then eagerly help others up the ladder. They bring unique gifts and perspectives to the campus community, which is why Montes, herself a first-gen student, has been a leader of TCU’s ongoing efforts to recruit and retain more students whose parents did not earn undergraduate degrees.

“I think it’s because we’ve been shaped by experiences in our lives,” Montes says, “and when we come to college, and start hitting friction, we keep pushing forward. And when I see that in students today, it inspires me, it inspires all of us, to do even more.”

Jasmin Gonzalez (second from left) benefitted from TCU's first-gen support model.

TCU’s first-gen programs have grown significantly since 2017. Montes and her colleagues have learned from peers at other institutions, but she emphasizes that TCU is constantly developing and refining its own strategies to best serve its students and the surrounding community. The work has grown from and been guided by TCU’s deeply embedded (and nationally recognized) commitment to “connection culture.”

The numbers speak for themselves. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of first-gen students at TCU rose by more than 30 percent. That’s especially remarkable considering that only 17 percent of first-gen students choose private nonprofit institutions. Broken down by race, white students are the largest group within the TCU first-gen population, but the most dramatic enrollment gains have been seen among students of color: Black/African American, 52 percent; Hispanic/Latino, 54 percent; and multi-ethnic, 146 percent (all between 2019-2021).

Nationally, first-gen students are 71 percent more likely than non-first-gen peers to leave school in their first year. But at TCU, the 2021 retention rate for first-gen students was 89.1 percent — 9 points higher than the average for private nonprofit universities.

Montes credits this success to a comprehensive strategy that includes:

Focusing on first-gen students’ strengths
Developing support across the campus, starting with leadership
Building on progress by involving older first-gen students and alumni in outreach to prospective and incoming students

“We know where we started, we’ve made significant strides, and we’re continuing to build not only partnerships, but awareness,” Montes says. “Everyone at TCU is aware that this is a growing population that needs resources but is ready to thrive.”

Collaboration is Key

At TCU, SSS has served first-gen students since 1997, but until 2017, had largely relied on word-of-mouth, Montes says. “And we would always hear, ‘I wish I would have found you sooner. I had no idea you were here.’ The moment that we started to collaborate with the other departments, the number of students applying to SSS grew exponentially. This pushed us to think outside the box. Every idea that we’ve come up with related to supporting first-gen students has been very well embraced.”

In 2017, SSS joined with TCU’s Student Identity & Engagement department and Student Development Services to form the First Gen Network (FGN). The network hosts an annual First-Gen Day of Celebration on November 8, the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965; workshops providing personal, professional and leadership-related activities; and other outreach efforts.

In 2019, the Center for First-Generation Student Success chose TCU as one of 80 institutions for its 2019-2020 First-Gen Forward Cohort, which recognizes commitment to advancing first-generation student success.

Some of the institutions in the cohort were much further along with their first-gen efforts, Montes recalls. Initially that was somewhat intimidating, she admits, but it also presented opportunities — to show the rest of the TCU community the importance of supporting FGN’s goals and to work more quickly and creatively than would be possible in a siloed environment.

“We aren’t bound by what ‘has always been’,” Montes explains. “This flexibility, coupled with faculty, staff and administrators who are eager to help, has resulted in incredible programming.”

In 2020, FGN and First-Year Experience worked together on what would become an annual orientation session for all first-gen students and their families. There are now panels featuring first-gen alumni as speakers, first-gen leadership trainings, a first-gen affinity group and a first-gen student graduation celebration where students receive stoles to wear during commencement. Attendance at such events has increased more than 10-fold, from an average of 60 in 2017 to 770 in 2021.

Also in 2020, TCU was awarded an additional SSS program focused on STEM and health science majors. This grant helped the university nearly double the number of first-gen students who can access support resources. TCU is one of only five organizations in the state of Texas, and 57 nationwide, to offer an SSS STEM-HS program for first-gen students.

When necessary, assistance goes beyond academics. Montes recounts how SSS helped a non-traditional, first-gen student, a mother of four who had fallen behind on rent and was facing eviction. She was one and a half semesters from graduating with her bachelors, but was about to withdraw from the university. SSS connected her with the university’s emergency fund, and she not only graduated on schedule but went on to earn her masters two years later.

The Hope Grant, secured by TCU’s Center of Counseling and Mental Health, gives FGN access to $3,000 per year for three years to use on resources or initiatives related to mental health and well-being for first-gen students.

Montes adds that support from TCU’s leadership has been vital to fostering this culture of collaboration. Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr., Ph.D., and Provost Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg, Ph.D., were also first-gen students, and have championed the university’s efforts.

“I hope it makes me a little more aware of some of the hurdles it takes for all students to get into college — especially nowadays when everything seems more complicated,” Boschini said in a 2021 interview. When asked what advice he can offer to other first-gen students, his response echoed Gonzalez’s and Montes’ comments about resilience: “Just keep going. Keep plowing ahead and don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do.”

Cynthia Montes, Ph.D., (far left) cheers incoming students at TCU's first-gen orientation session.

Change the Narratives

All of the collaboration, Montes says, has been informed by a shared goal of changing narratives.

“People talk about lack of social capital, cultural capital, not knowing how to navigate the system or where to find help,” she explains. “But the students have already learned how to overcome hurdles, how to do their research. When they’re confused about something, they are ready to put the work in. So, it’s important to move away from the old deficit model of thinking about first-gen students, and what they’re lacking, and start building on the assets that they bring.”

One of those assets is a commitment to community. Recently, a first-gen student told Montes she wanted to donate textbooks to another student in need, after ending up with extras through a scholarship. Montes sent an email to see who could use them and was surprised at how many responded. The incident pointed to another way to offer help.

All of TCU’s work on behalf of first-gen students is part of a larger mission to increase access and opportunity among students from traditionally underrepresented populations. That effort includes the College Advising Corps, which sends trained advisers to underserved Tarrant County high schools; the Tarrant To & Through (T3) scholarships; the STEM Scholars, Community Scholars and Chancellor’s Scholars programs for undergraduates; the Upward Bound program and the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Nearly 97 percent of first-gen students at TCU receive financial aid.

"It Made My Heart Happy"

After overcoming the “crisis” in transitioning to college, Jasmin Gonzalez went on to major in education and Spanish and graduated in spring 2023. As an undergrad, she also mentored new students, paying forward the help she received when she didn’t yet realize how much she needed it. Students themselves are vital collaborators in FGN’s work.

“Talking to older students was one of the best things in my life during those first few weeks and months because it really helped settle me down,” she recalls. “I was like, OK, they’re getting through it, I can get through it as well. You’ve entered a new world and you’re just trying to comprehend everything as it comes at you. You’re taking everything in, but it doesn’t connect in your head just yet. You don’t know what it means, what it will mean, and how that will affect you.

“It made my heart happy, coming back this year and seeing a lot of local students from Fort Worth. The [Dallas-Fort Worth] area's presence on campus now is mind-blowing. TCU is working hard to get more first-generation students onto campus, and I really appreciate that.”

A Leader in Student Experience

Explore TCU’s exceptional first-year experience. It’s just one of the reasons The Princeton Review ranks TCU students No. 1 for “Happiest Students” and No. 7 for “Best Quality of Life” out of colleges nationwide.