I Didn’t Know I Was a First-Generation College Student Until After I Crossed the Stage

I Didn’t Know I Was a First-Generation College Student Until After I Crossed the Stage

I didn’t know I was a first-generation college graduate until after I shouldered my way across the stage with my degree. Six years, three schools, multiple majors and one abortion later, I’d done what only 27.4 percent of students like me manage to do: finish. I didn’t get there because the system worked. I got there in spite of it. Fewer than one in three first-generation students graduate in four years. Without DEI programs and support, too ma…