Defying the odds: First generation college students at American University

The availability of high paying jobs that can be acquired without a college degree is decreasing with each passing year. This forces young adults who may not have considered college in the past, to contemplate a college education. These students, whose parents never went to college, had to get into school and adapt to their new environment on their own. For my study of first generation college students, I looked at American University, a four year private school in Washington, D.C. I interviewed twenty-one first generation college students and asked them who/what encouraged them to pursue college and what their transition experience was like. The major finding was that a majority of these students were encouraged to pursue a college career by their parents. They also felt that their college experience was harder than second generation college students because their parents could not comprehend what they were experiencing.