First generation college students (FGS) is the discourse community, and, I plan to narrow it down to an specific group. One of the persistent problems is the lack of academic preparedness or “college knowledge;” things like how to pay for college, where do I go if this document, or who do I ask for help. An article shows that FGS encounter more challenges than students whose parents graduated from college.
They usually feel more stress and have less time to do classwork because they have a 20+ hours job to help pay for college and/or cover household expenses.Often, they don’t have a close person to help them with guidance or reference. Luckily there are pre-college classes and programs that can help them get prepare for college and connect with the college respectively.
Here at City Tech, there are useful tools and resources that can benefit first generation college students, but a better connection between the offices and students needs to exist. A probable solution could be creating an office where the staff is knowledgeable of all services located in a highly walkable area. Guarantee orientation for transfer students includes complete details of college services like freshman orientation do.
Mehta, Sanjay S., et al. “Why Do First-Generation Students Fail?” College Student Journal, vol. 45, no. 1, Project Innovation (Alabama), 2011, p. 20–.
Boden, Karen. “Perceived Academic Preparedness of First-Generation Latino College Students.” Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, vol. 10, no. 2, Apr. 2011, pp. 96–106, doi:10.1177/1538192711402211
You already know the thing I’m going to tell you to work on, which is to narrow down. So please, do narrow down. I do think you should work on FGS at City Tech since that is where you are. Also, City Tech has a very specific student body. For example we are what is called an HSI (A Hispanic Serving Institution) because of the large number of Latinx students we enroll. FGS students Hispanic or Latinx background will face different issues than FGS from other cultural backgrounds.