PRAIRIE VIEW, TX (November 12, 2021) – In 2017, the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) and the Center for First-generation Student Success launched the inaugural First-Generation (First-gen) College Celebration.  I honor first-gens for their commitment to being an agent of change for themselves and their families. The dedication it takes to just begin the path to a college degree takes perseverance, patience, and sacrifice.  I, too, am a proud First-Gen.

I hail from a humble background in India. Both parents are not college graduates.  So, I had very minimal guidance from family for my career and my life.  According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 35% of undergraduates were the first in their families to go to college in the 2015–16 academic year.

Where I am now professionally—as the Vice President of Research & Innovation at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU)—is all because of what I have gained through higher education, through learning and mentorship. I’m very grateful to all my mentors, teachers for guiding me all along. As a result, I am very strongly supportive of higher education and what it can do for an individual’s life, not just their career but also the generations that will come behind them in their family members and community.

While we celebrate this week, there needs to be a renewed focus on enrollment and graduation rates of first-generation college students.  Some challenges include accessibility, understanding the college process, how to take advantage of available resources, etc.  In May 2021, the Pew Research Center released a study on the key economic outcomes of first-generation college graduates. Based on an analysis of data from the Federal Reserve Board, Pew found that first-generation college graduates are not on equal footing with their peers who have college-educated parents.  The median household income for households headed by a first-generation college graduate ($99,600) is substantially lower than the income for households headed by a second-generation graduate ($135,800).

This type of economic disparity can be turned around for a first-gen who enrolls at an institution like Prairie View A&M. A study by the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) Center for First-Generation Student Success found that first-generation students enroll at higher rates at Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) in the 2015–2016 school year.

NASPA found

  • 67% of students enrolled at American Indian/Alaska Native-serving Institutions are first-generation students
  • 65% of students enrolled at Hispanic-Serving Institutions are first-generation students
  • 60% of students enrolled at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are first-generation students.

PVAMU is where caring staff and professors will connect the student to funding opportunities like scholarships, fellowships, and internships, provide support and guidance towards the right opportunities that will change their lives forever. Therefore, MSI’s like PVAMU serve critical roles.  Higher education is life changing.  When someone earns their first college degree, they have opened the door of opportunity for their legacy.  The Pew study found the likelihood of an adult completing a bachelor’s degree increases as their parents’ educational attainment rises.

The road to the first college degree may be rigorous, but it is attainable.  We have evidence of the possibilities of first-gen success.  From Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, First Lady Michelle Obama, actors Samuel Jackson and Viola Davis, to the creator Walt Disney, former associate Justices Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Albert Einstein, Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Oprah Winfrey.  First-gens are unique people.  We are leaders.  We are doers.  We are not survivors.  We are thrivers.  And with support from great colleges and universities who understand our humble beginnings, first-gens will continue to rise like a phoenix, stronger, smarter, and more powerful because we earned our first-degree and changed the trajectory of our lives forever.

By Magesh Rajan, Ph.D., P.E., MBA, Vice President, Division of Research & Innovation

You can view my perspective on “First-Generation College Students” in the latest episode of my “Minute with Magesh.”: