For thousands of young people each year, the decision to attend university is not obvious. Instead, it poses a set of challenges that these students must face. Financial concerns, informational constraints, and a lack of preparation or support may impact or disadvantage first-generation students – those with parents who did not pursue post-secondary education – during their application and student journeys.
A previous report published by the Higher Education Policy Institute, First-in-Family Students, noted that, in the UK, two-thirds of young graduates are the first in their family to attend a higher education university. While there have been improvements in educational achievement, this tells us for a sizeable cohort of students in the UK, there is little or no family tradition of supporting students through university, and few expectations of the unfamiliar territory of higher education.[1]
The same is true in other countries. According to the Education Policy Research Initiative, in Canada, the most influential factor in accessing post-secondary education is coming from a family with no history of these institutions.[2] In other words, having a family that did not attend university is the factor most likely to tell us if a student will attend university. As more first-generation students join university institutions, what can we learn from their experiences and how can this be reflected in policies?
