Final Rec Podcast

Being a first-generation low-income student has significant challenges that impact their education. Financial struggles, difficulties going home for breaks, and inadequate nutrition are common issues. Financial aid plays a major role in college choice, as low-income students often can't afford tuition and essentials. Research shows that low-income students are more likely to drop out, leading to unemployment and limited income. First-generation students face additional challenges due to lack of family guidance and support. Anxiety and difficulty adapting to a new environment are common. These factors can hinder academic success and make it harder to build networks and secure higher-paying jobs after graduation. Hello and welcome to the Variables of Success. I'm Amy, your host for today's episode. In today's episode, we will discuss the overall struggles of being a first-generation low-income student and how that impacts a person's education. We will start off with the first question of how does being a low-income student impact their education? Before we get into it, let's start with the definition. A low-income student is defined as a student whose family income is $45,000 or less annually. Now that we know what a low-income student is, some of the common struggles of being a low-income student includes financing their education, being able to go home for breaks, and eating properly. These are very important aspects that need to be addressed to have a high-quality education and learning experience. Financial aid for me has played a major role in where I choose to go to college because of my future aspirations. I didn't want to be drowned in debt to pay off and wanted something affordable. I ended up choosing the college that gave me the most aid and didn't look at any other factors that I felt were important to me before getting financial aid. According to some research done by the University of South Florida, low-income students are 2.4 times more likely to drop out of college than the middle class and 10.5 times more likely than high-income students. Why? Because they cannot afford to pay for their tuition, food, textbooks, and any other expenses that are essential for them to thrive. By this happening, college dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, leaving them to be stuck in the same income situation. In turn, the graduation rates are also affected by this as only 11 percent of students earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Moving on to the second question is how does being a first-generation student impact their education? Again, we will start off with the definition of a first-generation student so you can have a better understanding. A first-generation student is defined as a student who is the first in their family to obtain a college degree in the U.S. So why is it so hard for them to adapt in college? First, they have a very different environment. As all students, it may be hard to adjust to a whole new environment where, in this case, their family members don't have the experience of college to help them adjust and advice to make it a smoother transition. They also don't have anybody to ask for advice. This happens especially in the application process as there are so many different components to think about and fill out. It overwhelms them since they don't have any guidance at home. Anxiety. This is a big one in my opinion because not only do you have to deal with fitting into college, doing well, but you also have to think about finances, helping your family back home, etc. From my personal experience with being a first-generation student in college is that it's very hard for me to adapt in college away from my family, friends, hometown, and everything. I have so much doubt in myself because I didn't think I was good enough and didn't want to fail since my parents and I have worked and sacrificed so much for me to be here. Some of my struggles was that I was and am too comfortable in my comfort zone, which has made it hard for me to make friends and join clubs. These two variables have greatly affected a person's education as they struggle with more obstacles than a student who comes from a line of graduates. With being first generation, it makes it harder for them to adapt to a new environment and they tend to experience a lot more stress and anxiety when in school. Coming from a low-income background shows stress on being able to afford college and tend to have higher rates of dropping out because they cannot afford to continue. So how do these effects during college connect to their life after college? From these experiences, they tend to earn a lower salary than their peers who receive the same degree and job position. Why? Because their parents have a higher background education and more resources at hand. This builds them better for the future and have a more complex network than those who come from a low-income background. Well, that's all for today, guys. I hope you learned a little bit about what it's like to be a first-generation low-income student, their struggles, and how this might impact them in their future.