Challenges of First Generation Students
“...I do attend a PWI as a minority student, and so just having a little bit of a difficult time finding community here..”
"...my sophomore year when I was very majorly depressed... in the context of school it’s difficult when you can’t get out of bed and you have to complete this assignment at this time and you have to go to work at this time.”
“Biggest Challenge has to be morale. Like, college has taught me so far that you can take a lot of L’s, but like, everyone’s taking them with you, so you’re all in the same boat..."
"...I’m here from 7:45 until 4, sometimes 4:30 pm, go straight from student teaching, go to work, work to 9, sometimes like until 11. And then I get home at 11 or 11:30 and that’s when I’m able to start all my school work..."
Addressing Those Challenges
"Oh that advice has to be… not to be discouraged on how many L’s you take, because we’re all taking them
"Find ways to get involved on campus because involvement just can lead to connections, can lead to resources, networking..."
"...you don’t owe anybody your time, to use this time and this space that you have as you wish..."
"I would probably say that’s one thing that would be nice if we had like an actual grant fund, like money to give the students and stuff..."
"I think, for example, free college - a lot of the worries that I have would be - or some of the struggles and obstacles that I’ve had to overcome would not really be the case because I wouldn’t be having to balance the school and the work as much as I’ve had to.”
A common theme among students was financial challenges. This theme was corroborated by Brandon Gordon, who offered one possible solution to this challenge. Stephanie also voiced a possible solution to students’ financial troubles.
The students that we interviewed offered their advice for other first generation students entering UGA.
A majority of the students that we interviewed were connected with TRIO within the first few months of coming to UGA, and these students clearly have benefitted from a variety of the resources that TRIO has to offer. However, students were vocal about the challenges that remain, even with access to these resources.