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-------- ACHIEVEMENT INDICATORS -------- International Achievement in Mathematics and Science Reading Achievement Mathematics Achievement -------- OTHER INDICATORS -------- Dropout Rates Public School Revenues and Expenditures School Crime and Safety High School Transcripts, 2005 Bachelor's Degree Recipients, 10 Years Later -------- PAST INDICATORS -------- Dropout Rates, 2005 International Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Science and Mathematics Literacy Public School Revenues and Expenditures Mathematics Achievement Reading Achievement Dropout Rates Computer and Internet Use High School Career and Technical Education (CTE) Students Food and Exercise in Elementary Schools Trends in Adult Literacy First Generation Students in Postsecondary Education Mathematics Achievement Reading Achievement The High School Senior Class of 2004 Trends in Academic Progress Dropout Rates 2002 Dual Credit in U.S. Public High Schools Gender Differences in Postsecondary Education School Crime and Safety, 2002 International Comparisons in Science and Math Trends in Education Equity of Girls and Women Full-day and Half-day Kindergarten Reading Achievement Mathematics Achievement Dropout Rate 2001 Trends in Academic Progress International Comparisons in Reading Literacy Postsecondary Enrollment of Language Minorities Volunteer Service Civics Achievement Geography Achievement History Achievement Science Achievement Writing Achievement The High School Transcript Study Postsecondary Remedial Education Student Victimization Out-of-Field Teaching Postsecondary Attainment School Crime and Safety, 2001 Internet Access

First Generation Students in Postsecondary Education

A Brief Portrait

About 28 percent of the NELS 1992 12th-graders were first-generation students (figure 1). However, they represented 22 percent of those who entered postsecondary education between 1992 and 2000, indicating that first-generation students were less likely than other students to attend college within 8 years after high school. Roughly 4 in 10 (43 percent) first-generation students who entered postsecondary education during this period left without a degree by 2000, while 24 percent had graduated with a bachelor's degree (figure 1). The opposite pattern was observed for students whose parents were college graduates: a large majority (68 percent) had completed a bachelor's degree, while 20 percent left without a degree.

As in earlier studies (Ishitani 2003), this report found that first-generation students had some family and background characteristics that are associated with attrition. Compared with their peers whose parents were college graduates, first-generation students were more likely to be Black or Hispanic and to come from low-income families. They were less prepared academically for college as demonstrated by their lower rates of taking higher-level mathematics courses in high school, their lower senior achievement test scores, and their lower college entrance examination scores. They were also more likely to delay postsecondary entry, begin at a 2-year institution, and attend part time and discontinuously. These characteristics, as shown in earlier research, put them at potential risk for not persisting in their postsecondary studies and completing a degree (Nuñez and Cuccaro-Alamin 1998).

Figure 1. Percentage distribution of generation status in 1992 12th-graders; and of those who had enrolled in postsecondary education between 1992 and 2000, generation status by percentage distribution of postsecondary attainment and enrollment in 2000

NOTE: Except for the first two bar charts, all figures included only students for whom complete postsecondary transcripts were available and for whom parents' education was known. Standard error tables are available at Data Analysis System (DAS).

SOURCE: Figure A in U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, First Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at Their College Transcripts, NCES 2005-171, by Xianglei Chen and C. Dennis Carroll.

Credits Earned

Previous research has found that students from disadvantaged backgrounds do not earn as many college credits as their more advantaged peers (McCormick 1999). They trail their peers in credit accumulation as early as the first year of their enrollment. Because first-generation students are more likely to come from low-income families and have similar risk characteristics, they exhibited the same patterns. As shown in figure 2, first-generation students trailed their peers in the number of credits earned beginning in their first year of college: on average, they earned about 18 credits in the first year, compared with 25 credits earned by students whose parents had a bachelor's degree or higher. One-in-three first-generation students (33 percent) earned 10 or fewer credits in the first year, compared with 12 percent of those whose parents had at least a bachelor's degree. Like earlier studies demonstrating the relationship between credits earned and postsecondary outcomes (Adelman 1999; McCormick 1999), the current analysis shows that the fewer credits earned in the first year was associated with a reduced likelihood of attaining a degree and an increased time to degree for those who earned one (table 1).

First-generation students continued to trail their peers in overall credit accumulation as they progressed through postsecondary education: they earned an average of 66 credits during their entire period of enrollment through 2000, compared with an average of 112 credits earned by students whose parents were college graduates (figure 2). Part of this difference reflects the fact that first-generation students were more likely than students whose parents had graduated from college to start college late, disrupt their enrollment, attend part time, and leave without a degree within the time period of the study. The gaps in credits, both overall and in the first year, were also found among those with bachelor's degree goals who attended 4-year institutions (figure 2).

Figure 2. Generation status of 1992 12th-graders who had enrolled in postsecondary education between 1992 and 2000 by average number of undergraduate credits earned in the first year and by 2000

NOTE: Standard error tables are available at Data Analysis System (DAS).

SOURCE: Figure 5 in U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, First Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at Their College Transcripts, NCES 2005-171, by Xianglei Chen and C. Dennis Carroll.

References

Adelman, C. (1999). Answers in the Toolbox: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor's Degree Attainment (PLLI 1999-8021). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

Ishitani, T.T. (2003). A Longitudinal Approach to Assessing Attrition Behavior Among First-Generation Students: Time-Varying Effects of Pre-College Characteristics. Research in Higher Education, 44(4): 433-449.

McCormick, A.C. (1999). Credit Production and Progress Toward the Bachelor's Degree: An Analysis of Postsecondary Transcripts for Beginning Students at 4-Year Institutions (NCES 1999-179). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Nuñez, A.-M., and Cuccaro-Alamin, S. (1998). First-Generation Students: Undergraduates Whose Parents Never Enrolled in Postsecondary Education (NCES 98-082). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

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