First in My Family

The vast majority of American youth want to attend college, and their parents wish the same for them. Yet only about one in three completes a bachelor's degree, and a similar proportion earns a college education shy of a bachelor's degree. Unequal resources can explain much of this disparity, but parent education and income are not the whole story. In fact, a quarter of young Americans become the first generation in their family to attend college, while another quarter fail to replicate their parents' college attainment. What allows some students to rise above their parents' educational achievements? What can protect young people from falling short of college? Based on a sophisticated analysis of a large national study, the book reveals a host of parent behaviors that strongly predict children's college attendance, regardless of parent education or income. To illustrate this groundbreaking research, the book also presents the stories of first-generation students in their own words. As one student described: "I want to tell my parents that I'm helping you with this book. I want to tell them that without their emotional support, I couldn't have done it. Parents can be such a resource for resilience. Parents who read your book should hear that. I wouldn't have gone to college without my parents' encouragement and support."