About the Author
Julia Keleher
Director, Student Support and Mentorship
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Michigan Tech values every student, regardless of their background or prior experience with higher education. A message displayed on campus signs during Hazing Awareness Week this October perfectly captured this sentiment: “You don’t have to earn your place in our pack.”
At Student Support and Mentorship (SSM), we believe unconditional belonging is the foundation of success. While we welcome all who need support, we are particularly focused on a population that often feels invisible: First-Generation College Students (FGCs).
Defining the Gap
FGCs are students whose parents did not receive a bachelor’s degree from an American four-year institution. According to First Gen Forward, this is a massive demographic, yet their outcomes lag behind their peers:
- 54% of all college students identify as FGCs.
- Only 24% of FGCs earn a bachelor’s degree within six years.
The “Hidden Curriculum”
Why does this gap exist? FGCs often lack “cultural capital”—the unwritten rules and intrinsic knowledge of how a university operates. Without family members who can model the college experience, higher education can seem indecipherable. This lack of visible support can lead FGCs to believe they lack the necessary instincts to succeed, reinforcing the fear that their membership in the community is tenuous.
Bridging the Divide
The SSM staff supports FGCs academically and socially through targeted programming. Empirical research confirms that mentorship is the key to unlocking the cultural capital FGCs need (Glass, 2023). Our programs provide:
- Validation of their identity and belonging.
- Social support from peers.
- Access to essential institutional information (Museus & Chang, 2021).
In fact, studies show that peer mentorship and staff support impact an FGC’s academic success and retention just as much as family support does (Martin, 2015).
Join the Pack
We will continue to do that work, one pack member at a time—because nobody has to earn their place here.
Our peer mentorship program, Husky Connect, continues to grow, helping students navigate their time at Michigan Tech successfully. As practitioners, we must remember that not every student arrives with the same toolkit for success. It is our job to help them acquire that capital.
Work cited:
Glass, L. E. (2023). Social capital and first-generation college students: Examining the relationship between mentoring and college enrollment. Education and Urban Society, 55(2), 143–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/00131245221076097
Martin, J. P. (2015). The invisible hand of social capital: Narratives of first-generation college students in engineering. International Journal of Engineering Education, 31(5), 1170–1181.
Museus, S. D., & Chang, T.-H. (2021). The impact of campus environments on sense of belonging for first-generation college students. Journal of College Student Development, 62(3), 367–372. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2021.0039