May 11, 2020 — CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI)’s commitment to students who have not grown up with higher education as a default in their families has earned the campus a national First-gen Forward designation from The Center for First-generation Student Success.
First-gen Forward is the nation's first recognition program acknowledging certain institutions of higher education for their commitment to first-generation student success.
Even with love and support from parents and siblings, students who are the first in their family to attend college have an invisible maze to navigate the moment they set foot on a college campus.
“A lot of it has to do with the language of higher education. We have our own language,” said CSUCI’s Director of Student Success and Outreach Programs Tracey Johnson. “We have to recognize that for a lot of first-generation college students, their families are not familiar with the college experience. It is our role to demystify the process, explain our terminology; What is a registrar? What is the Bursar’s office?”
Formed in June of 2017, The Center for First-generation Student Success was launched with the mission of being the primary source of best practices, professional development and information for the higher education community when it comes to the success of first-generation college students. The Center was designed through the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and The Suder Foundation.
There were 80 institutions selected in the inaugural 2018-2019 cohort. CSUCI joins 76 other colleges and universities across the nation to receive the 2020-2021 designation. CSUCI was one of only two in the CSU system to be recognized, the other being CSU Sacramento.
Johnson said CSUCI has several highly effective programs in place to make sure every first-generation college student is provided the academic and practical support he or she needs.
The Educational Opportunity Program, which Johnson oversees, provides assistance through mentorship, academic programs, financial assistance, counseling/advising, and other campus support services for first gen students.
CSUCI also supports 165 students through its federally funded TRiO Student Support Services, which is designed to increase graduation and retention rates for first-generation, low-income students or students with disabilities.
Its various peer mentorship programs are among CSUCI’s biggest strengths.
The programs are under the umbrella: Peer Education and Equity Programs, a collective of peer mentor programs within the Division of Academic Affairs. The peer mentorships benefit all students, with a special emphasis on first generation students.
A gem in CSUCI’s peer mentorship programs is the Peer Mentor Ambassador Program in which student mentors have the opportunity to earn a $3,500 per semester stipend in return for supporting and mentoring fellow students.
CSUCI also has the advantage of numerous faculty and staff who are also first generation and understand the kind of guidance and support a first-generation student may need to have a fulfilling experience from their first day of college right up to graduation.
“I was a first gen student,” Johnson said. “I realized several years ago my job is to make dreams come true. The students are risking their livelihood in many ways. For me the reward is to see lives transformed. To watch families, celebrate when they graduate, and see their younger siblings come right behind them because the older sibling paved the way. And there are so many things along the way suggesting you’re not worthy. I’ve heard from so many of them how a counselor told them they were not college material.”
The First-gen Forward designation will connect Johnson and CSUCI Assistant Director of Student Success Services Venus Tamayo with their counterparts at other First-Gen Forward institutions so they can share ideas and best practices.
“We find that for so many first-gen students, navigating a college campus gets so complicated that they just stop,” Johnson said. “They figure, ‘I’m taking money from my family to do this and I come from a tight-knit community where the family is the most important thing. So, when we support them, it has to be intentional…sometimes even intrusive.”
It might be a series of reminders of important dates when admission documents are due, or if there is an event they might want to attend, or it could be a mentor reaching out individually to a student who hasn’t checked in for a while.
The idea, Johnson said, is to make intentional moves that see first-generation students through their college experience so they can do well, graduate on time and perhaps most important of all, feel a sense of belonging.