College is something many of us aspire to pursue since we were young; since for many of us it was installed that education was our one way ticket to success. Something I do not disagree with. Being born in the Dominican Republic and coming to America at just 9 years of age, took a very big toll on me, due to the drastic change of living. However, it also encouraged me to fully focus on my education. I always knew that my goal was to go to college… but something that was never fully explained to me was the fact that I was about to become the first of my mom’s side of the family to go to college.
About 30% of students are first generation students; meaning they are the first in their family to attend and get an higher education. The pride that comes with having that title is something many of us brag about. I am pretty guilty of that. But, what is rarely ever spoken about is the hardship it comes with when being the first one in your family to go to college.
One of the main hardships I experienced was when applying for colleges, due to being first generation. Many of us have little to guidance when picking schools and how the whole process of applying to college, and financial aids works. I struggled a lot during my senior year of High School in these areas. I could not ask my parents for help because they had no idea of how the process worked either.
Another struggle about being first generation, is the lack of understanding you tend to get from families about the hardship of college. It was difficult for my parents to fully understand that college tends to stress me out a lot. At first, they were very opposed to me being stressed out with school work due to believing classes could not be so hard. This tends to take such a large toll on first generations, since it makes you feel as if that emotional support and understanding is not there.
Most first generations come from lower income families. This plays a large part in the reason why many of us are the first in our families. We are taught since our early years to work hard in school and try to get the best grades in order to earn scholarships and help to pay our tutions. And, for that reason is why many of us are even here right now.
There are many other factors that add to the hardship of being a first generation. Although things tend to get difficult a lot, we are able to keep pushing and succeed. My main goal as being a first generation is to inspire my younger cousins, and siblings to pursue this if they want to. Us first generations are laying the path for the next family members. We are being their guide into this world for the future, and that for me is an amazing feeling and something I take huge pride on; even if it comes with so many obstacles.