Trinity Boston Foundation Blog

The Road Map to College: First-Generation Students Go to College

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Today’s installment of our "Road Map to College" series was written by Christopher Parris, TEEP’s Academic Dean.

We just celebrated the graduation of our six seniors from TEEP’s Leadership Development Program (LDP). Jess, Darlene, Paola, Billy, Ymani and Lucy have all worked diligently to achieve excellence, and we’re extremely proud that all of our seniors will attend a four-year college in the fall.

However, what is even more remarkable about this achievement is that four of the six graduates will be part of the first generation in their families to attend college. This statistic is spectacular, since current studies suggest that first-generation students have a distinct disadvantage in gaining access to post secondary education.

A U.S. Department of Education study entitled “Mapping the Road to College: First-Generation Students’ Math Track, Planning Strategies, and Context of Support” reveals that, “regardless of academic achievement and income levels, first-generation students – who represent at least one-quarter of high school graduates – are less likely than their counterparts whose parents have more education to participate in mathematics curricula and planning activities that lead to college enrollment.” In spite of this finding, 100% of TEEP’s first-generation students are headed to four-year colleges this fall. What factors influenced this success?

I sought out the students from our graduating class for answers, and was able to identity three elements that contribute to student success at TEEP:

• Parental involvement and support
• Individual desire and self motivation
• The successful completion of TEEP’s college preparation curriculum, the Road Map to College.

Parental Involvement and Support
The families of our first-generation students migrated to this country to seek a better life for themselves and their children. This investment in their children’s future often came at the expense of personal sacrifice. In some cases, parents were unable to pursue higher education because of the need to provide for their families. This fact was not lost on Darlene who says, “My mother worked all her life without a high school or college degree, and she would not want the same hard lifestyle for me. She knows that with a college degree I would go further in life.” These kids feel a sense of responsibility to earn a college degree and see it as a reward for their parents’ self-sacrifice, exemplifying two of our 5 R’s: Responsibility and Reciprocity.  

Individual desire and self-motivation
This highlights the fact that not only is it important to these parents that their son or daughter attends college, but it also matters to the student. For Paola and Lucy, the bar has been set high by their older sisters, two of whom are graduates of the LDP. They believe that it is not only imperative for them to meet the standard set by their siblings, but essential that they exceed that standard. “It is important that my sisters and I continue this legacy. It will improve our lives and the lives of the people who surround us,” Paola says. By graduating college, they’ll be able to bring feelings of pride, as well as a greater earning potential, to the families who have supported them.

The Road Map to College
TEEP’s Road Map to College is a four-year curriculum that sets out a step-by-step approach for students and their families to follow, to ensure that each member of the LDP gains entry to college. The Road Map to College identifies the individual components that comprise a successful college application, and provides helpful information about how to choose a college.

This targeted academic guidance is combined with mentorship: A key goal of TEEP is establishing a safe, tightly knit community which enables us as leaders to form long lasting relationships with students. We seek to understand the needs of our kids and provide them with sound support and mentorship. According to Lucy, “If I needed help, TEEP was the perfect place to go. The thing about TEEP is that it was literally one phone call away. I trusted the people who were helping me which made the college process less of a hassle.” 

Parental involvement, the individual motivation of our students, and TEEP’s structured support are keys to success, as is the help of our community partners, including Access Boston, various college admissions officers, and the Trinity Boston Foundation volunteers who tutor our students throughout the year. The U.S. Department of Education study concludes that “it is possible that providing first-generation students and their families with more information about choosing courses to better prepare these students for college, might help these students better navigate the path to higher education.” At TEEP this is not just a possibility, we make it a reality!

TEEP Class of 2010: (L to R) Paola, Lucy, Jess, Billy, Ymani, Darlene

EDIT: Please note that the study cited in this post was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal entity located within the U.S. Department of Education.