First-generation student enrollments vary across colleges
Low enrollments in CSE, Carlson and CBS can lead to challenging environments, some students say.
Students walk in the Mall, a central area of the University of Minnesota where many academic buildings are located, on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Photo by Gabriel Castilho.
By Gabriel Castilho
First-generation students at the University of Minnesota made up about one in every four students in the fall of 2023, but their distribution varied significantly across colleges.
In the fall, 3,399 first-generation students in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) accounted for one-third of its enrollment. The colleges with the highest percentage of first-generation students were the College of Continuing and Professional Studies at 46% and the College of Education and Human Development at 35%.
By contrast, first-generation students at the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) accounted for just 18% of all CSE students, the lowest percentage of all colleges.
The College of Biological Sciences (CBS) and Carlson School of Management also had significantly lower percentages of first-gen students – less than one-fifth of those schools’ populations.
Student Services center in Lind Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, one of the buildings where the College of Science and Engineering classes take place. CSE had the lowest rate of first-generation students in the Fall 2023 semester. Photo by Gabriel Castilho.
Marc Skjervem, CSE’s assistant dean for collegiate life, said one reason for the low first-generation student enrollment in the college, as well as in Carlson and CBS, was competitive admissions standards such as minimum ACT scores or high school class rank.
First-generation students may come into the university with barriers that make it challenging to meet some of those standards, he said.
“What we tend to fight is the system,” Skjervem said. “For first-generation students, not all the time, but sometimes, they come from under-resourced communities or schools. So, the system as it is built in our world puts them up against a barrier to have the criteria to be admissible.”
Low enrollments, secondary effects
But some first-generation students say low enrollments have secondary effects, creating unhelpful environments that leave them isolated without adequate resources to navigate their academic programs.
Ashlie Hamilton, a materials sciences and engineering major and a first-generation student, said she often wishes CSE could do more to help her navigate college. Recognition of her first-generation status in CSE comes once or twice a year, Hamilton said.
She said CSE only recognizes first-generation students during First Generation Week in the fall semester and during graduation.
“I think CSE could do more,” she said. “It seems like they do the bare minimum.”
Skjervem said the college does what it can with its limited resources.
“Students could come on campus a couple days before orientation,” Skjervem said. “I would love to see more tutoring options or academic support for students to come and get the support they need and classes.”
In CBS, where first-generation students made up 19% of its students in 2023, faculty and staff are doing what they can to reach out, said Christine Hazuka, marketing and communications coordinator of the college.
One example of this outreach is CBS’ partnership with the University’s First Gen Institute, where the college held a community gathering event in November.
During the event, first-generation CBS staff, faculty and students had lunch, facilitated discussion and joined the first-generation photo in the Coffman Memorial Union plaza that was open for all first-generation students.
Varied programs support enrollments
Amelious Whyte, CLA’s interim director for diversity, equity and inclusion, said CLA’s various programs are a draw for the college’s large enrollment of first-generation students. CLA currently has 31 academic departments.
“If you have parents who have been to college before, you might have a lot more specificity about what you might want to be,” Whyte said. “Because we have such a broad swath of degrees, I think that plays into it.”
Whyte said another reason for the high enrollment numbers is due to the existence of programs that support first-generation students.
CLA is big enough to support its own cohort in the President's Emerging Scholars (PES) program. PES is a collection of programs and services sponsored by the University of Minnesota that encourages and supports high-achieving and historically underresourced students through scholarships, advising and mentoring programs.
He said the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) program supports first-generation college students, along with students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. The MLK program hosts advising sessions, social justice workshops and cultural events in collaboration with other university programs.
Other colleges with the highest percentages of first-generation student enrollment are the College of Mortuary Science, Dentistry and Medical Laboratory Sciences and the College of Education and Human Development.
Bianca Llerena, a sophomore studying journalism and English, said CLA had a lot of scholarship opportunities for first-generation students, but she did not know those existed until she started researching scholarships. Despite applying for them in previous years, she is not currently looking for any specific form of support as a first-generation student.
“The biggest thing CLA could include for first-gen students is making it more known that there are opportunities that involve first-generation,” Llerena said. “There could be more inclusion in terms of support that have to do with first-gen.”