National Data Fact Sheets on First-generation College Students

National Data Fact Sheets on First-generation College Students and Graduates

As of 2020, 54 percent of undergraduate students in the United States identified as first-generation, defined as an undergraduate student whose parents do not have a bachelor’s degree. The fact sheets presented below provide information about first-generation college students’ demographic characteristics, enrollment characteristics, and experiences during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the findings draw comparisons to the National Data Fact Sheets from 2019.

Surveyed students were enrolled in Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions in the academic year 2019–20. The data source is the 2019–20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education. The number of survey respondents was about 81,000, representing a population of 17.1 million undergraduate students. When considering how the statistics in these fact sheets may relate to the students at your institution, please read the footnotes for important information, including definitions of key terms and the data source. The average profile of students at your institution may be very different from the national sample of undergraduates used for these fact sheets.

The third and fourth fact sheets provide statistics about the four-year post-graduation experiences of individuals who earned a bachelor’s degree from a Title IV postsecondary institution in the academic year 2015–16. The data source is the 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:16/20) from NCES. B&B:16/20 was released in 2023 and is the most recent cohort and wave of B&B. The number of survey respondents was about 17,160. The weighted sample size (population size) is about 2 million. First-wave data about the same cohort of college graduates are available in the National Data Fact Sheets from 2021.

In all four fact sheets, the race/ethnicity categories are mutually exclusive. NASPA recognizes that each racial identity is defined by diverse populations. While aggregation is a useful tool to understand patterns, there are opportunities for continued study to disaggregate the data further. “AI, AN, NH, or PI” is short for American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander. Percentages are rounded.

These fact sheets were produced for the Center for First-generation Student Success by RTI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute. The suggested citation for each fact sheet is provided below.