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An Initiative Of NASPA and The Suder Foundation

Incoming First Year, First-generation College Student Worries About College

Journal of Student Success and Retention / November 2020

group of students with notebooks

This narrative inquiry study analyzed 190 first-generation students’ worries about the first year of college as surveyed upon admission to a four-year university. Five themes emerged from the data: time, connection, academic success, adjusting, and basic needs. The theme of time appeared most frequently in student narratives, suggesting that first-generation students are most worried about managing and understanding the concept of time in college above other academic and personal factors. Future research is needed to explore how staff and faculty can best use these results to inform first year programming for firstgeneration college students.

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