{"id":2427,"date":"2018-08-29T09:53:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T13:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nacacadmitted.wpengine.com\/wordpress\/?p=2427"},"modified":"2018-08-29T09:53:10","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T13:53:10","slug":"member-view-simple-changes-can-ease-the-college-transition-for-first-gen-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2018\/08\/29\/member-view-simple-changes-can-ease-the-college-transition-for-first-gen-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Member View: Simple Changes Can Ease the College Transition for First-Gen Students"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2428\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2428\" style=\"width: 744px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/nacacadmitted.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/CollegeCampusNEW.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2428\" src=\"http:\/\/nacacadmitted.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/CollegeCampusNEW.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"744\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/CollegeCampusNEW.jpg 744w, https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/CollegeCampusNEW-300x190.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 744px) 100vw, 744px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2428\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">iStock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Heading off to college can be an anxiety-ridden process for all teens, but first-generation and low-income students experience \u201ca whole different level of stress,\u201d NACAC member Andrew Moe wrote in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/opinion-i-thought-everyone-else-deserved-to-be-there-and-i-didnt\/\">op-ed<\/a> for the <em>Hechinger Report<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, such students are far more likely than their peers to \u201cmelt\u201d \u2014 a term used to describe the phenomenon of students who enroll in college but fail to show up in the fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey think there aren\u2019t any other students on campus who are the first people in their families to go to college. But there are,\u201d wrote Moe, associate dean of admissions and director of access at Swarthmore College (PA). \u201cAnd it\u2019s our job as educators to ensure that first-generation students don\u2019t feel alone, and that they have the necessary support during this tough transition\u2014from high school applicant to college graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In the piece, Moe urged colleges to continue to develop new programs and policies to better support low-income and first-gen students. He also highlighted several Swarthmore initiatives that he feels have helped make the campus more welcoming.<\/p>\n<p>They include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First semester pass\/fall grading for all freshmen<\/strong> \u2014 an effort to help students acclimate to campus without worrying about grades.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A cash-free campus<\/strong> \u2014 students never have to pay to attend campus athletic events, lectures, or movie nights. An annual activity fee (which is calculated into a student\u2019s cost of attendance and financial aid package) reduces the need to have cash on hand to take part in campus life.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Student Emergency Fund<\/strong> \u2013 offers financial assistance to students in crisis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At Swarthmore, nearly a quarter of this fall\u2019s incoming freshmen are the among the first in their families to pursue higher education, Moe noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we certainly can\u2019t solve all of the challenges faced by first-generation, low-income students when they come to campus, we\u2019re working very hard at Swarthmore to make our student body better reflect the true character and fabric of the world,\u201d Moe said. \u201cPrograms that make all of our students feel comfortable and help them succeed, both within and beyond the classroom, work toward this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/opinion-i-thought-everyone-else-deserved-to-be-there-and-i-didnt\/\">Read the full op-ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Admitted<\/em>\u00a0<em>writer\/editor Mary Stegmeir welcomes additional comments and story ideas at\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nacacnet.org\/learning\/communities\/Admitted\/default.aspx\">mstegmeir@nacacnet.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heading off to college can be an anxiety-ridden process for all teens, but first-generation and low-income students experience \u201ca whole different level of stress,\u201d NACAC member Andrew Moe wrote in a recent op-ed for the Hechinger Report. As a result, such students are far more likely than their peers to \u201cmelt\u201d \u2014 a term used &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2018\/08\/29\/member-view-simple-changes-can-ease-the-college-transition-for-first-gen-students\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Member View: Simple Changes Can Ease the College Transition for First-Gen Students<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-access"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Mary Stegmeir","author_link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/author\/mstegmeir\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peWmJq-D9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}