{"id":3589,"date":"2019-08-14T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nacacadmitted.wpengine.com\/wordpress\/?p=3589"},"modified":"2019-08-09T12:40:02","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T16:40:02","slug":"member-view-easing-the-college-transition-for-first-gen-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/08\/14\/member-view-easing-the-college-transition-for-first-gen-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Member View: Easing the College Transition for First-Gen Students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s note: \u00a0This post was originally published on Admitted in August 2018. It\u2019s being republished as part of NACAC\u2019s Best of the Blog series.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 op-ed<\/a>\u00a0for the\u00a0Hechinger Report<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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

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\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

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

They include:<\/p>\n