Guiding The First Generation

The Issue

Education is not meeting the needs of the next generation of professionals.

Job to be Done

User: First generation students

Job: How to prepare for college

Problem: first generation students don’t know how to prep for college on their own because they have not had a role model

Background

Who are first generation students?

• First person in their immediate family to attend college.
• Usually part of low income families

33.5% of college students in the U.S. are first generation. — National Center for Education Statistics

Customer and Market

• Direct Users: Current and Previous Students

Secondary Research

• National Center for Education Statistics data shows that only 11 percent of low-income, first-generation students graduated within six years of starting.
• That means a significant portion of students are at risk of dropping out.
• Less than one-quarter of first-generation students overall earn their way to a bachelor’s degree, compared to 68 percent of their non-first-gen peers.

Primary Research

At a glance:

• 9/20 interviewees were first generation students and the rest were not.

It can be overwhelming having ot gather information for the college application process and even more so when you don’t have anyone to guide you. As a first generation studen I can relate to the struggle of applying for college on your own.

My experience apply and preparing for college consisted of piles of paperwork on my desk and visiting the GEARUP office in my high school. If you are unfamiliar with GEARUP, it is a government funded program with the abbreviation “GEARUP” for the name Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program. This program is provided at some but not all schools to help students with the college application process. During my experience, although GEARUP was helpful, it was too generalized and did not offer a personalized experience for the user.

For my primary research I gathered information from 20 people, current and previous students. Out of all the people I spoke to there were parallels between each that raised concerns. Many of the students spoke about how they did not know how to apply to college and it was a very stressful experience. Others spoke about how their school did not offer any help such as GEARUP with the application process and all the research they did was on their own.

• 13/20 interviewees claimed they did not have GEARUP or anything similar at their school.

With my research I asked several questions that were the same and got different anwers all varied and provided great insight to what they thought would be helpful and what questions they had during their application process.

Question 1: “If you could give advice to someone currently applying to college what would it be?”

“My advice would be ask as many questions as you can and don’t wait until last minute to apply for scholarships”

“Start EARLY! There are so many schools to choose from and what you want out of a college will most likely change over time. Picking a school is overwhelming so don’t be afraid to ask peers for help sorting through all your choices.”

“Ask questions to whomever is available to and don’t procrastinate.”

“Ask for help!”

“Do as much research as possible. Also make sure that the cost of the university is realistic for you. Nothing hurts more than getting accepted into your dream university but you can’t afford it, even with scholarship!”

“Save up. Don’t get distracted. It won’t be easy at first, you’ll go through some obstacles but after that, you’ll get the hang of it.”

“To get informed and started doing it as soon as possible.”

“Don’t limit yourself to the colleges in your area. Apply to every college you want to, you never know who’ll accept you.”

“Don’t get frightened by the uncertainty and reach out for help to someone who has been through it before… and most of all these are the years that you will remember for the rest of your life so enjoy them it is a time for growth.”

“Make sure to start the process early, and go out of your way to get as much information as you can! Also, try to get a feel for what exactly you want, while still exploring all options.”

“Don’t panic. I know it all seems incredibly stressful, especially because you don’t know where you will end up. But, wherever you do end up there are tons of people to help you and things will work out the way they were meant to be. In a year from now, you’ll be in college studying for exams and even if you don’t like it, you can always transfer.”

“Make sure you’re looking at places that will be the right fit for you. I know a lot of people want to go to a name brand school or a very prestigious college, but then they end up being unhappy. I think doing extensive research to find schools that are the right fit for you is the most important thing you can do throughout the application process.”

“Ask for help and meet with college grads about their experiences.”

Question 2: “What were some questions that you had/have about college that you struggled to find the answers for?”

“I went on a bunch of job shadows, collected research and figured out some different programs and then went from there. Definitely could have used a former students prospective on actual real opinions rather than just information on the school.”

“I wish I had more knowledge about financial aid and scholarships while I was applying. My dad helped me with those things when it came time to figure those things out, but I wish I personally had been taught more about that stuff in school so I understood how it worked, where to look for outside scholarships, etc.”

“I would have liked to know more specifics about majors at different colleges. I knew which places offered the major I wanted, but some colleges focused on different areas i.e. media-based, more writing enhanced, etc.”

“Before coming to college, I wanted to know more about what exactly a credit is, what exactly majoring and minoring is, and more about scholarships and financial aid.”

“The degree I was going into.”

“How long are schools willing to hold on to scholarship awarded without immediate College / University attendance? Also, what are the probablites of getting awarded a scholership if applying for school at a much older age?”

“Basics such as how does financial aid work, to registering for classes to the actual experience of going to college and being solely responsible for your own self.”

“Scholarships, financial aid, transferring, employment.”

“Financial aid was a complicated topic.”

“Loans.. how do loans work?”

“How to apply for financial aid and what information I needed.”

“If they are right for me.”

“Figuring out tuition and choosing a course path were the most difficult things for me.”

“Just the different documents needed for financial aid.”

“The main questions were more about which scholarships I should or could even apply to.”

With the information I gathered I was able to see an insight to how students would’ve liked to be helped when they were applying so that I may be able to create a business model and value proposition that reflects a way that could benefit students that are applying to college.

Value Proposition

An easy to access information database for first generation students who want to attend college that provides the necessary recourses to access post-secondary education meanwhile also creating a personalized experience for each student.