Look to Leadership: LSA Commits Support for First-Gen Students

“Access without support is not an opportunity.”

This quote from Syracuse University sociologist Vincent Tinto has long served as a clarion call for colleges and universities across the country. A call to go further than recruiting students from all backgrounds, and to develop systems that offer academic, financial, and social support throughout their college journeys.

We must remember that, while some students arrive on our campus after years of attending football games at the Big House, having dinners at Pizza House, and spinning The Cube, others join us as the first in their families who will graduate from a four-year college. They do not have parents or siblings who can help clarify the unspoken rules about professors’ “office hours” or places to seek (free) help from peer tutors, like the Science Learning Center. 

At the University of Michigan and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, we have achieved great success in supporting first-gen students, but we should not rest on our laurels. Amid widespread economic uncertainty and growing criticism directed toward institutions of higher education, we must intensify our efforts to ensure the success of our first-gen students throughout the duration of their college careers.

Read the full column in The University Record.