The First-Generation and Transfer Student Achievement Gaps

Just as there is an academic achievement gap between AHN and White students, an achievement gap also exists between first-generation (FG) and continuing-generation (CG) students. CG students have one or two parents that have completed a 4-year college degree while FG students’ parents lack 4-year college degrees. Estimates suggest that FG students make up anywhere between 15-20% of college students (Harackiewicz et al., 2014) to as much as 56% of college students (RTI International, 2019). Estimates suggest that FG students make up anywhere between 15-20% of college students to as much as 56% of college students. FG students are more likely to be female, to come from low GWI families, and to belong to ethnic minority groups than are CG students (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018). FG students are less likely to enroll in college (Shelton, 2011), and more likely to underperform and drop-out than CG students (Engle & Tinto, 2008). During college, FG students take fewer credits, have lower grades, and have lower scientific reasoning skills than their continuing generation peers (Shelton, 2011). The FG student achievement gap has also been called the social-class achievement gap because parental education levels are often linked to their social class or GWI (Harackiewicz et al., 2014; Snibbe & Markus, 2005). The 3-year attrition rate for FG college students (33%) is more than double that of CG students (14%) (Cataldi et al., 2018). Ultimately FG students are less likely than CG students to obtain bachelor’s degrees (Shelton, 2011).

An achievement gap also exists between transfer and non-transfer students. More than 40% of college students will transfer between institutions on their way to obtaining a degree (Townsend, 2008).  More than 40% of college students will transfer between institutions on their way to obtaining a degree. Transfers can occur from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution (upward or vertical transfer), between institutions of the same type (i.e., 2-year to 2-year, or 4-year to 4-year transfers, lateral transfer), or from a 4-year to a 2-year institution (reverse transfer). Transfer students generally experience less academic success than non-transfer students (Lakin & Elliott, 2016) and the majority leave the university before obtaining their degree (Yazdani et al., 2021). Many transfer students start in community colleges where ~29% of students are FG students and ~41% are AHN students (AACC, 2021). Out of all the students who transferred from a 2-year to a highly selective 4-year institution in the fall of 2020, ~26% were AHNs (Bobbitt et al., 2021). Together these numbers highlight the intersectionality between AHN, FG, and transfer students.