Was I the first person in my family to earn
a college degree? It's a little hard to tell. My grandmother was
trained to teach at what was called a Normal School, now a state
college. My mother got her nursing certificate through the U.S. Cadet
Nurse Corps during World War II. My dad didn't finish college, but he
always identified with the university and considered himself an
alumnus.
College would have been a better experience
if I'd learned earlier how to seek help. I didn't know how to choose a
school, how to select classes or what my adviser was for — and I didn't
ask. I didn't really learn how to study until my junior year. Finally I
did learn — and received not only a degree but a good education.
If
you ask ELCA college recruitment and admissions staff, a
first-generation student may have parents with "a little college" but
no degree, no college at all, or even a form of higher education other
than college. But however you cut their demographics, first-generation
students add to the life and luster of the ELCA's 28 colleges and
universities. And our ELCA schools do everything they can to help these
students accomplish their goals.
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