International relations and media and information freshman Monica Watt knew she would go to college her whole life, but being the first one to attend college in her family was not easy. From trying to understand financial aid packages to knowing what to expect in college, Watt said making it through her first year at MSU has been tough at times.
Kevin Sydnor, assistant director of the Office of Supportive Services, said those problems can be combated with three programs MSU has on campus: Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or Gear Up, Upward Bound and Student Supportive Services, or SSS.
SSS and Upward Bound are part of the Federal Trio Programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Gear Up partially is federally funded, and the funding is matched by MSU. All three support first-generation students.
While Watt hasn’t utilized the programs, she said it is nice to know MSU has first-generation students’ backs.
“I don’t think not going to college was an option for me,” Watt said. “The process to come to MSU was so stressful because my parents had no idea what to do.”
Both of her parents came to the U.S. from Korea with high school diplomas, and Watt knew going to college was a way to provide her family with a better life.
“My parents expect a lot out of me,” Watt said. “This is my chance to have my family better off.”
One of the biggest challenges Watt found when applying to college was figuring out the process for getting financial aid and not knowing the resources that are provided on campus.
“I felt alone when I had to figure out the financial aid stuff because my parents couldn’t help,” Watt said.
Sydnor, who mainly works with SSS, said students have to be invited to the program if they perform well academically, but once they are in, they are given resources to make sure they succeed in college.
“By advising, instruction, tutoring and peer mentoring, this provides exposure to different kinds of academic and cultural opportunities for those first-generation students,” Sydnor said.
Because it is hard to find first-generation students, programs, such as Upward Bound and Gear Up, reach out to students before they apply to college. Gear Up works with students in grade school in the Lansing school district and gives them information on what classes to take in high school to be able to apply to a university such as MSU.
Pamela Bellamy, director of Gear Up, said they provide the resources that the grade school may not have, such as tutoring and college campus visits to prepare for later in life.
“First-generation students may belong to a school that doesn’t have the money to provide them with total education packets and that is where we come in,” Bellamy said. “The goal of college visits is for those students to get information on what it takes to go to college.”
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