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First-generation college students may be the first in their family to attend college, and they may face struggles, though they are making the efforts toward a degree.
Being the first is always difficult, but the feeling of success and the reward afterward makes it worthwhile.
“Going to college is something you have to do if you want to be successful, and I’m glad that I’m going in the right direction,” pre-med major Juan Alvarez, said. “College is about the most important time of your life.”
“Once you get to college it helps your future,” Robert Moreno, first generation college student majoring in business said.
“Since [my parents] didn’t go, I knew it was hard to even find a job or make something of [myself without a degree]. They didn’t have the opportunity to even go to college. They couldn’t get financial aid,” he said.
Javier Bouno, majoring in Medical Emergency, feels the same way.
“It gives you a lot more opportunities, a lot of ways to grow as a person,” he said.
Nursing major, Jennifer Lisi can see that she won’t have to struggle as much as her parents did.
“You become more well-rounded. You don’t struggle as much and it’s easier to get a job,” she said. “My parents struggled and they didn’t want me to. The biggest benefit of all is knowing and learning that I can change my children’s future and hopefully a little part of the world too.”
Lisi believes her children will have a better chance, now that they won’t be first generation college students, if they attend college.
Bouno thinks he could have benefited from his parents going to college.
“If my parents had gone they could [have] help[ed] me with my classes or with homework or stuff like that,” he said.
His opinion correlates to Moreno, but Moreno also would have liked to know what to expect from college.
“I’ll advise my children that college is a good thing for them. They can gain experience, meet friends, and get an education,” he said.”It’s more than just an education, it’s an experience.”
Education is important to Michael Sera, an engineering major, because he believes that Hispanics would gain from the opportunity of college.
“As a Hispanic, it is more important for us to teach others the importance of education because of the opportunities that it gives us, financially and intellectually,” he said.
That is where TRiO steps in, the program helps give those opportunities to all ethnicities.
TRiO is a federally funded program through the U.S. Department of Education.
It’s designed for low-income, first generation, and disabled students.
According to TRiO, student Support Services Tutor coordinator Tomika Mack, the program is very successful.
TRiO has 256 students enrolled, 80 percent are first-generation students. The program offer help in math, science, and English.
Advisor for TriO, Jamie Coley, doesn’t believe you can compare student success between first generation students and other students.
“I don’t think you can paint with a broad brush,” former first generation student and current TRiO adviser Jamie Coley said. “You have to look at the individual student.”
As far as success among first-generation students, Coley did say that TRiO has done well.
“Our success rates and our graduation rates are higher than the general population. We have to prove to the government every year that we are successful,” Coley said.
Isaac Molina, Fonzo Brown and Boyd Boyd also contributed to this story. | 
