The First-Generation Programs team at Bates College, in addition to building community among and providing holistic support to our first-generation student population, also works to promote engagement in high-impact practices.
As a relatively new team on campus, we first began hosting a weekly “Snack & Chat” event series. These one-hour, conversational events took place every Monday from 5:00pm to 6:00pm in our Student Center for Belonging and Community and offered a casual opportunity for the first-gen community to gather and enjoy homemade snacks. Once we saw steady student engagement with the event, we decided to leverage our consistent scheduling to offer a new event: our inaugural Celebration of Off-Campus Study.
This program idea was sparked from collaborative meetings with colleagues in the Office of Global Engagement, which manages international student programming and off-campus study advising for all students at Bates. Both research and our staff members’ own experiences as first-generation students note the positive impacts of study away experiences for college students.
Institutional data and our colleagues in Global Ed identified that first-gen students at Bates engage in off-campus study at lower rates than their continuing-generation peers, as well as an alarming trend of first-gen students withdrawing from their study away intent. Over half of first-gen sophomores in January 2024 who declared an intent to study abroad or away withdrew their applications by fall semester 2025. What factors were leading to these trends?
Through discussion with colleagues and informal listening sessions with students, we identified that anxieties around financing study abroad experiences, traveling alone to a new location, and arranging the logistics for study away could be overwhelming for first-gen students, especially for those who perceived their transition to college in their first and second years as “challenging enough already.”
While the Global Ed team had designed events to promote study away to first- and second-year first-gen students, and provide individual advising for third-year students who have declared intent to study away, our team had the idea of bringing all class years of students together for a student-driven approach.
What resulted was our Celebration of Off-Campus Study Dinner. Our colleagues in Global Ed identified first-gen seniors who had studied away during their junior year, and invited them to prepare brief presentations about their experience, what they gained from it, and advice for younger first-gen students considering off-campus study. The eight students who signed up to present, represented different academic backgrounds and participated in programs across five different countries. On our team’s end, we booked a venue, arranged catering, and promoted the event to our first-gen student community, especially pushing it to first- and second-year first-gen students.
Two dozen students attended the event, which began with introductory remarks of welcome to attendees and congratulations for students who had or planned to study away by our Director of First-Generation Programs. Our team prepared a “going-away” present for students who were declared to study away the following semester. Our colleagues from Global Ed then presented a brief crash course on off-campus study, which reviewed the financial resources and logistical support students can count on if they choose to pursue a domestic or international study away opportunity. The highlight of the night, however, was the presentations by our eight first-gen seniors, who shared stories about navigating discomfort, learning to budget, enjoying the food and culture in a new place, and having the rewarding experience of learning more about themselves through their travels. The number one regret shared? Overpacking!
Overall, the event provided an affirmation that first-generation students can and should take advantage of off-campus study opportunities. By bringing all class years together, we advanced our goals of building community among, promoting high-impact practices to, and empowering our first-gen students. The students who studied away were given a space to reflect on their experiences and establish themselves as leaders in their community by offering advice to younger peers.
After the dinner, I checked in with two students who had attended. The first was a second-year student I ran into on my way to the event, whom I invited to join us last-minute. She joined a table with our Assistant Director of Global Education, Jen Hyde. After the event, the student shared with me, “Jen told me about a school in Sweden that has a criminology program, I think I want to try it.” The other student I checked in with was a fourth-year from Afghanistan double majoring in physics and mathematics. I thanked her for presenting and contributing to the success of the night, and then asked her what she thought of it. She told me, “I wish I had something like this when I was a first-year!”
And that was the perfect bow to wrap up the evening.
For more information on the Bates College's approach, please visit their website here.
