Admittedly, we are not doing anything unique or revolutionary to support our first-gen students at Husson University, but we know what we are doing is working.
Formalized support and programming for first-gen students is relatively new to us. Before the fall 2023 semester, there were no official activities targeting this cohort. However, by using time-tested methods to engage students and by demonstrating our pride in and belief in their potential, we are building a culture of success for our first-gen students.
As we recognized an increasing need to support first-gen students and students from limited-income households, we quickly realized a significant overlap between these two groups. In response, we hosted our first program in 2023: a first-gen reception, where members of Student Life and the Center for Student Success shared their experiences as first-gen students. All first-gen attendees received branded lapel pins with the tagline of our endeavor, "First-Gen Proud.” Immediately, we saw a shift in how we understood the experiences of first-gen students at Husson, and suddenly, students, faculty, and staff began to recognize themselves as first-gen and to do so proudly.
Since then, the First-Gen Reception has become an annual event.
Additionally, we have begun hosting an event every year during Homecoming & Family Weekend where family members of first-gen students can hear from faculty, staff, administrators, and, most importantly, first-gen student leaders about their experiences and the support available to them on campus. This year, the chair of the University’s Board of Trustees even attended to share his experience as a first-gen student. Building on this momentum, our president, Dr. Lynne Coy-Ogan, has encouraged first-gen faculty, staff, and students to include a First-Gen Proud image in their email signature and to proudly display the First-Gen Proud sticker on their office door. We have held a series of pop-up events where we hand out swag, and of course, some food to draw them in. One of these pop-ups was at a men’s and women’s basketball game during First-Gen Week, where we distributed t-shirts to attendees (alumni, faculty, staff, students, and community members) who identified as first-gen. The women’s team even wore the shirts as their warm-up and sideline gear for the game. Now, we see folks wearing Husson First-Gen Proud t-shirts all across campus, and even in the community.
Building on this momentum, we received approval to distribute Husson first-gen stoles to all first-gen graduates for this year’s commencement ceremony. We will also be launching a chapter of Tri-Alpha, with our first induction in the fall 2026 term. These two efforts will highlight and celebrate the achievements of our first-generation students at some of our most visible, high-profile campus events, reinforcing pride and recognition within our first-gen community.
As we said, we know none of this is revolutionary, but our results are still tangible. As a joint initiative between Student Life and Student Success, without formal staffing or dedicated budget allocations, we have done a lot with a little. And, we are not just shifting the culture; we are seeing a positive shift in the success of our first-gen students. In 2024, we saw an increase of almost 10% in the fall-to-fall retention rates of our first-gen students. This brought the retention rate of our first-gen population to nearly 80%, surpassing that of our continuing-gen students for the first time at our university. Admittedly, this was only about 0.5% better, but it is still a notable achievement and speaks to the great potential of our first-gen students to succeed in higher education!
For more information on Husson’s approach, please visit our website here: https://www.husson.edu/.
/FGCC%20Blogs/Morehead%20FGCC%20Blog.png)
