Who is a first-generation college student? California colleges, universities can’t agree

ACROSS CALIFORNIA’S PUBLIC colleges and universities, one nearly universal admissions factor — first-generation status — is still up to debate because no one can agree how to define it. 

The phrase “first-generation college student” is about the education level of a students’ parents and it’s a key predictor of that student’s success in school. For years, California schools have used first-generation college status as a means to boost campus diversity, especially after voters banned affirmative action in 1996. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 29 decision to end race-conscious admissions nationwide, the term is top of mind.