About

The Blogger and the Blog

Hello, readers! My name is Melissa, I am a first-generation college student and a journalism major at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

My parents did not attain an education after high school which makes me the first in my family to go to college. Because they did not get a higher education they wished for me to one day get one. Now here I am getting it. My parents have been supportive even at times when they don’t really know what is going on, why there are so many documents involved or why books are so expensive (I wish I knew the answer to the latter). It is hard to explain to them the in and outs of college. The college experience is in some ways different for us and this blog will cover it.

For some first-generation college students, the support at home is not as great. The struggles at home are different for each student. It is very common for first-generation college students to be of a low-income background due to their parents not being college educated. Because of their income situation students at times don’t think it is possible that they can go to college because they don’t have enough money.

I can relate to being in that situation. There was a time when I believed that I could not go to a four-year university of my choice because it costs so much money. I didn’t lose hope and I was able to make it here to Cal Poly, thanks to a full financial aid package and scholarship money. I learned that even though I am low-income there are still opportunities and resources available to me.

The stories of current first-generation students that will be featured here can inspire younger students who don’t see college as a possibility and others can discover how college is different for them.

This blog was a multimedia project that ended in March 2014.