College students and faculty alike have faced challenges through the COVID-19 pandemic, but first-generation college students are facing more hardships than usual.
“It’s more about access than their ability to transition,” said Aileen Bumphus, the associate vice president of the Longhorn Center for Academic Equity, about first-generation students facing online learning.
Despite the fall 2020 semester being predominately online, the University of Texas admitted its largest freshman class, and the percentage of first-generation students at UT rose from 21.8% to 22.8% for the semester. The University of Texas at Austin has been recognized for its support of first-generation college students in the past, but the pandemic has presented challenges for the university and students alike.
Like many first-generation college students, UT sophomore Hope Shiner has had a hard time finding and connecting to resources in college. About her first year, Shiner said, “I didn’t know who to ask or where to go, and it wasn’t like I could ask my family.” This difficulty finding resources and getting help was made more difficult by the switch to online learning, Shiner said. She added, “I don’t know what’s open or how to find tutoring right now.”
Shiner said that, since the pandemic started, she has not felt as much support from the university and even some of her professors. She said it was easier to find resources and help when classes were in person. Shiner added that with online learning, “it’s harder to ask questions and communicate with my professors.”
Shiner said she felt more prepared because of the in-person experience she had during her freshman year. She said she was able to slowly adjust to college instead of “being thrown into online classes at the beginning of college.”
“I feel bad for UT24 students who are first-gen students because they are starting fresh in college with everything online, and I know that’s really difficult,” Shiner said.
Coming from a household without internet, UT freshman Ahitza Roque, said starting school with all her classes online has been a learning curve. She said it has been a lot of getting used to everything and learning how to use Canvas.
“I think one of the benefits I’ve had is that I’ve never experienced college outside of it being online, so I can’t really say it was so much easier in person because I don’t know,” Roque said.
Roque said she is in a program called UT for Me which has helped her find resources and “get grounded.” UT for Me, a program that supports Pell-eligible undergraduates, provides students not only with financial aid, but also personalized support, advising, connections to resources, graduation and career planning, and class materials.
“I’m worried about the first-gen kids who didn’t get that scholarship,” Roque said, “I don’t know if they have the same opportunities that I do.”
In years past, first-generation students were able to attend tailgates and in-person events to make connections and find support, but this year the university is finding ways to connect to first-generation students virtually, said Mike Gutierrez, the senior program coordinator of Student Success Initiatives.
“Going virtual and making sure we can put safety first is our top priority,” Gutierrez said.
The university often dedicates a week for celebrating and helping first-generation students, an event that will be held completely virtually this year, Gutierrez said. This year’s first-generation week will be held in November, and Gutierrez said students will be able to pick and choose which sessions and events they attend.
Reaching out to students this semester has been different, Gutierrez said. He said the hardest part is finding a good balance for the frequency of messages.
“I know that students are getting a lot of messaging from a lot of different places,” said Gutierrez.
The university has multiple resources available for first-generation students, but this semester organizations might have more difficulty cutting through the online clutter. Some of the resources available to first-generation students at UT include the Graduation Help Desk, Counseling and Mental Health Center, Longhorn Center for Academic Equity, and the First-Generation Online Center.
When the university announced that the fall semester would be mostly online, UT junior Dionicia Berrones and her fellow student ambassadors asked themselves, “How do we share everything we know as students for incoming students and other first-generation students?”
Berrones, a first-generation student, began working on the First-Generation Online Center in the summer. The online center is located on Canvas and provides first-generation students with access to resources, events and other opportunities.
“We were trying to play with the idea of still sharing lots of resources and making a space that wasn’t just necessarily social media,” Berrones said.
A total of 355 students are enrolled in the online center, a small number compared to the more than 9,000 undergraduate first-generation students enrolled at UT. Berrones said she would like to get the word out a bit more, and that she hopes the resources can be there for students.
“We didn’t want to throw it onto anybody,” Berrones said, “We made it optional and it’s open for them to add themselves in and feel free to explore, reach out, and ask questions.”
Bumphus said that first-generation students should take advantage of the resources available to them.
“Students are afraid to reach out and seek help,” Bumphus said, “but people cannot help you if you don’t take advantage of their services.”
Bumphus’ advice to students is to, “connect to our online center, practice self-care, and find more than one connection.”
First-generation students are facing many challenges this semester with online learning, but Bumphus said, “those challenges are opportunities for first-gen students to really showcase their skills, their abilities, and their talents.”