First-generation students feel uninformed about resources despite UNC’s First-gen Forward status

First-year student and first-generation college student Jomar Ponce Gamez said he joined several Hispanic student organizations during Small Fest, in hopes of connecting with other first-generation students on campus.

“When I'm with another first-gen student, I feel like I'm not figuring it out on my own,” Ponce Gamez said. “Instead, I'm figuring it out with somebody else.”

UNC was recently reaffirmed as a First-gen Forward institution by the Center for First-generation Student Success. In 2019, UNC-Chapel Hill was part of the first cohort of institutions named by the center. 

The University was selected as one of nine advisory institutions to serve in a leadership role. In this role, the University served as a model to other institutions for its commitment to the advancement of first-generation students. 

Despite this recognition, some first-generation students at UNC feel resources for them are not well advertised enough.

Andrea Lopez is a first-year student whose parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico. Since she got to UNC, Lopez said she had to seek out resources for first-generation college students.

“I know [the University's] resources are here," she said. "I think they should just be more out there and be given as soon as students get here."

Ponce Gamez also said he thought resources for first-gen students weren’t "the most accessible" when he arrived at UNC, and that an orientation event specifically for first-year first-generation students would be “insanely helpful.”

“It genuinely feels at times like everybody already knows what they're doing, I think because they had a ‘pre-round’ to all of this,” Ponce Gamez said. "Since I didn't, I'm just here figuring out as much stuff as I possibly can as fast as I can."

Carolina Firsts, a campus organization run by the Center for Student Success, provides resources and hosts events specifically for first-generation students, who make up approximately 20 percent of the UNC student body. They organize a kickoff event each fall, as well as a family weekend event. Additionally, the program hosts “First-Gen Friday” on the first Friday of each month, where students can stop by the SASB Plaza for a general Q&A with Carolina Firsts students and staff. 

"Building a community across campus for first-gen students to turn to — just having that community to really rally around the students — is a goal of mine,” Carolina Firsts program coordinator Brittany Grant said. 

Marcus Collins, the director of the Center for Student Success, said the program is undergoing a "transition," as Grant is new to her position. He said before Grant's hiring in August, Carolina Firsts could not maximize advertising and event planning, including Weeks of Welcome, for first-gen students.

The First-Generation Student Association, a student-led group, aims to “assist students in ways that family members lack sufficient knowledge on,” according to their Heel Life page. Grant also serves as the advisor for FGSA. On Nov. 8, Carolina Firsts will be partnering with FGSA and other campus groups to host a celebration for National First-Gen Day.

First-generation student Beverly Escobar-Orozco, who isn't a member of FGSA, said she has accessed mentorship programs and events for first-generation students through Mi Pueblo, a Latinx student organization.

“Knowing that other people are also feeling the way you are, and you're going through the same obstacles, knowing that there's people that not only can help you but are also going through it as well, it can help build you up,” Escobar-Orozco said.

Ponce Gamez, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico, said he often feels an additional burden to translate information into Spanish for his parents. Escobar-Orozco said she has also experienced the stress of relaying important details to her parents in their first language, which is Spanish.

“They can read English to a degree, but they don't completely capture or understand what's in front of them,” Escobar-Orozco said. “And it would help so much if emails — important emails, like the Alert Carolinas — were translated in Spanish, not only for students on campus, but also for parents off campus that might not understand English at all.”

The University conducted a needs assessment survey of first-gen students before the COVID-19 pandemic and found that students wanted opportunities to engage with each other and foster a sense of community. According to UNC Media Relations, the University plans to launch a new survey to assess how first-generation students’ needs have changed since the pandemic.

Prior to COVID, faculty members could attend trainings on the specific needs of first-generation students through the Center for Student Success and receive a "first-gen advocate" placard. Collins said the center is interested in bringing that program back.

"I'm a first-gen student myself," he said. "That would've meant a lot to me to know that someone had some awareness of what I bring to this space."

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