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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

First Generation Students in Higher Education 

Olivia Sanchez 

Department of Sociology 

 California State University, Los Angeles 

 

ABSTRACT 

The percentage of first-generation college students 

enrolling in universities has been increasing. However, the 

percentage of first-generation students who continue past the first 

year is significantly lower than their peers. Past research indicates 

that low bachelor’s degree attainment rates among first-generation 

students include difficult transitions to college, financial barriers, 

and personal relationships. Recent literature confirms a change in 

educational pathways for many first-generation students. As the 

cost of education increases, the traditional route of four-year 

institutions has encountered a more cost-effective pathway offered 

by two-year community colleges. However, the challenges present 

in transferring from a two-year community college to a four-year 

university impact the bachelor’s degree attainment rate for first-

generation and transfer students. It is crucial to identify factors 

contributing to the gap to create policies and services that better 

support students from marginalized backgrounds.  

This study employs logistic regression to compare the 

educational experiences of first-generation and transfer students 

at a large public Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) university. I 

examine the association between first-generation students or 

transfer students and academic challenges such as academic 

probation. Findings support most prior research surrounding the 

academic challenges pertaining to transfer students and their 

educational experiences in higher education institutions. 

However, contrary to recent research, this study did not find a 

significant relationship between first-generation students and 

likelihood of being on academic probation. Although no 

significant relationship was observed between first-generation 

students and having ever been on academic probation, educational 

policies that further support this student body remain essential.  

 

 

 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

INTRODUCTION 

College students who are the first in their families to 

obtain a bachelor’s degree face numerous academic and social 

challenges in their transition into college, impacting their access 

and retention in higher education (Redford and Hoyer 2017). 

Using the definition from the National Center for Education 

Statistics (NCES 2018), students are considered first-generation if 

their parents completed some college credits but hold no degree 

or may have siblings who have completed bachelor’s degrees. 

Throughout this thesis, I will use the definition from Cataldi, 

Bennett, and Chen (2018). As of 2015–2016, 56 percent of all 

undergraduates were first-generation, meaning neither parent held 

a bachelor’s degree (RTI International 2019). First-generation 

students tend to be racial minorities and come from lower-earning 

households; Latinx students represented 27 percent of first-

generation college students, compared to 9 percent of traditional 

students, and 77 percent of students come from households with 

income below $50,000, compared to 29 percent of traditional 

students (Redford and Hoyer 2017). Combined with the 

challenges of being a racial minority and coming from a low-

income household, first-generation students tend to withdraw 

from college at higher rates than traditional students, especially 

before the second year (Cataldi et al. 2018). Although many bridge 

programs and resources aim to close equity gaps for first-

generation students, there is still a need for support beyond the 

first year of enrollment.  

Scholars have identified numerous contributing factors as 

to why first-generation college students struggle academically 

(Cataldi et al. 2018; Ives, Castillo, and Montoya 2022). However, 

a key barrier in college persistence among first-generation 

students is academic probation. Students earning low grades are 

placed on academic probation and may be suspended if grades do 

not improve. One of the key factors contributing to academic 

probationary experiences among first-generation students may be 

insufficient academic preparation prior to entering college (Grace-

Odeleye 2019). Additionally, the challenges faced by transferring 

from two-year colleges into four-year universities may potentially 

exacerbate rates at which first-generation students are placed on 

academic probation compared to continuing first-generation 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

students. Because the enrollment of first-generation students is 

expected to increase in the next decade (Cataldi et al. 2018), it is 

important for researchers to understand the academic challenges 

faced by first-generation students.  

This paper examines the relationship between 

generational status (first-generation or traditional) and the 

likelihood of academic probation as a key obstacle many first-

generation students face navigating higher education. My thesis 

also considers the experiences of transferring from a two-year 

college to a public four-year university. It aims to contribute to 

prior research by highlighting students’ experiences with 

academic probation and providing insight on how to target better 

students disproportionately impacted by obstacles commonly 

encountered on educational pathways. 

 

REVIEW OF LITERATURE 

Past research on first-generation students suggests that 

their educational experiences are negatively impacted by a wide 

range of factors such as financial constraints, sense of belonging, 

and family conflicts (Ives, Castillo, and Montoya 2020). 

Moreover, many first-generation students who start at two-year 

colleges encounter additional barriers when transferring to four-

year universities, including adjusting to differences in class and 

campus size, academic rigor, and institutional culture (Wang, Lee 

and Wickersham 2019; Witteveen and Attewell 2020; Xu et al. 

2018). While these factors are beyond the scope of this study, the 

literature review draws on prior research on academic probation, 

placement, and transferring experiences among first-generation 

students.  

 

Academic Probation among First-Generation Students  

Academic probation is a prevalent tool used by colleges 

and universities to warn students that their grade point average 

(GPA) is below a minimum threshold (typically 2.0 on a 4.0 scale) 

and are not in good academic standing (Bowman and Jang 2022). 

If students do not meet the minimum threshold within a specific 

timeline, students are usually subject to escalating penalties up to 

dismissal from the institution (Bowman et al., 2020). While 

national data on academic probation is scarce, research suggests 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

that academic probation is relatively common among 

undergraduates in general–one study observed that more than 94 

percent of students at a large four-year university were placed on 

academic probation within the first three semesters (Leon et al. 

2019). Moreover, nearly 25 percent of first-year students in a 

statewide community college sample had overall GPAs below 2.0 

– the minimum threshold for most universities (Schudde and 

Scott-Clayton 2016). Despite the prevalence of academic 

probation among undergraduates generally, few studies have 

investigated whether first-generation students are more likely to 

be placed on academic probation and what role transferring from 

a two-year to a four-year university plays in mediating this 

relationship.  

As reported by Eveland (2019:2) “although the growing 

attendance of first-generation college students attests to higher 

education’s commitment to access and social mobility, by many 

measures students who are the first in their family to attend college 

are not as successful as their later-generation peers”. Moreover, 

research has shown that first-generation college students have 

many responsibilities that compete with that of the university for 

time and attention (Eveland 2019). Thus, the obstacles first-

generation students encounter in assimilating to university culture 

are exacerbated by the lack of preparation to navigate through 

these spaces successfully. Researchers have found that “negative 

signals” experienced in higher education contribute to the early 

withdrawal of first-generation students, such as placement in 

remedial coursework, lower GPA, repeating classes, and delay in 

major declaration - all of which results in a slower accumulation 

of credits towards the degree (Chen 2005). While there are a 

variety of resources to support students, first-generation students 

continually face significant challenges impeding their success in 

degree completion and beyond.  

Although there is a broad range of scholarship that 

examines the various aspects of first-generation student profiles 

that contribute to their academic experiences, there is a lack of 

scholarship centered on the intersection of the personal and 

academic identities of this student population. Through a 

comparative analysis on first-generation and traditional students, 

lack of family support and understanding from family members 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

are other issues faced by many first-generation college students 

(House, Neal, and Kolb 2019: 4). Furthermore, Abraham 

Barouch-Gilbert’s (2016) qualitative study of former probationary 

students draws on a self-efficacy theoretical framework to analyze 

the role that supports from family, friends, and the four-year 

university played in the academic attainment of participants. 

Barouch-Gilbert (2016:156) states,  

When sharing their experiences of academic 

probation, participants described how to support, 

encouragement (social persuasions), and 

guidance from others (vicarious experiences) 

emerged as primary sources of self-efficacy 

information. Further, participants' academic 

achievements (e.g., good grades on papers and/or 

assignments) and changes in their emotional 

states strengthened their beliefs in their academic 

capabilities.  

The different components that impact the educational success of 

first-generation students are tied to the various facets of their 

intersecting identities. Further analysis of the effects of 

intersectional identities on the educational experiences of 

marginalized student bodies will provide a stronger understanding 

of the discrepancies in higher education institutions.  

 

Navigational Pathways of First-Generation Students  

Although not all transfer students are first-generation, the 

transfer identity forms a large part of the intersectional identities 

of first-generation students. Over one-third (37%) of first-

generation students entered as transfers, versus 27% for others, 

nearly three-fifths (58%) of first-generation students identified as 

female, and three-fifths (60%) of first-generation students were 

reported as lower-income Pell Grant recipients, versus 16% for 

others (University of California Annual Accountability Report 

2021). While there are various pathways among students who 

navigate multiple higher education institutions (e.g., lateral 

transfer, reverse transfer, dual credit), the most critically reviewed 

and prevalent transfer pathway is the vertical transfer- when a 

student transfers from a two-year to a four-year college with or 

without an associate degree (Taylor and Jain 2017; Townsend 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

2001). This study examines students who identified as having 

vertically transferred from a two-year college into a public four-

year university.  

Vertically transferring from community colleges to four-

year institutions plays a critical role in upward mobility among 

first-generation, low-income, and racial/ethnic minority students 

– many of whom are overrepresented in community colleges but 

less represented at four-year universities (Jenkins and Fink 2015; 

Witteveen and Attewell 2020). Part of this can be attributed to 

vertical “transfer gaps” - the difference between the percentage of 

students who indicate they desire to transfer and the percentage 

that transfer (Taylor and Jain 2017). A racial transfer gap, coined 

by Crisp and Nunez (2014), identifies an inequity in vertical 

transfer rates based on race. Using this lens, white students from 

community colleges were 71% more likely to transfer than 

students of color (Wood et al. 2011). Thus, while racial and ethnic 

minority students are heavily represented at the community 

college level, this representation is not reflected in the transfer to 

four-year universities.  

The underrepresentation of marginalized students in 

transfer rates can be attributed to the many challenges that 

students must navigate; many students who begin at community 

college must ascertain when to transfer, whether their credits 

transfer, how to afford increased tuition costs, or how to juggle 

career, education, and family (Jabbar, Epstein, Sanchez, and 

Hartman 2020). Many first-generation students who transfer 

struggle with securing financial resources to pay for increased 

tuition costs at a four-year university which can be a crucial factor 

when deciding to which institutions they apply and transfer (Xu et 

al. 2018). Low financial security can also negatively impact the 

academic and social lives of first-generation students; many first-

generation students are employed while attending college, 

resulting in fewer opportunities for interactions between first-

generation students and their peers as well as the level of 

involvement in campus culture (Gibbons and Woodside 2014).  

Lack of adequate academic preparation has also been a 

significant aspect of transfer students’ experiences. Community 

college students are less likely to transfer if they attended under-

resourced high schools that did not adequately prepare them for 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

college if their parents did not attend or complete higher education 

if they are older, or if they did not come from wealthy families 

with stable incomes (Wood et al. 2011; Taylor and Jain 2017). 

Common struggles transfer students reported were social 

isolation, problems adapting to the change in academic systems 

and class sizes, as well as a lack of access to information, and 

difficulty maintaining a balanced student life (Solis and Duran 

2020).  

Overall, the different components that impact the 

successful transfer from two-year colleges to four-year 

universities are also related to the challenges faced by first-

generation students. Thus, examining the experiences of both 

statuses with academic probation can provide further insight on 

the challenges faced by marginalized students.  

 

The Current Study 

In this study, I drew data from a web-based questionnaire 

that collected responses from undergraduate students currently 

enrolled at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State 

LA). Using quantitative analysis, this study examines the 

experiences of first-generation and transfer students on academic 

probation. Thus, I ask: (1) What is the relationship between first-

generation student status and academic probation? and (2) How 

does transferring into a four-year university mediate the 

relationship between first-generation student status and academic 

probation?  

 

Hypotheses  

For the first research question, I hypothesize that first-

generation students will have higher odds of being on academic 

probation than their traditional student counterparts. Regarding 

the second question, I hypothesize that the relationship between 

first-generation status and academic probation is mediated by 

transfer status. That is, the experience of transferring from a two-

year college will have an indirect association with academic 

probation through first-generation status.  

The literature on the educational pathways and 

experiences of first-generation and transfer students describes 

similar challenges that characterize their educational outcomes. 



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Therefore, I examine the odds of these student identities ever 

having been on academic probation. As I will demonstrate, the 

relationship between academic challenges and student status will 

further support the literature and hypotheses outlined above.  

 

METHODS 

Data  

I collected data using a web-based survey (i.e., Qualtrics) 

between September 9th, 2021 and February 17th, 2022, distributed 

among undergraduate students enrolled at California State 

University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) during this window. The 

survey consisted of 37 questions and was estimated to take 

approximately 11 minutes. Eligibility to take the survey included 

having a current undergraduate enrollment status at Cal State LA. 

Access to the web-based questionnaire was provided in a variety 

of ways, including an anonymous URL link and QR code both 

available via flyer. The survey flyer was posted on the sociology 

department’s bulletin board and distributed by several department 

faculty. The survey asked participants about their academic 

experiences in the 2020-2021 school year. Additionally, the survey 

includes closed- and open-ended questions about educational 

barriers, such as academic probation, and decisions to withdraw 

and re-enroll.  

 

Measures  

The key independent variables of this study include first-

generation and transfer statuses. Students who identified as first-

generation were coded as “1” and “0” for students who did not 

check this option. Students identifying as transfer were coded as 

“1” and “0” was coded for students who did not check this option. 

These categories are not mutually exclusive, as the original survey 

requested students to check all identities that applied to their 

experience. The main outcome variable in this study is academic 

probation. Academic probation is a dummy variable, with “0” 

coded for students who reported not having ever been on academic 

probation and “1” for students who identified as ever having been 

on academic probation.  

Covariates in my models include student demographic 

characteristics, such as gender, race and ethnicity, year of 



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enrollment, and house size. Gender was recoded into a dummy 

variable, coded 0 for male and 1 for female. Racial-ethnic 

categories included Latinx, American Indian/Alaskan Native, 

Asian, Black/African American, Middle Eastern/North African, 

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander and White identities. Due 

to sample sizes comprising less than 10 participants (and to ensure 

confidentiality among participants), the racial-ethnic variable was 

collapsed into two categories: “Latinx” (coded as “1”) and “non-

Latinx” (coded as “0”). Year of enrollment is drawn from 

participants identifying what year they are enrolled at Cal State 

LA. Because of the relatively smaller sample of students enrolled 

in their fifth year and beyond, I pooled participants in their fifth 

year and beyond into a single category for year of enrollment. 

Household size is drawn from a question asking participants to 

identify the number of residents residing in their household, 

including the participant. Because not all students self-reported 

funding strategies in the survey, I use house size to approximate a 

measure for socio-economic status and include it as a control in 

my analytic models. 

 

Sample  

Data drawn from the CSULA Office of Institutional 

Effectiveness (2022) reports that in the 2021-2022 school year of 

44,445 total enrolled undergraduate students, approximately 72 

percent identified as Hispanic, and 79 percent had a parent that did 

not obtain their bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, a majority of the 

students enrolled in the fall 2021 semester were female (59 

percent), with 41 percent males, less than 1 percent identifying as 

non-binary. Moreover, of the total enrolled undergraduate 

students, 10 percent were new transfer students. Additionally, 81 

percent of all students reported a full-time course load with 19 

percent identifying as part-time students. Thus, the average 

student profile of those currently enrolled is Hispanic, full-time, 

and first-generation.  

Table 1 summarizes the controls and the number of 

students that completed surveys for this study (n = 59). The initial 

sample included 98 participants with 87 completed survey 

responses, resulting in an analytic sample of 59 observations with 

non-missing values on key independent, dependent, and 



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demographic variables. The sample comprises more women (86 

percent) than men (14 percent), which does not necessarily align 

with the undergraduate 2021-2022 average student profile of 

currently enrolled CSULA students of 59 percent female and 41 

percent male. Moreover, the sample consisted of primarily Latinx 

students (85 percent), and 15 percent non-Latinx. Regarding 

academic characteristics, more than half of students were between 

their first and fourth year at Cal State LA (90 percent), while 10 

percent were in their fifth year or beyond. For key independent 

variables, the study sample is primarily composed of first-

generation students (83 percent), with more than half identifying 

as transfer students (54 percent). For academic outcomes, about 

22 percent of students reported having ever been on academic 

probation. 

 

Analytical Strategy  

Given that the outcome variable is dichotomous, I use 

logistic regression for my analyses to estimate the odds of having 

ever been on academic probation among first-generation students. 

The first model is a bivariate analysis, predicting the odds of 

academic probation across first-generation and traditional 

students. Then, the second model includes transfer status as a 

control to investigate how transfer status mediates the relationship 

between first-generation status and academic probation. The third 

model includes demographic characteristics, such as Latinx, 

gender, year, and house size, to statistical control for extraneous 

variables and test the influence of these variables on the 

relationship between first-generation status, transfer status, and 

academic probation. For ease of interpretation, the coefficients 

from logistic regression analyses are exponentiated to the odds 

ratio.  

 

FINDINGS 

Table 2 reports the logistic regression results of first-

generation and transfer students in odds ratio predicting having 

ever been on academic probation. I first report the odds ratio for 

first-generation status across all models. Model 1 reports the 

baseline model without controls for first-generation students ever 

on academic probation. While first-generation students have 



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higher odds of academic probation, the coefficient was not 

statistically significant (β = 2.92) My findings thus show that first-

generation first status is not significantly associated with odds of 

academic probation. Likewise, in Model 2, although the odds of 

academic probation increase, the association for first-generation 

status remains statistically insignificant (β = 3.05). Model 3, 

which includes controls for Latinx, gender, year of enrollment, 

and house size, reports statistically insignificant odds among first-

generation students in odds of academic probation (β = 2.16). 

Thus, I reject my first hypothesis that first-generation students will 

have higher odds of academic probation than traditional students. 

Instead, I find that first-generation status is not significantly 

associated with academic probation.  

Next, I examine the odds of academic probation with the 

transfer status of the student. Because Model 1 does not include 

transfer status as a variable, I will present results from Models 2 

and 3. Model 2 reports higher odds of academic probation that is 

statistically significant (β = 15.77). This suggests that students 

who transferred had 15 times the odds of those who did not to have 

ever been placed on academic probation, even after controlling for 

first-generation status. Transfer status appears to be a stronger 

predictor of academic probation than first-generation status alone.  

Model 3 reports that, even after controlling for student-

level covariates, the odds of academic probation increased (β = 

24.93) among transfer students, and the statistical significance 

increased. Transfer students have nearly 25 times the odds of 

having ever been on academic probation compared to traditional 

students, even after accounting for first-generation status and 

other demographic characteristics. Across Models 2 and 3, 

because the odds ratio is greater than 1, transferring from a two-

year college appears to be a risk factor of experiencing academic 

probation at any point in a student’s academic career.  

The high magnitude of the odds ratio (β = 15.77 in Model 

2 and β = 24.93 in Model 3 also suggests a unique and strong 

association between transfer status and academic probation. Thus, 

I reject my second hypothesis that transferring from a two-year 

college to a four-year university mediated the relationship 

between first-generation status and academic probation. Instead, I 

find evidence of a direct relationship between transfer status and 



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academic probation. However, caution must be exercised in 

interpreting the odds ratio for first-generation status, in that while 

the coefficient remained statistically insignificant across all 

models (perhaps due to the small sample sizes of the comparison 

group), first-generation students had higher odds of academic 

probation compared to traditional students. Overall, my findings 

demonstrate evidence of the challenges transfer students endure in 

their navigational pathways in higher education.  

 

DISCUSSION 

This thesis examined the relationship between academic 

probation and student status (e.g., first-generation, transfer) to 

provide insight on their academic experiences. Contrary to prior 

research (Barouch-Gilbert 2016), my study shows that first-

generation status is not statistically significantly associated with 

academic probation. However, consistent with prior research, 

transferring from a two-year college to a four-year university is 

significantly associated with having been on academic probation 

(Taylor and Jain 2017). My findings also show that, even after 

accounting for students who identified as first-generation, transfer 

students had significantly higher odds of academic probation 

compared to traditional students.  

The findings from this study align closely with prior 

research on the educational experiences of transfer students. 

Moreover, this study builds on Barouch-Gilbert’s (2016) analysis 

of the impact of academic challenges such as academic probation 

on transfer students. The significant relationship between transfer 

students and academic probation is further highlighted throughout 

this study. Thus, additional analysis of the role that supports from 

family, friends, and institutions play in the academic attainment of 

marginalized students is essential to develop stronger educational 

policies.  

This thesis aims to contribute to literature regarding the 

factors contributing to the academic experiences of first-

generation students while also attending to their navigational 

pathways. However, this study has important limitations. The first 

limitation is a limited sample size from survey collection efforts. 

Although the survey was distributed to on-campus and off-campus 

students, the variance in experiences may not be accounted for. 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

Many students were able to select various identities in multiple 

response formats; as noted in the sample description, the sample 

size was relatively small (89 responses) and reduced by 6 percent 

(59 observations) after eliminating responses that were missing on 

key variables. The second limitation is non-response bias, in that 

sampled students who did not respond (by choice or by mistake) 

may differ in characteristics from students who responded to the 

questions about academic probation, first-generation status, 

transfer status, or other demographic characteristics. The third 

limitation is that this study cannot account for potential 

differences in the unobserved characteristics of students who 

transferred or did not transfer, or who were ever placed on 

academic probation. Furthermore, sampling on-campus students 

provides an additional set of limitations. Given that the data 

cannot establish whether the experience of academic probation 

happened before or after transferring, my study cannot make 

causal inferences. Additionally, the sample does not account for 

students who have been on academic probation or are 

academically disqualified from enrolling at CSULA. As such, the 

results from this thesis should be viewed as a descriptive analysis. 

The fourth limitation is that the study sample comprises different 

demographic characteristics than the overall CSULA student 

population. Moreover, the study sample only collected survey 

responses from students at a public four-year university. Thus, 

these findings should be cautiously interpreted and cannot be 

considered a nationally representative student population.  

Although my hypotheses were not supported by my 

findings, the results contribute to existing literature and potential 

directions for future research. Educators and policymakers should 

pay special attention to the intersecting identities of transfer 

students, who tend to be racial-ethnic minorities, come from low-

income households, and identify as first-generation. Future 

research should consider expanding the focus of first-generation 

students to include the various challenges posed by transferring 

from two-year colleges into four-year universities. Future 

directions of this study include replicating the survey in different 

settings such as other CSU universities, the UC university system, 

and the community college network. 

 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

CONCLUSION 

Despite the prevalence of academic probation among 

first-generation students, there are few studies that examine the 

additional academic challenges faced by first generation students 

who tend to transfer from two-year colleges into four-year 

universities. This thesis examines the relationship between first-

generation students currently enrolled at CSULA and the odds of 

having ever been on academic probation, with transfer status as a 

mediating variable. Contrary to prior research, my thesis finds that 

first-generation status was not statistically significant with 

academic probation. However, I find that transfer students had 

significantly higher odds of having been placed on academic 

probation. My findings shed light on the transfer experiences of 

first-generation students and their relationship to the academic 

challenges faced by many first-generation students.  

 

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APPENDIX 

 

 

 

 



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