Background

In large part, first-generation students’ lower persistence and graduation rates, and their lower scores on standardized assessment measures, are the result of differences in the precollege characteristics of first-and second-generation students. For example, first-generation students tend to come from families with lower incomes and have lower levels of engagement in high school (Terenzini et al., 1996). Both of these characteristics are related to success in college. Anticipatory socialization also appears to be a precursor to success in college (Attinasi, 1989). Whereas finding a way to become acculturated into and manage the challenges of college is very important for first-generation students, acculturation tends to be a given for second-generation students (Terenzini et al., 1994). Evidence about the role of educational aspirations, another form of anticipatory socialization, is mixed. Billson and Terry (1982) found no differences in the educational aspirations of first-and second-generation students. Terenzini and his colleagues (1996), however, found that first-generation students had lower educational aspirations than their second-generation counterparts did. Several aspects of first-generation students’ college experiences also appear to affect success in college, even after controlling for precollege characteristics. For example, first-generation students are less likely to live on campus, to develop relationships with faculty members, and to perceive faculty as being concerned about their development; they also work more hours off campus (Richardson & Skinner, 1992; Terenzini et al., 1996). First-generation students are also less likely to develop strong relationships with other students and to become involved in campus