Abstract
First‐generation college students already struggling with basic needs felt the impact of the COVID‐19 crisis in more significant ways than their peers.
When they experienced a forced departure from campus with little time to plan, this often meant they also endured the unexpected removal of their homes, food sources, campus‐based employment, and support systems, said Sarah E. Whitley, M.Ed., Senior Director of the Center for First‐generation Student Success at NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
The immediate transition to online learning amounted to a difficult adjustment for any learner but more so for first‐generation students less likely to have access to technology and the internet at home, she said.
Whitley hosted a NASPA webinar panel that included Shakima Clency, M.S., Associate Dean of Students for Student Empowerment and Director of First‐Generation and Low‐Income Student Support at Cornell University; Kimberly Lowry, Ph.D., Vice President of Instruction and Student Services at Lone Star College; Matt Newlin, Ph.D., Director of Rural Initiatives at College Advising Corps, a national nonprofit college success organization; and Laura Wagner, Ph.D., R.N., Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Founder of the FirstGenRN Program at the University of California, San Francisco.
For those first‐generation students whose graduations were delayed, their families were often counting on the extra income a college degree could bring into their home, Wagner noted. On top of it all, some of these students had to juggle caring for their children with whom they needed to homeschool and share computers and study space, she said. And military students had fears about being called back into active duty, she added.
Students also experienced anxiety about the many unknowns, such as availability of housing and summer bridge programs and concerns about whether applications and enrollment deposits would still be accepted, according to Newlin.
To help students successfully navigate these uncharted waters, consider this checklist of guidance offered by the panelists:
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Don't assume you know what students need, cautioned Lowry. Instead, use surveys, focus groups, and phone call campaigns to ask them what resources they need to complete their courses and graduate. At Cornell University, survey results triggered intentionally collaborating with colleagues and experts across campus to determine how to leverage and mobilize resources to meet student needs, according to Clency. For example, look into how emergency funds could be tapped to meet students’ financial needs.
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Ask faculty to partner with student affairs and marketing staff to send students personalized messages conveying they're all in this together and working together to help students achieve their goals, Lowry advised.
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Provide faculty with professional development, support, and other resources to help them understand students’ needs while ensuring their online instruction is relational, culturally relevant, affirming, and inclusive, Lowry recommended.
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Demystify online learning. Hidden curricula can become a barrier. Address discrepancies between the haves and the have‐nots, Clency advised. Provide students with tips and strategies for how to engage in the online learning environment, such as the importance of taking breaks, engaging with faculty, and connecting with peers. Suggest that faculty provide their students with ongoing feedback and encouragement.
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Offer and publicize services available to students even when they can't come to campus. Identify and raise awareness via emailed newsletters about community resources, such as how to stay active via free online resources, such as meditation, yoga, cardio, and fitness classes, Clency advised. Collaborate with colleagues in disability affairs, student support, and libraries to find ways to make services and resources available to students online, such as mental health resources.
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Pay attention to the co‐curricular aspect of the student experience while of course keeping academic areas at the forefront. For example, tap into relationships with student leaders, making sure their organizations remain viable and strong, Clency said, through such activities as preparing for a virtual election process.
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Ensure all virtual resources created or made available by your institution are downloadable and/or printable so students can take it with them on their phone or on paper, just in case they have limited access to technology, Whitley said.
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Consider providing Wi‐Fi in the campus parking lots so students can access it from their parked cars, Wagner suggested.
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Build a sense of community for students. Leverage peer mentors, student leaders, and student workers as ambassadors who can personally reach out to new and returning students, Newlin said. This has the added benefit of providing students with opportunities to earn much‐needed income while enabling the institution to reach more students. This type of outreach has worked before in different circumstances, of course. Prior to the COVID‐19 crisis, Cornell used peer mentors during the summers to reach out to incoming first‐generation students who often felt isolated and unsure what to expect, Clency said. Peer mentors helped familiarize them with the college experience and what to expect.
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Look into opportunities to provide traditional learning experiences in different ways. Flexibility plays a critical role in helping students who faced unexpected interruptions or cancellations to their clinical hours, student teaching, or internships to still gain this critical experience while moving forward toward degree completion. Your institution might allow students to take an incomplete and complete their hours the next semester, have nursing students provide telehealth or move to sites/hospitals that accept nursing students, or shift student‐teachers to assist teachers with online learning platforms, Wagner suggested.
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Emphasize overcommunication and intrusive advising. Use every available communication method to reach new and returning students, including Zoom meetings, calls to home and cell phones, texts, emails, website updates, and newsletters. Otherwise, the COVID‐19 pandemic could easily derail new and returning college students, Newlin warned.
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Find ways to make services and resources more visible and upfront. Don't limit them to one and done, Newlin said. Integrate all of your institution's support services, from recruitment and enrollment to graduation, to avoid siloes and to alleviate frustration.
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Communicate to students the importance of starting, continuing, or completing their college education. Offer virtual open houses and admissions events for new and returning students, Whitley advised.
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Make sure your institution is student‐ready for when students return to campus, which they will, Lowry said.
For more information, visit https://firstgen.naspa.org.
Look for silver lining, and make the most of it.
Higher ed professionals can help their colleagues as well as first‐generation college students find, and benefit from, the hidden silver lining to the sudden, unexpected changes triggered by the COVID‐19 pandemic, according to a webinar panel discussion hosted by NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
Learn more about some of those benefits and how you can make the most of them by reviewing the following observations. They were offered by the panelists, Shakima Clency, M.S., Associate Dean of Students for Student Empowerment and Director of First‐Generation and Low‐Income Student Support at Cornell University; Kimberly Lowry, Ph.D., Vice President of Instruction and Student Services at Lone Star College; Matt Newlin, Ph.D., Director of Rural Initiatives at College Advising Corps, a national nonprofit college success organization; Laura Wagner, Ph.D., R.N., Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Founder of the FirstGenRN Program at the University of California, San Francisco; and Sarah E. Whitley, M.Ed., Senior Director of NASPA's Center for First‐generation Student Success.
Students have more time with their families because they aren't commuting to campus. They're gaining vital practice in boundary‐setting with other members of their households while also learning how to use online learning and virtual platforms, all of which builds resiliency, Wagner said.
The upheaval caused by this crisis illuminated the inequities that existed on college and university campuses, Clency noted. It's raised awareness of the fact that so many students don't have resources besides the on‐campus resources they completely rely upon. This experience can help higher ed to become more inclusive and equitable, she added.
The circumstances that forced first‐generation students to learn online at home have created unique opportunities for students’ family members to connect to and understand their college experience, Clency pointed out.
All of these changes have forced staff and faculty to talk to first‐generation students about what is and isn't working in higher ed and what blind spots exist about needed resources and about increasing equity and opportunity, Newlin said.
This situation serves as a reminder that as much as higher ed professionals prefer to plan ahead, it's important to pace yourself and take it day by day, Lowry noted. Give yourself the patience and grace to recognize that you can only do the best you can and recognize that your best is enough, she said. It also serves as a reminder to be grateful and thankful for the higher ed community and the opportunities to look to one another for much‐needed resources and support, especially in overwhelming times like these, she added.
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Claudine McCarthy, Editor
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