First-generation students are a substantial share of higher education, but their experiences differ across definitions, institutions, cohorts, and countries. Recent U.S. measures place the share between 48% and 55% of students, while older longitudinal studies show gaps in preparation, enrollment timing, persistence, and degree completion by parental education.
Contents
- Who counts as a first-generation college student
- How many students are first-generation
- High-school preparation and college plans
- College access and enrollment pathways
- Affordability, income, and institutional context
- Persistence and degree completion
- Outcomes after a bachelor’s degree
Who counts as a first-generation college student
There is no single international definition of a first-generation college student. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and Pell Institute measures in the United States generally classify students by whether their parents attended or completed college. The international comparison in the Pell Institute’s The Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2026 Historical Trend Report uses parental upper-secondary and tertiary education categories instead.
In 2023, 26% of 25- to 34-year-olds across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) attained a tertiary degree when their parents had not completed upper secondary education. The rate was 44% when parents had completed upper secondary or postsecondary non-tertiary education but not tertiary education. Among people who were not first-generation under that international definition, 70% attained a tertiary degree. (The Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2026 Historical Trend Report, 2023)
The same international comparison reported different U.S. rates by parental-education category. In 2023, the U.S. tertiary-attainment rate was 36% for first-generation USP students and 22% for first-generation BUS students, compared with 42% for all U.S. 25- to 34-year-olds. The report also recorded a 78% tertiary-attainment rate for first-generation BUS students in Korea. These categories should not be treated as interchangeable with every domestic first-generation definition. (The Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2026 Historical Trend Report, 2023)
How many students are first-generation
First-generation students represented a majority of students in several U.S. higher-education measures. They made up 53% of students in U.S. degree-granting Title IV colleges and universities in 2020, down from 66% in 1996. The Pell Institute’s trend series also reported a decline from 63% in 2012 to 53% in 2022, while its 2021 estimate put the first-generation share of U.S. undergraduates at 55%. These figures come from different series and definitions, so the percentages should be compared with their stated years rather than combined into one continuous estimate. (Percentage of First-Generation Students Declines between 1996 and 2020, 1996 and 2020; The Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2026 Historical Trend Report, 2012-2022 and 2021)
Institutional type matters. In 2020, first-generation students accounted for 65% of students at public two-year institutions, 48% at public four-year institutions, and 41% at private nonprofit four-year institutions.
| U.S. institution type | First-generation share | Measurement year |
|---|---|---|
| Public two-year | 65% | 2020 |
| Public four-year | 48% | 2020 |
| Private nonprofit four-year | 41% | 2020 |
(The Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2026 Historical Trend Report, 2020)
High-school preparation and college plans
Longitudinal data show differences in advanced coursework before college. Among 2003-04 high-school graduates, 27% of first-generation students took trigonometry, statistics, or precalculus, compared with 43% of students whose parents held a bachelor’s degree. Calculus participation was 7% for first-generation students and 22% for students whose parents held a bachelor’s degree. AP or IB credits were reported for 18% and 44%, respectively. (First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, 2003-04)
Plans for education also varied among first-generation postsecondary enrollees from the 2002 sophomore cohort. In 10th grade, 36% expected a bachelor’s degree as their highest attainment, 32% expected a master’s degree or higher, and 13% expected some postsecondary education as their highest attainment. Another 29% had not thought about taking the SAT or ACT at that point. These are historical cohort findings, not current forecasts of student plans. (First-Generation and Continuing-Generation College Students: A Comparison of High School and Postsecondary Experiences, 2002)
College access and enrollment pathways
Parental education was associated with postsecondary enrollment in the 2002 high-school sophomore cohort. By 2012, 72% of sophomores whose parents had never attended college had enrolled in postsecondary education. The rate was 84% for those whose parents had some college education and 93% for those whose parents had earned a bachelor’s degree. (First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, 2002-2012)
Among the 2002 cohort’s students who later enrolled, 24% were first-generation, 34% had parents with some postsecondary education but no bachelor’s degree, and 42% had a parent with a bachelor’s degree. Timing also differed: 58% of enrolled first-generation students entered postsecondary education within three months of high-school completion, compared with 63% of enrollees whose parents had some college and 78% of enrollees whose parents had a bachelor’s degree. (First-Generation and Continuing-Generation College Students: A Comparison of High School and Postsecondary Experiences, 2012; First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, 2002-2012)
Institutional pathway differences were also visible. Among postsecondary enrollees in the cohort, 76% of first-generation students first enrolled in public institutions. (First-Generation and Continuing-Generation College Students: A Comparison of High School and Postsecondary Experiences, 2012)
Affordability, income, and institutional context
The Pell Institute reported that 26% of potential first-generation students’ families were in poverty in 2011. Their median household income was $48,567 in the same year. (The Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2026 Historical Trend Report, 2011)
Historical survey responses show why cost and speed could influence institutional choice. In 1995-96, first-generation students were 36% likely to say obtaining needed financial aid was a very important reason for choosing their first institution, compared with 25% of other students. They were 35% likely to identify finishing a course quickly as a very important reason, compared with 21% of other students. (First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, 1995-96)
A Texas developmental-education evaluation illustrates financial pressure in one incoming-student population, but it is not a national estimate. Among incoming college students evaluated between 2016 and 2018, 39% were first-generation. Among those first-generation students, 38.5% reported very distracting and troublesome financial problems in 2012, while 38.2% said they had the financial resources needed to finish college. The differing questions and dates are retained as reported. (First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, 2012 and 2016-2018)
Persistence and degree completion
Early departure was more common among first-generation students in the 2003-04 entering cohort. Three years after first enrollment, 33% of first-generation students had left without a postsecondary credential. The corresponding figures were 26% for students whose parents had some college and 14% for students whose parents had a bachelor’s degree. (First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, 2003-07)
Six-year bachelor’s-degree attainment showed a similar gap among first-time beginning students who enrolled in 2012. By 2017, 23% of first-generation students had attained a bachelor’s degree, compared with 59% of non-first-generation students. For students who were both low-income and first-generation, the rate was 14%; for students who were neither low-income nor first-generation, it was 64%.
These figures describe differences between groups in specified cohorts. They do not establish that parental education or income alone caused the outcomes, and they should not be read as current national completion forecasts. (The Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 2026 Historical Trend Report, 2012-2017)
Outcomes after a bachelor’s degree
Among 2007-08 bachelor’s degree recipients, 57% to 59% in each parental-education group were employed full time four years after graduation. For employed first-generation graduates, median annualized full-time salaries were between $43,000 and $45,500 four years after graduation. Median annualized part-time salaries across parental-education groups ranged from $12,500 to $16,100. (First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, 2012)
Graduate enrollment was less common for first-generation bachelor’s recipients in the same follow-up. Four years after earning a bachelor’s degree, 4% of first-generation graduates had enrolled in doctoral or professional programs, compared with 10% of graduates whose parents had a bachelor’s degree. (First-Generation Students: College Access, Persistence, and Postbachelor’s Outcomes, 2012)
Earlier transcript data also found differences in declaring a major. Among students whose parents had bachelor’s degrees or higher, 13% had not declared a major after entering postsecondary education, compared with 33% of first-generation students. This finding comes from a 1994 measure and should be understood as a historical transcript statistic rather than a current estimate. (First Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at Their College Transcripts, 1994)