First Generation » The Issue

The Issue.

“It is the responsibility of the community, at the local, state and national levels, to guarantee that financial barriers do not prevent any able and otherwise qualified young person from receiving the opportunity for higher education. There must be developed in this country the widespread realization that money expended for education is the wisest and soundest of investments in the national interest. The democratic community cannot tolerate a society based upon education for the well to do alone. If college opportunities are restricted to those in the higher income brackets, the way is open to the creation and perpetuation of a class society which has no place in the American way of life.”
–President’s Commission on Higher Education, 1947

FIRST GENERATION is a story driven drama that connects the struggles of four students with issues of national concern. For these students going to college is not a given. Higher education is the best means of rising into another socio-economic class, but first generation and low-income students represent less than 10% of college students. Those with the courage to break the cycle of poverty by pursuing a college education face problems of access, affordability, and guidance.

Here are some startling statistics:

In 2005, 39% of children (28 million) in the United States lived in low-income families.
In 2002, low-income students represented only 6% of college graduates.
In 2000, first-generation students (parents with a high school diploma or less) represented just 9% of college students.
34% of high-achieving low income students don’t even bother applying to college compared to just 8% of students from upper class families.
In 1972, the maximum Pell Grant covered nearly 90% of the cost of a lower-income student to attend a four-year public university. By 2004 that number declined to just 23%.