Cover -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1 HOW MANY FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE THERE? -- Definitions -- Counting First-Generation College Students -- How Institutions Can Count Students -- What the Data Show -- First-Generation Student Status as a Proxy for Ethnicity -- Counting the Institutions That Will Be Counting First-Generation Students -- Now Is the Time for Action -- Sonoma State University -- Notes -- 2 THE OBSERVABLE BEHAVIORS OF FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS -- Learning the Culture of College -- First-Generation Status Is Not the Same as Low-Income Status -- Section One: Learning at College -- Precollege Preparation -- Being Underprepared at College -- Learning How to Study -- Different Way of Learning -- New Way of Perceiving the World -- Learning About Majors -- Section Two: Campus Presence -- The Imposter Phenomenon -- Differences in the Classroom -- Alternative Ways of Support -- Validating the Presence of First-Generation Students -- 3 THE INTERNAL PSYCHOLOGY OF FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS -- Section One: An Extended Campus Acclimation Process -- The Existential Question About College Attendance -- The Existential Question and Low-Income Status -- Developing a College-Student Identity -- Engagement With Physical Space -- Campus Size -- Blending In -- Section Two: The Importance and Impact of Personal Relationships -- Family Relationships -- Family Mythologies About College -- Faculty Relationships -- Nonfaculty Professional Relationships -- Peer Relationships and Role Models -- 4 IN THEIR OWN WORDS -- Narrative One: Rosa Avila -- Narrative Two: Crystal Halverson -- Narrative Three: Calvin Knight -- Narrative Four: Maria Bravos -- Narrative Five: Erica Camacho -- Narrative Six: Jessica Gomez -- Narrative Seven: Jeff Peterson -- Narrative Eight: Anna Gutierrez -- Narrative Nine: John Hunter.

Narrative Ten: Natalie Jimenez -- Narrative Eleven: Carlos Sosa -- Narrative Twelve: Yolanda Ortiz -- Narrative Thirteen: Elizabeth Ordaz -- Narrative Fourteen: Phillip Hammer -- 5 NARRATIVE ANALYSIS -- Narratives One-Three: Avila, Halverson, and Knight -- Narratives Four-Seven: Bravos, Camacho, Gomez, and Peterson -- Narratives Eight-Eleven: Gutierrez, Hunter, Jimenez, and Sosa -- Narratives Twelve-Fourteen: Ortiz, Ordaz, and Hammer -- 6 RECOMMENDATIONS -- Section One: Learning at College -- Issue 1 -- Issue 2 -- Issue 3 -- Issue 4 -- Section Two: Campus Presence -- Issue 5 -- Issue 6 -- Issue 7 -- Section Three: An Extended Campus Acclimation Process -- Issue 8 -- Issue 9 -- Issue 10 -- Issue 11 -- Section Four: The Importance and Impact of Personal Relationships -- Issue 12 -- Issue 13 -- Issue 14 -- Conclusion -- References -- About the Author -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.