I was homeless for six years and now attend Yale as a fully funded graduate student. A tried-and-true bootstrap story, though it has by no means come easily.
Like many first-generation low-income students (FGLI), I began my education at my local community college, Indian River State College in Florida. I experienced a supportive environment for students, including a range of safety nets, personalized advising, ample financial resources and an individualized tutoring program.
After graduating, I transferred to Rollins College, a small, private liberal arts college in Central Florida with over a $360 million endowment and annual on-campus student costs exceeding $78,000.
It was not until I transferred to Rollins that I experienced difficulties as an FGLI student, including financial obstacles that created barriers to my success — and the success of many other FGLI transfer students. To create more success stories, we need better policies to support FGLI transfer students.
I was fortunate: I had received a Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship that provided full financial support for my bachelor’s degree. Yet I still had trouble finding other resources that would help students like me.
I felt ostracized and alone until I joined a small group of FGLI students on campus, including some who had also transferred from a community college.
We bonded over our shared experiences of constant self-advocacy and financial uncertainty, including the challenges of unannounced tuition hikes, unclear billing statements and programs that required additional expenses, like study abroad and certain majors. We had all encountered apathetic responses to our needs, scholarship disbursement delays and trouble managing unexpected and up-front expenses.
Being FGLI at a prestigious institution often feels like we’ve been invited to the party after it is over and that the institutions somehow expect us to be grateful for being invited at all.
Many of these challenges were shared by fellow Cooke Scholars who had also transferred from community colleges as part of my Jack Kent Cooke Scholar cohort.
Even though our scholarships fully covered expenses, we still spent numerous hours fighting with school officials to receive our funding. These battles, along with countless other grievances, led me to organize a low-income student movement aimed at raising awareness on campus of our unique needs.
We had some success at Rollins, but I wasn’t surprised when I began experiencing the same challenges as a graduate student at Yale, where my up-front housing, parking and winter wardrobe costs exceeded $4,000, coupled with moving costs.
At Yale, I still regularly face difficulties securing my scholarship funding in a timely manner, resulting in thousands of dollars in credit card debt.
But the issues didn’t stop there. I have now concluded that the barriers faced by FGLI students extend beyond financial aid.
FGLI students who attend elite schools often do not feel that they belong. This is because we are not treated like we do. Community college student transfers make up only 5 percent of students at top schools annually, a glaring inequity that maintains unequal college experiences.
In some cases, we encounter insensitivity so extreme it is unsettling. I remember sharing my experience with being homeless during the first week of school. Afterward, I was asked by a student: “So, like, should I refer to you as a homeless person or someone who experienced homelessness?”
Colleges and universities should prioritize community college transfer admissions by establishing clear transfer pathways. They should create programs to identify and invest in high-performing students early in their community college journeys.
I laughed at the question’s absurdity, yet that encounter has set the tone for my time at Yale.
I’ve observed non-FGLI students utilizing resources meant for FGLI individuals, such as the FGLI club at the Yale School of Public Health. I’ve also encountered peers misusing the term FGLI to describe their own situations. For example, one peer claimed to be “basically FGLI” because her father had only obtained an MBA, demonstrating a lack of awareness regarding the real challenges we face.
I’ve found that my peers cannot fathom our FGLI existence. Yet I’ve also come to realize that my experience as an FGLI transfer student is not unique. That’s why I am advocating for policies that comprehensively embrace and better support our specific needs after transferring to four-year institutions.
Forty-four percent of low-income students in the U.S. enroll in community colleges after high school. While national averages show that community college transfer students graduate at rates equal to or higher than those who begin at four-year institutions, some elite schools limit the number of transfer slots available.
Colleges and universities should prioritize community college transfer admissions by establishing clear transfer pathways. They should create programs to identify and invest in high-performing students early in their community college journeys, providing services such as waived application fees, individualized transfer advising and workshops to finetune application materials.
It is also important to revise transfer credit policies that hinder students from graduating within the standard four years, imposing extra financial burdens on students who need additional classes to compensate for credits that did not transfer.
They must reassess policies that lead to scholarship displacement, in which promised institutional scholarship funds are often withdrawn from low-income students who received needed grants and scholarships from other sources.
Other essential steps include establishing safety nets to cover unanticipated ad hoc and up-front expenses as well as appointing and training staff navigators, ideally from FGLI backgrounds, who can connect with and guide FGLI transfer students.
These are but a few of the policy changes that could address the systemic barriers and institutional biases that hinder the success of FGLI students on four-year college campuses. Especially in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision ending affirmative action.
Related: OPINION: The Supreme Court just revealed what we already know — Meritocracy is a myth
Being FGLI at a prestigious institution often feels like we’ve been invited to the party after it is over and that the institutions somehow expect us to be grateful for being invited at all.
FGLI students are not a one-and-done diversity checkbox. Greater attention should be paid to supporting us before, during and after our college experience.
The consequences of not doing so will perpetuate educational inequities for already socially vulnerable and historically underrepresented groups.
Wyatt Deihl is a Master of Public Health student at the Yale School of Public Health and a passionate advocate for equity, dedicated to breaking down barriers and promoting inclusivity.
This story about FGLI transfer students was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.
At The Hechinger Report, we publish thoughtful letters from readers that contribute to the ongoing discussion about the education topics we cover. Please read our guidelines for more information. We will not consider letters that do not contain a full name and valid email address. You may submit news tips or ideas here without a full name, but not letters.
By submitting your name, you grant us permission to publish it with your letter. We will never publish your email address. You must fill out all fields to submit a letter.