Bucks County’s First-Generation College Students Dig Deep for Postsecondary Degrees

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caps being thrown
Image via Ann Burlingham at Creative Commons.
Statistics show a rise in Bucks County students pursuing the first advanced degrees in their families.

Bucks County institutions of higher learning have a special subset of their student bodies: those whose pursuit of an advanced degree represents an educational threshold none of their forebears have reached before them. Ashley R. Williams covered these unique seekers of a sheepskin for the Bucks County Courier Times.

When Justin Briggs left his home in Metuchen, N.J., for Delaware Valley University, he faced numerous obstacles. He was living on his own for the first time. He was in an environment where he faced raised academic expectations. And he was the underdog member of the football squad, outsized by his teammates.

But despite the challenges, Briggs is on track to earn his cap and gown this spring, one of the stand-out students who make up 22.2 percent of the school’s first-generation attendees.

The Bucks County Community College (BCCC) rate of familial trailblazers toward a degree (47 percent) is higher than the national average for the 2015-16 academic year (35 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics).

To assist them, BCCC offers a “First in My Family” outreach, which helps students navigate their college journeys.

More on local first-generation college students is at the Bucks County Courier Times.

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