‘Mum and Dad both finished school in Year 10'– how to help first-in-family students graduate from uni

Each year, about 30% of new undergraduates in Australia are the first in their families to go to university.

This means their parents do not have a university-level qualification. Often, they also don’t have any siblings or relatives who have gone to uni as well.

So these students must navigate a new and unfamiliar pathway. National data shows they are not only less likely to go to uni, but they are also less likely to graduate than those with university-educated parents.

Our new research provides insights into how we can support first-in-family students to complete their university studies.

A new focus on completion

Until very recently, federal government university funding has tended to focus more on getting students to enrol.

This year, a new “needs-based” funding model encourages universities to better support students from underrepresented backgrounds to graduate.

First-in-family students can be considered an “umbrella” equity category, as students often fall into multiple equity groups. For example, they may be Indigenous, come from a regional area and a low socioeconomic background.

On top of this, they face educational disadvantage by being newcomers to higher education. In many cases, these students are the first in their families to finish school.

On the one hand, this means first-in-family students are educational trailblazers. On the other, they can’t rely on family members to guide them on this journey.

Our new research

Since 2017, we have been conducting research with first-in-family students across Australia, Austria, Ireland and the United Kingdom, looking at what actually helps these students to persist in their studies.

Our latest paper, published this month, includes interviews with 174 first-in-family students from across diverse age ranges, locations, study disciplines and life circumstances.

Despite varied contexts, these students consistently described three powerful internal drivers drawn from their backgrounds that helped them to succeed: a strong work ethic, defying the expectations of others, and wanting a better life.

This shows us first-in-family students often have significant personal strengths as they begin their studies.

A strong work ethic

Many of the first-in-family students in our research drew on a deeply ingrained sense of effort and perseverance, often learned from their family.

While students expected things could be difficult at university, they saw their progress as dependent on their own hard work rather than talent or entitlement. This resulted in them approaching university as something that had to be earned, rather than a given. As one interviewee told us:

[It’s] something that we were taught when we were younger that if you really want something, nothing in life is ever going to be handed to you on a silver platter […] that’s probably because of that working class ethic in our family, just to never give up – where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Defying the expectations of others

For these students, their persistence at university was also driven by a strong internal motivation to challenge the way they were perceived by others.

University represented an important space to demonstrate their capability, intelligence, and worth, particularly when they had faced discouragement or negativity from family members and partners. Staying at university therefore came to represent more than just getting a degree:

There was a stage where I just went, ‘I actually think I can do this and I want to prove to everyone – especially my husband – that I’m not this silly, dumb person that can’t put one foot in front of the other’.

Wanting a better life

The third internal driver was students’ desire for change. University was not simply about finding a job, but about securing stability, reducing risk and changing life trajectories – both for themselves and often for their families.

For these students, any short-term hardship during university was justified by the longer-term outcomes believed to come from a degree:

Mum and Dad both finished [school] in Year 10. We come from a low socioeconomic background so I always just wanted to be better. Not better, but I don’t know, have more opportunity I guess.

What’s needed now

Our research shows how first-in-family students have the determination and aspiration to succeed.

However, as we argue in our paper, universities often rely on students’ own efforts to persist in their studies, hoping they will compensate for systems not designed with them in mind.

For many of the first-in-family students in our research, struggle was seen as a normal part of life. This means universities shouldn’t put the onus on students to reach out for help – as they are not likely to do so.

What can universities do

Our research suggests there are several proactive changes universities can make to help first-in-family students stay and complete their studies. These include:

• routine check-ins from course coordinators and key professional staff.

• making academic and social support part of the first-year curriculum.

• opt-out, rather than opt-in, academic skills development, so students can learn the ropes of university study and life.

Academic staff also need time and support to monitor students’ progress and intervene early if there is an issue.

More flexibility will also help

A shift towards flexible student pathways is also required. Not everyone can afford to study full-time and finish a degree in the set timeframe. Many students need to work to support themselves, particularly those who are first-in-family.

Universities could look at simplifying transitions between full-time and part-time study and making part-time enrolment a more visible and legitimate option. Having full-time study as the “default” can create pressure to remain enrolled full-time, even when it might be unsustainable.

They can also ensure that if a student repeats a course, it triggers personalised academic support and enrolment advice, rather than this being framed as a failure.

Now is the time to redesign systems so persistence becomes a shared responsibility, rather than relying on students’ capacity to quietly carry the load.