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Kessler Collaborative Breaks Down Silos to Help First-Generation Students

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What started as an innovative program to support limited-income and first-generation students at the University of Michigan in 2008 has since grown into a 16-institution collaborative program that has helped hundreds of first-generation students across the country find success in post-secondary education.

The Kessler Scholars Program, known as the Kessler Scholars Collaborative since 2020, is a cohort-based program that supports first-generation students on their journeys towards their bachelor’s degrees, through direct interventions like academic, personal, and peer counseling, and outside classroom activities that seek to expand students’ leadership capabilities and sense of belonging.

The latest report on academic year 2022 and 2023, conducted by the nonprofit academic community organization Ithaka S+R, hopes to shine a light on just how many students have been positively impacted by these best-practices, and how institutions outside the Collaborative can replicate them.

Dr. Ifeatu Oliobi, researcher with the Education Transformation Team at Ithaka S+R.Dr. Ifeatu Oliobi, researcher with the Education Transformation Team at Ithaka S+R.“That’s one of the explicit goals of the program, to adopt a collective impact approach, to break down silos, and facilitate practice-sharing,” said Dr. Ifeatu Oliobi, a researcher with the Education Transformation Team at Ithaka S+R. “Institutions, sometimes one-man teams, don’t always have access to resources. The Collaborative gets all these talented, experienced individuals working towards the same goals and providing platforms to bring challenges together and learn from each other.”

Almost half of postsecondary students are first-generation, the first in their families to pursue a bachelor’s degree, according to the Center for First-Generation Student Success. Yet they are also 71% more likely to stop out before the end of their first year. They are also more than 50% less likely to complete within four years, compared to their counterparts. First-generation students are often less able to rely on familial financial supports, have more responsibilities in their personal lives, and are less academically prepared for college during high school. They can suffer from feeling as though they do not belong at institutions of higher education.

According to the newest analysis, 94% of students who participated in the program said the support “met or exceeded their expectations,” and a whopping 98% reported they benefitted from the program’s assistance. The majority of the 450 students (53%) identified as minoritized populations, mostly Latinx.

The staff who serve these students don’t just sympathize with them — sixty-five percent of the 45 program staffers leading campus programs were once first-generation students themselves. Fifty-six percent identify as women, and 60% belong to historically underrepresented racial or ethnic groups.

“They bring that experience, and many of them also have graduate degrees in education,” said Oliobi. “They know the experience of first-generation students, how to create a safe space, and a vibrant community that allows students to feel a sense of belonging.”

Oliobi said that she felt it was important for students to feel “safe, heard, and that they can speak up and ask for help from people who understand what it feels like to walk in their shoes.”

First year Kessler Scholars receive transitional support that helps them navigate the change from high school to college, which has increased their likelihood to persist. They also have the option of working with a peer-mentor, which many reported to Ithaka S+R researchers helped them find both “community and connection.”

“I got to form a really great support network with Kessler staff that I still use today,” one student reported. “I know that if I ever have a problem, I can go to them, and that is really reassuring and beneficial to have, especially being so far away from home. I also made a lot of long-term connections with other students.”

Oliobi said she hopes other institutions will look at the data collected and find ways to implement similar programs for their students and understand just how critical having community and cohort-based support is to moving first-generation students through college successfully.

Liann Herder can be reached at [email protected].

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