What We Talk About When We Talk About “First-Generation Students": Exploring Definitions in Use on College and University Websites

Abstract

First-generation students (FGS) are a population that has received increasing attention, but the term “first-generation student” has been inconsistently defined. Such inconsistency creates challenges not only for research, but for students themselves, many of whom may find they meet the FGS definition in one institutional context, but not another.