Rutgers Launches New Weeklong Celebration of First-Generation Students

Spotlighting a Key Student Population

Across Rutgers, about 18,000 undergraduates, or 37%, are first-generation college students. That includes 10,354, or 30%, in New Brunswick; 4,337, or 58%, in Newark; and 2,291, or 55%, in Camden.

The average graduation rate for first-generation college students at Rutgers is 75%, compared with 42% nationally.

Rutgers-New Brunswick has celebrated its first-generation students each fall since 2017, but this year's recognition will be the first to last a week. To help fund the event, the Division of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement secured a $1,000 #CelebrateFirstGen grant through the Council for Opportunity in Education and FirstGen Forward.

"It's important to be able to take time to intentionally celebrate the efforts by and for first-generation individuals, making sure folks can see each other thriving and are aware of resources that exist on campus for them and by them," said Dr. Tiffiny Butler, interim vice chancellor for diversity, inclusion and community engagement. "We want to highlight the efforts of students, faculty and staff but also foster community among the first-generation community at Rutgers-New Brunswick."

Laying the Groundwork for Success

Vintimilla and Mejia have not only benefited from first-generation programming through Rutgers, but also worked to bolster those efforts.

Vintimilla, of North Arlington, has finished most of her biochemistry requirements but added a Spanish major last year with the goal of better supporting patients. She works part-time as a clinical care technician at RWJBarnabas Health in New Brunswick.

In addition to reducing her college costs by serving as a resident assistant, Vintimilla has benefited from financial aid and tutoring through the Rutgers Educational Opportunity Fund.To help other first-generation students discover those programs, she created the Being First Collaborative, a website that allows Rutgers professors to share resources and information with this student population, and is relaunching the FGSU in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vintimilla has also supported the first-generation community at Rutgers by helping to start two clubs - Raices Ecuatorians en America and Costarricenses en Alianza.

All those efforts, she said, "can help you feel seen and understood."