When a first generation college student decides she or he wants to attend a college or university, one of the biggest supports that they can receive is the motivation from parents, family, and community. Having the support from the people who are closest to you can make the process from high school to college so much easier. Some parents, however, are resistant in their child's decision to go to a university. The parents can be scared of the distance that may fall between them. They may also feel they are losing their children culturally and emotionally if they leave the home. This is more prominent among girls who have decided they would like to pursue a higher education. Some students, however, feel closer to their family and communities after going to school and returning to visit. They have been lucky enough to have very inspirational role models to encourage their decisions and stand by them when classes and school gets rough. In this section about family, home, and community, there will be a variety of experiences from support, role models, and culture loss.
A common reason that the students wanted to pursue a higher education was so they could carry out the dreams of their parents who weren't given the opportunity to go to college. They also wanted to be a role model to younger siblings and community members. Carlos Armenta explains his reasoning for coming to CSUMB:

In a way it was exciting because I thought that by coming, what I was doing was I'm like fulfilling one of my mom's dreams, my dad's dreams, you know, my mom- my Dad dropped out of high school, my brother dropped out of high school, my mom dropped out and then came back to like adult school and got her GED, diploma. But other than that in my immediate family I was the first one to go. So I felt that I was carrying out their dreams by what I'm doing now (Ln. 22-35).

Maria Lupe Figueroa has used her knowledge from college to be a role model to her siblings and community:

I think that um, my ideas have changed in the way that I see things that I didn't see before like when I am looking at the TV and I'm looking at buying things and I know that those effect the kids or racial things that are said on TV. And I say something in my house and they are like, "Why are you acting like that?" Like my little sister used to tell me when I go home, she'd say, "Lupe, I don't know what's happening to you. You're like Lupe but you're not Lupe." "What do you mean by that mija?" And she said "I don't know how to say it but it's like, I don't know, you have like two personalities sometimes." [Laughs]. So that's kind of, I think they are seeing that side of me that I am changing. But I am trying to change in a positive way. That I can go and inform them and educate them just by sharing my experiences in the classroom. And sharing with them um, the ideas I have here. Like, don't be racist; don't criticize people because the way they look, because the way they think. But first hear their story and hear what they have to say and then do your conclusion or make your decision. So, in terms of the community, um, they look at me and I feel like some kind of pressure cause all the time they are like, "oh she's going to college, look at the family. They are not rich but she is in college." So I feel like they are looking at me so they are following the steps that I do. And the rest of my family they support me, they are proud of me but those things is like, they make pressure. So I'm like, okay, now I have to make it. Not because of me, well because of me but also because of the rest of the people. Because of my family, because of my community, cause I do want to help my community. I do want to go back and help and serve and be like a resource for them. Like a, be that guide I didn't find at the beginning. So I want to make the connection between like community and my family with the education, with college life (Ln 240-262).

These students also decided to pursue a higher education so they could pursue better jobs for their future. Most of their parents work in the fields and this isn't a future that the parents or the students wanted. In the essay "Transformations: Cultural Challenges Faced by First-Generation Students" Howard B. London states, "It is evident, however, that for many first-generation studentsthe very act of going to college indicates an interest in attaining a white-collar, middle-class position not previously attained by a family member" (10).
It is also interesting to see what types of jobs first generation college students pursue. Solórzano and Villalpando argue in "Critical Race Theory, Marginality, and the Experience of Students of Color in Higher Education" that more of these students go into occupations that give back to their communities such as teachers, counselors, or community leaders. Many of our interviewees expressed interests in these fields and are already working for CSUMB recruitment and retention programs. So, just as students like Maria Lupe are role models to their siblings, their desire to help others to succeed in college may very well extend throughout their whole lives.
Sandra Chavarin reiterates the idea of entering college to pursue a better career by telling us:

Because I think one of the reasons I wanted to come, besides going away from home, was seeing how hard my parents work and that they have tried their best to give us everything we have and the way they do it is by working in the fields. It's from sunrise to sunset. And if it's raining and it's cold they are still working. So just seeing how hard my parents are working and that they have tried their best to give us everything we need. That made me realize that I wanted to go to college to pursue a better education so I could have a better job and help out my parents (Ln. 88-94).

Carlos Armenta also tells us:

My mom, at the most at one time had three jobs. My dad had one main one. He works at a golf course- he's in maintenance, and then had gigs. He was in a band, had gigs on the side just to bring in for the payments, the car payment or the house that we had. And then eventually we lost it, we lost the house. My dad had to sell I think a couple of his cars that he had. And then we moved in with my Grandma in Prunedale. So, I mean just seeing that, knowing that you know that a college education really does establish us, you know. It's every important (Ln. 71-99).

     One of the most helpful supports that a student can have in their transition to college is from their family. Some parents do support their children very much but have many concerns about them leaving home. There is an overall fear of just letting go. In the article entitled "Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education" bell hooks tells us through her personal story how her mother feared she would never see her again. This fear was prominent among one of our Latina female students. In Maria Lupe's family, they tended to be more protective over their daughters than their sons.
     Even after college, some parents have different expectations of their children's lifestyle. They would like their girls to go to school, become a teacher, and get married. Sandra Chavarin gives us a great example of receiving a lot of family support and yet her parents still didn't want her to go far from home. She had to make some sacrifices of her own:

My mom she said it was okay with her. Since I was small I told her I wanted to go to college. That I wanted to go to U.C. Santa Barbara. And then it came the time to apply. So I applied to so many universities and my first priority was Sonoma State and my last one was CSUMB, but at the time I had to pick where I wanted to go. My mom told me that she didn't want me to go far away. So I decided to stay here close to home and since we had family problems I just decided to stay here for a couple of years or the whole four years till graduation (Ln. 19-25).

She continues on:

If it wasn't for my family's support I don't know what would be of me, I mean my mom is always standing there saying, "GO!" Sometimes I tell her "Mom, I'm tired, I think I'm just going to get out of school and go find a job" but she's all like you're not going to do that! You're already half way done, you can't do that to me! (Ln 155-159).

Carlos Armenta received support from his parents as well but it is interesting to point out how he, a male student, was supported by his parents. This experience is a lot different from Sandra's experience with family support:

[B]asically both of my parents, they're like do whatever, whatever's going to make you happy. I think that's my mom and that's always been my mom's mentality. It's do what you want to do- do what's going to make you happy. And we'll back you up on that. I think that's what made everything that easier. My folks just backed me up all the way (Ln 664-668).

Carlos also had a lot of support from his church community:

Even my pastor knows the importance. He goes, "Yeah." He goes, "Definitely the school is what has to come first, before ministry," before the position that I have there. They're totally with me. Even the church is excited, you know, because I think I'm probably one of the first kind of like, people from the church to go to college, you know, growing up (Ln 375-380).

An interview that took place in 1998 with Dr. Alberto Ledesma also stated the support he received from his church and how important that was for him in his success in college.
The support that I found I found through the church where good are always very well supported. I found through some church youth groups. They used to have a church youth group where we used to meet all the time and talk about moral problems in the community and then play basketball and beat the heck out of each other. There was support there because there were students who had graduated college (11).
A family's initial reaction to their child going to school may not always be a positive one. Maria Lupe Figueroa had a struggling experience with her mother in the beginning but this was definitely a situation that turned into a happy ending:

Well first, my mom she didn't want me to go to college. Because um, I'm the first person in the family, I'm the second oldest of a family of nine people. I'm a woman, so my mom was like afraid of it cause she didn't have any guidance. She didn't know what to guide me. She was afraid because I was leaving home and that was something that is no right to do like before you get married. So that was not right to my mommy, to my mom so that was really hard for me to convince them. All the time I always had a joy going to school. Since I remember. But at first I was born in Mexico. So I went to school over there. All the way to ninth grade so when I was sixteen years old I came to California and then um, I was like excited about going back to school so that was like, my mom, she had to accept it cause that was the law here. I had to go to school cause I was young so she did accept it. But when I did graduate she was expecting me to go, to go to work, like not in the fields cause they work in the fields so obviously she didn't want that for me. But she also didn't want me to be away from home so that was a really complicated experience cause also I didn't know how to explain all these situations to her so she could be aware of the issues going on (Ln 19-34).

She then tells us how she was finally able to convince her mother that she was in fact making the right decision:

Well, that was hard. That was really hard but um, I just started like filling out applications with them. I didn't really tell her about it until I got accepted at the university. But before um, like when I was in, in high school I went to this program called Yo Puedo. It's held in Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz. And I went there for a whole month. So that was like a new experience for my parents having me away from home so I used that. I used that as like a back up for me. Okay, now you have the feeling of it. And then um I did talk to some of my professors and I asked them to please help me to inform my parents about what college was about and just like telling them every time like in every little conversation that we have about it, I used to bring it up, like "Mommy, um just remember I want to go to college and I might be like leaving home." So I guess she was getting used to me being out but she thought that this was just kind of like an idea in my mind. So until I was really like making my decision and leaving home was the time that they realized that I was actually leaving" (Ln 36-48).

In some cases, after the children go away to school and come back to visit or stay for the breaks they experience a barrier between them and their community. In his article "The Achievement of Desire," Richard Rodriguez explains the culture difference that students face once they are away at school. He explains how the students live in two completely different cultures and have to change back and forth when they go home to their communities. Rodriguez believes that slowly the culture is lost at home after much effort to try and balance the two worlds. Students may even find themselves starting to separate from their parents, as was Rodriguez's experience at home.
Cesar Mora tells us his experience:

I don't agree with a lot of things they say. Um, I don't know it's weird cause now if you argue with them, they say you think you're too good because you're a little bit more educated than us, they will say something, like it went to my head that I feel superior than they are. Because they never haven't gone to college, or they, a lot of my friends that I have, started working after high school, when I start talking aboutlet say I would start talking about school with somebody else, and he's there, like he will start saying "You're going to bring that stuff again." They say I over do it cause I share a story or something.
Why do you think they act that way?
I don't know, maybe because they didn't have the chance or they chose not to pretty much. They didn't make the little extra effort maybe they wished they could have done it, maybe they wished they would have done something different, they could have gone to school.
You think there is a way to change their attitude towards you bringing up stories or talking about college?
I think there is. But it's kind of hard I think because they already have that mentality mean it's really hard to go over and get over it, it would take a while, maybe they would have to go to school and feel it for themselves, which is hard after you start working, but it's not impossible, though (Ln 207-221).

Cesar's last comments, " . . . but it's not impossible . . ." counter Rodriguez's conclusion that first generation college students are eventually alienated from their parents. Cesar presents the situation as more of a challenge for students to find a new way to relate to their families.
Julia Lara in "Reflections: Bridging Cultures" also tells us the difference in culture between home and school. She explains, "On the one hand, my experiences in college changed me in ways not fully understood by my family; on the other hand, many people on campus were unable to acknowledge and accept my cultural, linguistic, and racial reality." Sandra Chavarin had a different experience with her community after entering college:

When I came here, I decided that I wanted to change the way I was. To get closer to my family (Ln 353-354).
My culture, I think that I have learned more about it. That I have become more closer to it. Now with my work I get to go more to where my parents are from and to know more about it. Then also for one of my classes, HCom 240, American Cultural Heritage, we got to do an interview about a family member. To talk to family members and write a report about it. Like what were your great-grandparents when they were younger. Where they came from. It was really interesting, I got to learn a lot of stuff (Ln 358-363).

Cesar Mora did mention the fact that he is able to appreciate his family more now that he is away from home. This may be because he knows how hard his parents have had to work for to survive and keep his family supported financially. He is able to look back on that now and appreciate all they have done for him. He may realize now how important it is for him to continue with his education to achieve a better lifestyle:

I appreciate my family more, I think, my mom especially, cause she is the head of the family I think. My dad likes to think he is but you know we all know he is not. And she is always, she's a hard worker, she worked in the fields, and she is like always to do good, and you know, she has taken us to the fields, and she says to take it as a learning experience, not to forget why you are in school kind of thing, and it works, and she says "to do better than me," and your father, try to get ahead all the time. Great motivation, she's like the best (Ln 178-185).

After reviewing all of the experiences our four interviewees shared with us, we were able to come to some conclusions and recommendations as to how family, home, and community play a role in the process of going to college. It has been brought up that friends and community members may be jealous, envious, or intimidated by these students' new perspectives and therefore may discourage the students in a way to continue. There is also a need to inform not only students about college but parents as well. A lot of parents don't know what their children are getting into because they don't have the same experience. So, it is important to involve the parents as much as possible in the process of getting to college. Sandra Chavarin had some suggestions such as conferences offered for the parents to better familiarize themselves to college and the experience:

I think, that students from here have to go, well not have to, but need to go out to the communities to talk to parents. Not just students. To convince them that their child should go to college. Because there are a lot of parents that they don't want their kids to go to college because they think that something bad is going to happen to them. Well they think differently, all of them, especially about the girls. Parents don't want to let them come to college because they're afraid that something is going to happen to them while they are away from home. They just want to have them secure and not see bad stuff out there. We have to try and make parents understand that nothing bad is going to happen and that good things are going to happen to them. That they are going to get a better education. That if they graduate they are going to have a better job. That it's a good thing, not bad that happen in college. College students need to go outreach to parents, not only students. But to parents (Ln 258-269).
Yeah, I think they should have special conferences for parents. Where they show them everything. Applications for federal aid, University applications, about E.O.P. About all the programs that are offered so they could have a better understanding of what's going on. Help them be more involved in their child's process of coming to college (Ln 272-275).
I think they would be more into what I'm doing. That they would have been more involved. Because I remember always asking my parents for things and they would take the longest time. Especially for the taxes. They took the longest time to give them to me. So I just told my mom. Where are they I want them now. She say oh they're over there. Over where? Oh over there. Finally I'd be like fine I'll just go find them. I mean I think if parents are more informed on what's going on they would help their kids more. So when they did ask dad for the tax form, he just says oh right there. So they are more prepared on what needs to be filled out (Ln 277-284).

Getting the parents more involved in the transition to college sounds like it would be very helpful in supplying the students the support they need from their families. If the parents knew more about college life, they may have a tendency to support their children more therefore, making the process to college a lot easier. It is hard going into something that no one in your family is familiar with and it is even harder going into something new without the support from your parents. More workshops or parent meetings would help out tremendously in the success of these students moving away from home and entering into a whole new world.