According to the profile of a first generation college student as presented by Octavio Villalpando and Dolores Delgado Bernal, most first generation college students come from diverse ethnic minority groups and from working class families. Due to the two factors mentioned, the students are often less academically prepared to attend a 4-year institute than non-first generation college students:

I thought it was going to be hard (college) cause I really wasn't into, I guess ready for it, like I took regular classes in high school, no AP classes or anything like that, so I knew it was going to be hard; and I guess it has been I'm not used to doing homework every night and studying and stuff. (Vargas).

    We discovered from our research some of our interviewees were automatically put into the tracking system because of language barriers, past behavioral problems, or race. The tracking system is a labeling system that teachers and administrators use to evaluate which students will receive the help and support to for college and white collar careers. All of our interviewee's made some reference to how the tracking system made it more difficult to receive the attention and support necessary to be successful in high school or continue to a 4-year institute. An additional interview states:

Well they don't like, well when I went to Alisal High School I guess it's in the East side and then everybody looks down upon them, well us, and uhm like they don't force it as much, well when I was there they didn'tthere is always a set of group, people that are always known that they are going to go, which are the people that are in the AP classes and stuff. They are the ones that get everything, they get all the freedom in high school, and uhm everyone else is just lower than them (Vargas).

    Our interviewees were asked if they received high school support from mentors, role models, or the school itself, and if the school overall prepared them to pursue a post-secondary education. The interviewees mainly stated that encouragement to attend a four-year institute came from one individual, such as an advisor from the Educational Talent Search program, the Upward Bound program, the Upward Bound program, the Migrant Education program, the Advancement Via Individual Determination program, or a high school counselor or teacher:

I had one role model that I still admire up to this date, he was a Migrant Counselor, Mr. Cardenaz. He encouraged me a lot he is helping a lot of migrant students' get to college and that is what I would like to do. He told me that after I finish college it would be nice to take his place (Yolanda X.).
Yeah, I had my Language Arts teacher Ms. Chamberland, she encouraged me to continue to going to a university, she even told me though its far it is going to be ok, and its going to make me concentrate even more, which its true it totally made me concentrate. (Ma Suy).

    As mentioned before, the support necessary to make the transition from high school to a four-year institute came from many different individuals. There were those interviewees who stated they did not receive the support from their school, but rather from an outside program:

Not at the high school, but I was a part of the Upward Bound program and for Cal Berkeley and that program has a lot of positive role models and saw how what little it takes to be in college from that (Joseph).
If it wouldn't of been for ETS, I would have ran right through. (Jimenez, I.)

    The book Race And Class On Campus by Jay M. Rochlin, talks about how it is very necessary and important for first generation students to receive guidance, mentorship and support from individuals to get the message clearer to them that they are college material. He states, "many of my Mexican American informants also knew early that college would be part of their plans, but the message wasn't as clear" (13). One of our interviewees encountered a similar experience:

They did and they didn't some of them were um they really didn't think I was going to get accepted to a Cal State, so they figured that I should apply to a community college, but I proved them wrong. (Ma Suy).

    In Laura Rendon's article, From the Barrio to the Academy: Revelation of a Mexican American "Scholarship Girl" she also supoorts this, "In general, Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans tend to enroll in community colleges as opposed to four-year institutes" (57) In addition Howard B. London's article "Transformation: Cultural challenges faced by First Generation Students", also speaks on this, " A disproportionately large number of these "new students to higher education" are concentrated in community colleges" (5). One interviewee mentioned,I was planning to go to Hartnell Community College, I wasn't planning to go to the university, but yes I had the plan of keep on getting educated (Vargas). Another interviewee states:

They thought, actually my father thought I was going to go to a community college. My mother said that whatever I felt happier she would be happy for me. I had to convince my father that I wanted to go to a university even though it cost more and I was going to take the challenge any way and do it! After they found out I was able to handle it they were very proud of me. (Yolanda X.)

    We learned from these interviews that the trend of first generation college students to continue on to a community college as opposed to a four-year institute is more expected, acceptable and influenced. This realization supported Laura L. Rendon's comment, "higher education belonged to the elite, the wealthy, and we (Hispanos), we're not in that group. It seems that that idea is subconsciously carried around by many first generation students when it comes to making the decision of continuing their post-secondary education. "Because the community college has also served to ghettoize people of color" (57). It is rewarding to know that even though in a way society seems to have created the idea that first generation students belong in a community college, our interviewee's have beaten the odds. These students found the motivation to continue school, and to attend a four-year institution.