The hidden curriculum is a real thing
A lot of how college works is never stated: that office hours are for everyone, that you email a professor "Professor Lastname," that a syllabus is a contract, that "see your adviser" means book an appointment, that asking for help is expected rather than a confession. None of this is intelligence — it is insider knowledge, and it is learnable.
Decode the vocabulary
Bursar, registrar, prerequisite, corequisite, CRN, hold, credit hour, drop vs. withdraw, incomplete, FERPA, the difference between a grant and a loan. When a term is used like you already know it, ask — "what does that mean here?" is a normal question and the person using it should be able to answer plainly.
Use the resources built for this
The First-Generation Center runs mentoring, a peer community, and workshops on exactly the norms above. First-gen students also often qualify for specific scholarships and for TRIO-style support programs with dedicated advisers. These exist because the gap is real and closeable, not because anyone is behind.
The family conversation
Your family may not know what a heavy week looks like, why you cannot come home every weekend, or what "I have a lab" means. It helps to explain the rhythm — midterms, finals, the six-week slump — and to be clear about what support looks like now. Privacy law also limits what the university can tell them, which surprises people.
Money is often the pressure point
First-gen students are more likely to be working significant hours, sending money home, or afraid to spend an aid refund. Financial-wellness coaching, the emergency fund, the food pantry, and a frank conversation with Financial Aid about your actual situation are all fair game and used constantly.
You belong here
Impostor feelings are close to universal among first-gen students and they are not evidence of anything. The students who do well are not the ones who felt certain — they are the ones who kept asking questions and using what the university offers. A success coach or the first-gen center is a good place to say this out loud.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.