MANSFIELD, PA— Mansfield University has joined the nonprofit Center for Student 
Opportunity’s (CSO) growing community of nearly 200 college partners that share a commitment to supporting first-generation college students on their campuses.
Recognizing that students who don’t have a family history of higher education too often lack access to good information and support to navigate the path to and through college, CSO partners with four-year colleges and universities to promote and strengthen college opportunities for first-generation college students.
It is estimated that 24 percent of students enrolled in postsecondary institutions today are low income, first-generation college students. But nine out of every 10 will not earn a bachelor’s degree six years out from high school. They drop out of college at four times the rate of their peers whose parents have a postsecondary education.
MU and CSO are working to change this trend. CSO’s I’m First! Project (imfirst.org) is an online community for aspiring first-generation college students and those who advise them. The website, rich with student videos, blogs and advice, is an information hub through which students can research and connect with colleges like Mansfield and learn about campus programs that support first-generation college students.
Mansfield University will also be featured in CSO’s I’m First! Guide to College, the only comprehensive college guidebook for first-generation college-bound students.
“Mansfield University is committed to offering programs and services that can help all our students reach their full potential, and so we are very proud be in partnership with CSO and I’m First!,” MU President Fran Hendricks said. “This is the kind of community and resource that prospective students and families need when considering which college is the right fit for them.”
I’m First! is also a campaign collecting YouTube video stories from first-generation college student and graduates, like First Lady Michelle Obama, that inspire and offer advice to the next generation of students who will be first.
Four-year colleges and universities that care about first-generation college students are invited to apply and must be accepted for inclusion in CSO’s community of College Partners based on a demonstrated commitment to enrolling and graduating first-generation college students. In addition to promoting opportunities for first-generation college students on College Partner campuses via ImFirst.org and the I’m First! Guide to College, CSO’s College Partner learning community fosters opportunities for colleagues to share ideas, learn best-practices, and model successful programs for recruiting and retaining first-generation college students.
To learn more about I’m First, go to imfirst.org
To learn more about Mansfield University and how to apply, go to admissions.mansfield.edu or call (800)577-6826.
CSO is a national nonprofit based in Bethesda, MD that works to empower first-generation college students on the path to and through college. First-generation college student is defined as anyone whose parents or guardians have not completed a four-year college degree. As an organization, CSO recognizes that “being the first to go to college requires support and encouragement sometimes not found at home, in school, or in the community.”