This August, UW–Madison was one of 80 universities selected to join the FirstGen Forward Network (formerly the Center for First-generation Student Success), based on the university’s demonstrated commitment to improving experiences and advancing success for first-generation students. This commitment includes the 2023 launch of the First-Generation Badgers program.
FirstGen Forward (FGF), offers a national model for scaling holistic first-generation student success by engaging and empowering higher education institutions to transform the first-generation student experience, advance academic and co-curricular outcomes, and build more inclusive institutional structures.
Since its launch in September 2023, First-Generation Badgers offered opportunities for first-generation students to connect with one another and campus offices, including:
- Badger Dialogues | Belonging as a First-Generation Student on October 16, 2023
- National First-Generation College Celebration Day on November 8, 2023
- Crafting Vision Vessels: A First-Gen Winter Welcome on February 6, 2024
- Trailblazers of Tomorrow: A First-Gen Graduation Event on May 5, 2024
The program has also supported coordination and programmatic efforts among campus offices to inform the development of services for current and future first-gen students. Current services for first-generation students at UW–Madison include:
- Enriching, inclusive community for low-income, rural, and/or first-gen students in Letters & Sciences through the Center for Academic Excellence
- Student success skills coaching, mentoring, Basic Needs support, and workshops hosted by the Office of Student Financial Aid’s Success Services
- First-Generation Students Abroad, which provides advice and resources to first-generation students who are also the first in their families to study abroad
- The Badger Promise program, providing financial assistance (including grants and scholarships) to first-generation, Wisconsin-resident, transfer students
- BANNER (Badger Aid for Non-residents), providing financial assistance (including grants, scholarships, work-study, and loans) to out-of-state, low-income students
- The McNair Scholars Program, helping undergraduate students bridge the transition to graduate education, while working to increase the number of underrepresented students earning a PhD
- Holistic advising and campus resources to empower eligible students, while fostering a supportive campus climate, through the Center for Educational Opportunity (CeO)
- Resources to support first-generation parents and student success throughout college via the Parent and Family Program
The First-Generation Badgers Working Group will reconvene to begin its planning for the 2024-25 academic year, including a Wisconsin Welcome event on October 1, 2024. To learn more about the First-Generation Badgers program, events, and resources, please visit go.wisc.edu/firstgen.