Released: 14-Feb-2022 2:25 PM EST
CFES Brilliant Pathways
Students from underserved communities with post-secondary aspirations often face a barrier that’s close to home—their parents, who can be skeptical of the high cost of college, its alien culture and its tendency to uproot their children, frequently wage-earners contributing to the family income, from the community, often permanently. For these reasons, it’s conventional wisdom among college advocacy groups and colleges that, although parents of first generation students are crucial influencers, engaging them through open houses, educational programs and college fairs is a low yield proposition. CFES Brilliant Pathways, was well aware of these challenges when we decided to develop a training program for the parents of students in our program—designed to inform them about the college application process and financial aid and help them instill in their children the skills they’d need to succeed. But we forged ahead despite the hurdles.