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Rosalie Navarrete ’18 For many, achieving the American Dream begins with earning a college degree. It’s especially so for first-generation college students, even in the face of additional obstacles. Meet an Elmhurst “first-gen” who’s cleared those hurdles, and then some.
“As first-generation college students, our lives have been transformed by the educational opportunities and support we received in college.” —President Troy D. VanAken, about himself and Dr. Annette VanAken
Finance major Rosalie Navarrete ’18 juggles a lot of commitments along the way to earning an Elmhurst degree. In addition to taking a full course load, she works part time at a bank in Schaumburg. She also commutes to campus every day from her family’s home in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, where she spends her afternoons helping her mother baby-sit. And that’s not all—by doubling down on her coursework, Rosalie is on track to graduate in just three years. The daughter of a construction worker and a stay-at-home mom, Rosalie has extra motivation driving her efforts: As a first-generation college student, she’s determined to beat the odds and make her parents proud. “First-gens,” who account for some 30 percent of college students in the United States, tend to face extra challenges in earning a college degree. They’re more likely to have financial pressures, for instance, and their parents may not know enough about higher education to help them get to college—and persist once they’re there. One recent study found that only 11 percent of low-income, first-generation students nationwide had earned bachelor’s degrees six years after enrolling in college, compared with 55 percent of their peers.