In this session, presenters shared findings from a four-year mixed methods social network analysis of the personal support networks of first-generation college students in their first year at two California community colleges and two universities in the California State system. The session was structured and designed to inform efforts of institutional research professionals in gathering data about first-generation college students on their respective campuses that can inform the design and delivery of services intended to improve outcomes among this subgroup of students. Attendees took away lessons learned about who first-generation college students turn to for support and how these relationships shape their postsecondary pathway. Attendees also saw survey questions that they could modify and use at their institutions to collect more precise information about first-generation students and, in doing so, better position their colleagues to serve these students.
