Of his six brothers and sisters, Mike Rodriguez,* a Fordham University senior, is the only child in his family who will graduate from college.

The words his mother told him before he began his freshman year are seared in his mind: “You are my only hope,” she said as he pushed a half-filled grocery cart back to their apartment in Washington Heights. He stared at her blankly: never before was it so clear that his future or his family’s future rested on him going to college.

“I’m carrying the family’s banner,” he said. “It’s my job to increase our status, so my mother can have the life she dreams of and my kids can have more than I do.”

While his parents came to America from the Dominican Republic for factory work to fulfill the “American Dream,” Rodriguez carries the responsibility to take the dream one step further by using college to establish his family as well educated and financially successful.

“They want to do better than their parents did. Their parents want them to do better than they did. So that’s a driver for them to go to college,” said Chelsea Jones, Student Support Associate for the Center for Student Opportunity, a nonprofit that helps first-generation and minority students get into and stay in college.

More than 74 percent of first-generation students say that economic mobility is their main reason for going to college. As a result, these children of immigrants often have a very different a college experience from traditional students.   For them, college isn’t a time to find themselves or party. It is their ticket upwards for themselves and their families, who are heavily depending on them to succeed.

“It is characteristic of families with a history of college to uphold the old world view of college that you go to find yourself, that you go to develop your personality, experience a new life stage and become a full adult,” said Jeff Davis, author of “The First-Generation Student Experience.” “This doesn’t exist with most first-generation families.”

According to Davis, this is not because the parents are hostile to education. It is because they do not have experience with what college is and what it traditionally means, and therefore, cannot pass this traditional view of college onto their children. Consequentially, when the students go to college, they are often expected to maintain the work and family responsibilities that existed before college. Moreover, they are unprepared for the academic rigor required by classes and are socially isolated from their peers.

“There are always two different worlds you have to balance,” Nadia Ahmad, a NYU senior and first-generation student, said. “There is always a clash because you are negotiating with what college is supposed to be like and being first-generation and the responsibilities that comes with that day-to-day.”

Unlike many traditional students, who leave home for college and experience long periods of separation from their families, Ahmad, a Queens resident and English major, chose NYU because it allowed her to live at home. Moreover, she maintains an important position in her family’s structure by helping to manage their accounting business and caring for her younger brother, while going to school. She gives up her time to study to open the business on Sundays. During tax season, her responsibility is greater.

“First-generation families expect their children to stay involved in the home life even while they are in college,” Jones said. “In fact, the students’ need to go home and help their families is the second most reported reason for first-generation students leaving college.” According to Jones, because the parents did not attend college, they don’t understand how difficult it is and how much focus is required for the students to succeed. As a result, not only do these responsibilities burden the students, they disconnect them from what college is supposed to be like.

Disconnection from the college life was one of the problems Rodriguez, an English major, faced when he began his first semester at Fordham. For him, it manifested in poor grades during his freshman year because he was not prepared for academic rigor required by his classes. He was also unaware that a large part of learning in college comes from the student’s participation in class discussions. He was apprehensive about contributing because he didn’t think he was worthy.

“First-generation students are at an academic disadvantage because they are first-generation,” Davis said. “But it is not because they are not as intelligent as second or third-generation students.” It is simply because they were not taught by their parents to think of college as a place to participate in intellectual thought. No one else in the family went to college so they don’t feel academically on par.

Compared to the homes of students with a family history of college, first-generation students have fewer books in their homes, Davis added. In addition, many first-generation students are hesitant to write in books because they don’t see their thoughts as something they can place next to a scholar’s.

This feeling of being “undeserving” is also seen when some first-generation students encounter confident and enthusiastic peers in class.  “It’s almost like ‘why am I here?’” Rodriguez said. “I don’t belong here. They know so much more than me.”

Socially, there is also a disconnect.

Aminta Kilawan, a Fordham University graduate and current student at Fordham University’s Law School, felt socially isolated from her peers since her time as an undergrad. Because her parents, who are from Guyana, view school solely as a tool for economic mobility, they do not allow her to dorm and often discount her desire to take part in school activities, she said. As a result, she is less involved in many school clubs, and cannot join many study groups or attend school events.

Additionally, the isolation is seen in her friendships.

“It can be strange striking up a conversation with someone, when your values are completely different,” Kilawan said. “Many students treat college like a time to party, instead of a time to work hard, and I can’t relate to that. So of course I feel left out. There aren’t many people I can share the same worries or thoughts with.”

Although their college experiences starkly contrast that of a traditional student, Rodriguez, Ahmad and Kilawan say their focus on using college for economic mobility is beneficial as they are more prepared for the work world. And although the isolation they felt made their college experiences difficult, they are proud because they were the ones to break boundaries for their families.

“At least I know I did this all on my own, without my parents,” Kilawan said. “That’s something a lot of other traditional students can’t say.”

* Per their requests, these people’s names have been changed.