1st-generation Arizona students can face unique challenges when applying for college

PHOENIX — First-generation Arizona students can face unique challenges when it comes to the college application process, such as the lack of a mentor or the lack of family work experience to put on college forms.

That’s why Stand for Children, a nonprofit Arizona education advocacy group, recently held a roundtable with high school seniors and college freshman to discuss what some of those challenges are and how to improve the process.

Keilila Hamren is a senior at Flagstaff High School. She grew up on the Navajo reservation and said her background left her unaware of early college decision day or how to write a strong college essay.

Hamren told KTAR News 92.3 FM that when it came to college housing, she didn’t have anyone to ask about the forms and requirements and had to get information on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process from TikTok. FAFSA provides federal student financial aid based on income and situation.

“In my junior year, I switched homes because my mom gave up custody of me and that was a different application for my FAFSA since I had to enroll as an independent. So, I was independent doing my financial aid and I had no idea how to do my finances,” she said.

Expert says joint effort needed to improve college application process

Maria Harper-Marinick, former chancellor of the Maricopa Community College District, said the solution must be a joint effort. During the roundtable, she explained that many schools, universities and scholarship organizations are aiming to help, but they would be more effective if they worked together.

“I think if we had partnerships beginning in high school or even earlier to provide career literacy and financial literacy to the students — not as the responsibility of the high school alone, but as a community responsibility — then the students would be, at least from a knowing perspective, better prepared,” she said.

Harper-Marinick stressed the importance of collective work to try and improve college readiness for communities that may not have people readily available for support.

Hamren plans to attend the University of Arizona, majoring in chemical and environmental engineering with a minor in indigenous public health. She said she’s also working to help other high school students in similar situations and improve the system so others have people to lean on.

“I helped my counseling department with … being an advocate for Native American students with the Native American support system. … I started a tutoring program here at the dormitory, so even though I didn’t have those resources for like two years of my high school career, I helped start those programs,” she said.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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