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Brionna Brown, right, chats with Tracy Steagall at the University of Cincinnati's "Gen-1" house on campus in November. Gen-1 is for students that are the first generation of a family to attend college, providing support for students who are historically at high risk to drop out.

From left, Demarcus Jones, Isa Shakir, Josh Giles, Ndeye Ba and LaRue North work in the study room at their Gen-1 house on the University of Cincinnati campus.

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CINCINNATI  If 18-year-old Demarcus Jones doesn't get up promptly for his 10 a.m. math class at the University of Cincinnati, he'll first get a text message from Judy Mause.

Then she'll arrive in person, banging on his dormitory door.

Mause calls it "intrusive advising."

Jones is one of 24 freshmen living in Gen-1 House, an off-campus residence for low-income, first-generation college students. Mause, the program's coordinator, will do everything from wake-up calls to checking in with professors to make sure Gen-1 students keep their grades up and fit into campus life.

If left to the odds, only three of the 24 Gen-1 House freshmen would graduate.

Roughly 30% of entering freshmen in the USA are first-generation college students, and 24% — 4.5 million — are both first-gens and low income. Nationally, 89% of low-income first-gens leave college within six years without a degree. More than a quarter leave after their first year — four times the dropout rate of higher-income second-generation students.

They're driven out by a host of factors, from financial need to little understanding of what to expect of college. Many struggle with the feeling that they don't belong on campus.

University of Cincinnati president Greg Williams, himself a first-generation college graduate (from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.), calls Gen-1 House "a program that really resonates with me in so many ways. First-generation students are four times more likely to drop out. This is a national crisis."

Pledging to do their very best

Colleges are trying a variety of programs to hold onto first-gens.

At Fresno State University in California, faculty and staff who were first-generation college graduates share their own stories with students. Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Mass., reaches out to parents of first-gens to enlist their support.

But only the University of Cincinnati has housing exclusively for first-gens, a program that is drawing national attention. All 24 students who moved into Gen-1 House in September 2009, and 11 of the 14 in 2008 when it opened, still are in college.

"My initial thought is that it's the best of all possibilities for first-generation students, particularly having that transition supported into the first year in college," says Chandra Taylor Smith, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, which advocates for low-income, first-gen and disabled college students.

Gen-1 House students get more support and attention than typical freshmen, and a lot more structure.

To be in the program, the students must sign a contract agreeing to an 11:30 curfew on weeknights and 1:30 a.m. on weekends. They must observe daily "quiet hours" in which "no noise may be heard from another room, the hallway or any common area."

They must maintain a 2.25 GPA and agree to no alcohol, drugs, no going home the first five weeks on campus or working at a job more than 20 hours a week.

"We have a very structured environment," says Gen-1 House resident Josh Giles, a freshman. "I think a lot of outside distractions hurt many students."

Like his housemates, Giles is willing to trade personal freedoms for the support that comes with Gen-1 House — tutoring, mentoring, a special study-skills class, and especially the close relationships among residents and staff.

Hanging out, hunkering down

On one hand, the students are like their peers. Evenings, they hang out around a large-screen TV in a first-floor living area, and they enjoy the nights Mause brings in lasagna.

But they are a sober and thoughtful group, aware of the unique opportunity they've been given and determined not to waste it.

"We had a choice to be here or to be in another dorm," says resident Tracy Steagall, who worked in car washes and at Wal-Mart to get to college. "We didn't have to do this."

Though many have their tuition paid by grants and the university pays for their meal plan, most Gen-1 students work part-time jobs or borrow for the $6,300 annual housing costs. The program also gets donations — last week a Cincinnati businessman contributed $165,000, by far its biggest private donation yet.

The students say they feel pressure from being their families' trailblazers but find empathy and support in one another.

"We all need to stick together," says resident Robert Golsby. "For the third-generation student, they know what college is. For the first-generation students, we're slowly putting all the pieces together."

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