I love Wesleyan. It is safe to say that this school has amplified my voice and given me a purpose. However, for too long, issues of low-income and first-generation (first-gen) students have been swept under the rug. The administration has tried to remedy the issues these students face, but they have been approached in a rigid and non-engaging way. When I stepped on campus last year, I was tasked with forming a community among first-gen/low-income students, something that I thought would be easy. However, I quickly learned that a place as open as Wesleyan had a very different tone when it came to discussing issues of class.
“I’m first” is a phrase I like to use to empower first-gen/low-income students. My parents did not graduate from college at a young age and our income situation isn’t the best (although it is improving). I expected to arrive at Wes and be welcomed with open arms among peers with similar stories, but once I started talking about my situation, it always seemed like I was hushed. “Okay,” I thought, “maybe I should stop talking about this.” So I did, wrongly so, and gave up on my goal of uniting an underprivileged community at Wes.
Second semester of my first year swung around, and I happened to walk by one of my friends, who was crying. I approached her and asked what had been going on, and she revealed that her family had been experiencing rough economic times. We spoke for quite a while and I asked what the University was doing to help her. I looked at her, dumbfounded, when she said, “Nothing,” so casually. Her answer infuriated me. How many students before her had gone through the same problems she was dealing with? Why has no one fixed it? Very modestly, she admitted to picking up more hours at work to make ends meet, even though it was going to be tough making the time in her schedule.
Students who struggle financially here are superhumans. We work (some of us more than the 20-hour-a-week maximum), we go to classes, we study, and we participate in cocurricular activities. Well, you would think that’s all we did; even I did. I thought that was just how life was supposed to be, but something is terribly wrong. The University applies a “one-size-fits-all” mentality to aid when that’s obviously not the case. Many of our peers are working on campus in order to help themselves and their family back home. Many people have to take out loans just to pay for health insurance, something so many of us take for granted. Some students have even managed to waive their health insurance altogether because it costs too much and they “don’t get sick often.” I get it, the University is not in the best financial situation, but how can the Office of Admission and the administration have the audacity to encourage first-gen/low-income individuals to attend Wes if they cannot support them once these students get here?
I hear story after story similar to my friend’s, and I listen in awe. Many of the people I go to school with are dealing with so much more than I could ever handle. Some are thriving, which is great, but so many are not. Even if just one student is struggling, we as a community should be concerned and do something to remedy the situation.
“Wow, your story is great,” I would say. “Have you talked to so-and-so before? They have some similar struggles.”
“No, I had no idea they were first-gen/low income.”
What? I would then push a little bit harder, trying to get to the bottom of why these sudents wouldn’t talk about their situation. From all the anecdotal evidence I’ve collected, a lot of students feel like their stories would be an unnecessary burden on their friends.
It’s hard to have these conversations, but it’s necessary that we do. Too many people I know have gone over their budget just to keep up with their friends and not seem like a downer, but it can be fixed. Many people I know feel completely fine slowing down and changing their habits if it makes someone feel more welcome. Too many people I know want to talk about class, and race, and gender, et cetera, but they’ve never been approached about it. We should talk about class, but there is hardly any support.
The burden of making Wes more inclusive should not be on the shoulders of first-gen/low-income students, but on the minds and the agendas of members of the administration. These issues need to be institutionalized so that we have a consistent effort to make everyone feel at home here at Wes.
I wrote this column to be a forum for first-gen/low-income students to share their stories (anonymously, too, if they so wish). It’s time that we start talking about things that make us uncomfortable, because you learn the most when you are uncomfortable. Come on, this is Wes; we should be ready for this.
If you have a story you would like to share, please reach out to me at ajmartinez@wesleyan.edu.