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Getting to and through a master’s or doctoral program is a long road, whether you’re the first in your family to go to college or the thirtieth. But because first-generation students don’t have family who are familiar with ins and outs of academia — the application and financial aid process, the norms and procedures — this puts many of them at a distinct disadvantage, if only because there’s nobody to tell them how things work. 

I School professors David Bamman and Michael Rivera, both first-generation college students themselves, shared how their experience informs their relationships with I School students and their advice for those who might be trying to go it alone.

The School of Information has been selected as one of nine recipient schools or departments on the UC Berkeley campus to receive the new Graduate Diversity Pilot Program grant from the Graduate Division. As part of this $1.5 million initiative, the I School will receive $175,000 over four years.  

“With this program,” said Assistant Dean Catherine Cronquist Browning, “we will have the resources to recruit a group of students who not only receive individual support from faculty and staff, but who can also support each other as a community within the school.”