Our North Star Moment: The Promise and Challenge of FGLI Student Success in a Time of Uncertainty
Efforts to support access and success for first-generation and low-income students have always been layered with challenges. Indeed, the FGLI Consortium was established as an organization nearly ten years ago in recognition of that reality. In the current moment, however, these challenges seem to shake the very foundation of this endeavor. How can we prioritize the core tenets of our work when we must also respond to material instability? What can our role be as the promise and value of higher education is called into question? And, through it all, how can we re-commit to our values so we might push forward toward a brighter horizon?
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Our 2024 conference invited us to reflect on the past and progress of FGLI student support and to craft plans for the next chapter. Now, in 2025, our work calls us to chart a course through significant headwinds, leading many of us to pivot not only those future plans, but also to transform programs and practices that have long been established. This year’s conference aims to empower and equip us to champion our core values today and tomorrow – to keep sight of our North Star so we can move forward in alignment with our mission no matter the landscape.
Session Types
Workshop Sessions
75 Minutes
These sessions can take a number of forms, and we strongly encourage an interactive focus. For example, these sessions might involve hands-on work or small group conversations. You may wish to have a co-presenter(s) or co-facilitator(s).
Sharing Session
50 Minutes
These information-sharing sessions are shorter in length than Workshops, but they can still vary in format. For example, these sessions might be a more “traditional” presentation with substantive Q&A or discussion. Or you may also wish to organize a panel with other presenters to focus on a particular topic or narrow theme from multiple perspectives.
Proposal Topics
Owning Our Stories
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Examples of topics include, but are not limited to:
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How should we communicate about the importance of higher education, both to prospective and current students, and to those disconnected from college and universities? What information or insight would be most convincing in the current context?
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What strategies can we use to raise awareness and build support for programs and initiatives that serve FGLI students? How can we correct misconceptions and misrepresentations about FGLI students and the initiatives that have facilitated their access to and success in higher education?
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How can we tell stories ethically – honoring the sensitive nature of our students’ experiences, while also highlighting the impact of programs and policies that serve FGLI students?
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How do we advocate for the resources and staff dedicated to supporting FGLI students as our institutions face significant financial, organizational, and ideological challenges that might limit our institutions’ capacity to maintain commitments in a range of domains?
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Banding Together
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Examples of topics include, but are not limited to:
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As higher education and other sectors face new risks, questions, and hurdles, what new partnerships within our institutions or externally could be strategic and mutually beneficial?
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How can we leverage existing partnerships differently to advance the work of FGLI student access and success? What opportunities are there to collaborate in new ways with colleagues we already work with (e.g., in alumni relations, communications, grants and fundraising)?
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Are there ways we can partner with our colleagues and friends at other institutions to enhance our work, bring our students together, or to effect change?
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Many folks hold core values that align with our work, but do not have the expertise to do the work. How can we support their allyship, and how can we get them involved in supporting our work?
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Centering Our Students
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Examples of topics include, but are not limited to:
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How can we adjust the content of our programmatic offerings in response to the changing needs of students? How can’t we, and how do we navigate that?
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Does the current landscape call us to shift how we identify students to participate in our programs or receive resources offered by our offices? Do the definitions of “FGLI” we used even just a couple years ago still serve our intentions?
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What strategies or practices can we employ to fully support the student in front of us in moments when we are navigating challenges and fears ourselves – as professionals or simply as people?
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How do we respond to concern or crisis in our student communities
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