Allan’s Story: Class of ‘?’ Graduating in four (or more) years

Meet Allan

Allan is a Black first generation college student who grew up in Morgan Park. He graduated from CPS magnet high school in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood in 2015. He later attended a private bachelor-granting college in the south side of Chicago on a full ride scholarship. He loves creating and spent a lot of his free time in undergrad in a studio. He majored in Critical Race and Ethnic studies (CRES) and Media Arts and Design. Allan graduated in 4 years thanks to getting financial aid for a summer quarter. He currently works for the city of Chicago as part of a technology support team.

Allan’s Path to College

Allan was very engaged in high school. He excelled in his academics, loved playing different sports, and was focused on his career. “I thought about what I wanted to do and then figured out what’s necessary to do that because I didn’t think college was necessary. Even though my parents were very instructive about going to college, in my mind it was like, ‘if that’s a step, I will do that. If it’s not, don’t worry about it.’”

Later in high school, Allan’s perspective on college changed. He joined a college preparatory program aimed to support first-generation students through the application process, and explored colleges, especially those out of state. Looking back, he reflects on how enriching it was to explore all the different possibilities. “I don’t think you can really fathom how big the decision is until you’ve already started making it. Junior year me was not fathoming it, but also junior year me didn’t feel limited.”

“I don’t think you can really fathom how big the decision is until you’ve already started making it. Junior year me was not fathoming it, but also junior year me didn’t feel limited.”

Allan’s College Journey

Allan applied for a national college match scholarship, and got a full-ride scholarship to attend one of their partner schools. When he was matched to a school in Chicago, he had felt somewhat reassured. “I spent most of my senior year just going through the motions. You’re pretty much set in terms of thinking about college and financing it. And since I was in the same city, it was easy not to worry about moving too far.”

To prepare him for his transition, Allan joined the university’s academic summer program, designed to support incoming first-generation college and low-income students. He was able to take classes, live on campus, and connect with other classmates. “[The program] really set my first year of college up for me really well.” He explored how to spend time by himself and navigate his schedule. “I got used to moving around on my own again and being in charge of my own spaces and resources.”

Most importantly, the program helped Allan with his academic transition because the summer classes he was taking didn’t count for his overall GPA. “I definitely got [a low grade] and I definitely panicked. But then I said ‘okay, panic over. These aren’t permanent, this happens.’” The experience helped Allan think about how to prepare for his freshman year. “Getting a chance to feel it out first sparked me to think: this is definitely going to have some extra office hour time that I need to go to and I have to put a little couple extra study hours into this.”

Once the academic year started, Allan vividly remembers how important those first semester grades were. “A lot of times people don’t attribute how heavy your first grades are because you can’t really climb up out of them.” Allan successfully passed all his classes but wasn’t satisfied with his final grade. “Getting a [low grade] in high school just feels like, ‘man, I really am not applying myself’ getting [low grade] in college feels like, ‘I’m applying myself to the absolute maximum effort right now, and it’s still this [grade]? This is all I got.’’” Still thanks to his summer program, Allan was able to offer himself grace and kept his focus on the future and explored majoring in computer science.

“Getting a [low grade] in high school just feels like, ‘man, I really am not applying myself’ getting [low grade] in college feels like, ‘I’m applying myself to the absolute maximum effort right now, and it’s still this [grade]? This is all I got.’’”

Allan was sure he would graduate with his bachelor’s in four years. “They do the math for you to get it in four years.” He researched his plan and tried to space out his course load. In the spring quarter of his first year, he tried taking four classes (the max course load) but dropped a class. In his second year, he took four classes again. “I had two different computer science courses and I remember thinking ‘this is not happening.’ I dropped both of them. One I dropped early on, so I was back down to three. The other one I got probably about halfway through the quarter and thought ‘either we drop or we take an incomplete’ but it’s not worth it.”

After that winter quarter, Allan was placed on academic probation due to being under enrolled. He spent the rest of the spring quarter reassessing his plan to graduate. “I just knew then that [computer science] wasn’t going to be my major. And essentially I’m back at the drawing board.”

“I just knew then that [computer science] wasn’t going to be my major. And essentially I’m back at the drawing board.”

His advisor sat down with Allan and noticed he was taking numerous Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) classes. “My advisor noticed the way I talked about them, the way I did the work in them, the way I participated in a class.” But at first, Allan pushed back on the idea. “When I leave here, what am I doing?” Allan wanted to major in a field of study that clearly led to an occupation. “CRES was more of, I have a particular perspective that I can bring to any career field. And that’s what scared me the because I don’t know what I want to do. And so computer science was that exit for me..losing that was kind of hard to let go of, but I think it was necessary.“

Shortly after meeting, Allan’s advisors left advising leaving Allan stressed about his planning. “I told my advisor ‘we have to figure out what I’m doing before you leave. If you leave me here, I will transfer.’” His advisor left him with a resource documenting the different tracks he could take and the additional requirements like courses, projects, or papers. The resource served as a foundation Allan used to plan his next steps.

“I told my advisor ‘we have to figure out what I’m doing before you leave. If you leave me here, I will transfer.’”

At the same time Allan was trying to figure out his major, he also had to plan how to get off academic probation. “I had to get off academic probation, so I didn’t get kicked out and I was like, what is the easiest thing I could possibly do that is a part of my court or or electives that I could take? And that was art. I already have to take an art course and who fails an art course?”

Allan enjoyed his art class. When he stepped into the studio he said “this is my home now.” The professor saw his passion and invited him to the major. But Allan wasn’t sure. “I don’t want to be an artist. They don’t really make any money.” Allan talked about the idea with his advisor and he encouraged Allan to take another art class to further explore the major.

But time was running out. “By the end of your sophomore year, you’re really supposed to have narrowed down what you want to do. A lot of the curriculums have a very set pattern that require at least a year and a half. And if you’re not already started in your second year, you’re looking at powering through all of it your third and fourth year for any major. And that’s a lot of major courses to take for two years.”

Allan was also stressed about finishing in four years because of his scholarship. “It’s paid for two more years, so we need to make something work in those two years and whatever have I already covered. What do I feel like I can confidently start getting into?”

“It’s paid for two more years, so we need to make something work in those two years and whatever have I already covered. What do I feel like I can confidently start getting into?”

In juggling getting off academic probation and finishing a major on time, Allan thought about taking summer classes after his 2nd year. Sadly, there was no financial aid available for low-income students for summer classes so Allan had to plan his coursework within the confines of his scholarship.

As a low-income student, Allan didn’t have the luxury to solely focus on his academics. For his first three years, he held a full time on campus job, working 8–12 hours regularly. “They advised against it, but I didn’t listen. I needed the money.” Allan was dedicated to keep going, but he was slowly burning out. He tried to take easier classes, which was somewhat helpful but Allan still struggled balancing getting support for his assignments, completing the assignments themselves and his job. “Even if you take an easy course, you got to apply yourself in it.” So, Allan tried his best to leverage his work time. “I would spend whole shifts [of his job] just writing essays.”

“I would spend whole shifts [of his job] just writing essays.”

Exhausted and overwhelmed, Allan was mentally struggling the summer after his 2nd year. He spent the summer recovering, did freelance photography and got involved with creating programming that supported Black students. “ [The University] didn’t support black students well enough. They accepted all these kids and then said ‘you are on your own. Make four years happen.’”

Through his leadership and mentorship work, Allan was invited to a leadership development summit. The experience was instrumental in reshaping his relationship with his major and career. “It really helped let me detangle the idea that whatever I do after I graduate has to have some kind of major cashflow. Or I have to be making income and the checks should dictate what job I’m doing. I left there with all art’s, not the most lucrative, but it’s something I enjoy doing. And everyone’s major doesn’t always dictate their jobs.”

The experience allowed Allan to reconnect with his younger self and not limit his major search. “It really changed how I looked at why I was going to college and why I was majoring when I wanted to major in and really opened my eyes.” So in his third when students were required to declare a major, Allan declared a double major in CRES and Media Arts and Design. Major requirements can make the journey to graduating difficult. By the end of Allan’s third year, he realized graduating in three more quarters was going to be impossible. “I was really starting to look at the numbers and it was getting complicated” In order to graduate by the end of senior year Allan would have to overload his course work by taking 5 classes for 3 quarters back to back. So in order to graduate with his 4 year cohort, Allan had to take a summer course either before or after his fourth year.

Fortunately, thanks to one staff advocate, Allan secured funding for that extra quarter. “I thought I would have to end up paying for but luckily at the time [an advisor] was really working on getting summer classes paid for students on financial aid.” With a tremendous amount of advocacy from the advisor, the policy on financial aid for low-income students was changed and Allan was able to enroll in a full course load the summer before his senior year.

“I thought I would have to end up paying for but luckily at the time [an advisor] was really working on getting summer classes paid for students on financial aid.”

The financial aid was a great support, but Allan still had much work ahead of him before he walked across the stage. Getting into his CRES classes was tough because there were fewer classes offered, so it was competitive to get a seat. The pre-registration system was also poorly managed, so he never got into the courses he needed. He had to reach out to nearly all of the professors, show up on the first day of class, advocate for himself to be able to enroll, and then fill out the paperwork for the transfer. In addition, Allan had to strategize about which classes should fulfill different requirements. This meant filling out numerous petitions justifying why a course counted as a requirement.

Allan could not have navigated all the bureaucracy and planning to complete his bachelors in four years without his supportive professors and advisors working with him. “I could go to any of them to ask a question. If I had a theory, I could go pitch it to them and they’d tell me, ‘we can make it work.’” By the end of his senior year Allan had consulted with over seven different professors and advisors.

What Allan Found Helpful

• Equitable financial aid policy changes that fund low-income students to take extra time: Allan knew he had to take a summer early on but couldn’t afford to pay for it. If it wasn’t for the advisor’s powerful equity centered advocacy that provided funding for summer financial aid for students, he most likely wouldn’t have been able to graduate with his class.
• His endless support from many professors and advisors who collaborated with him to achieve his goals. He appreciates the numerous advisors and professors that informed and solved problems with him by telling him “ “we can make it work.” By working together, Allan felt supported which encouraged him to stay focused on his degree.

Allan’s Aspirations for the Field

1. Critical Race and Ethnic Studies should be departmentalized. Allan saw firsthand how some CRES professors went above and beyond to ensure their students had sufficient classes to graduate in CRES. “[ A professor] got classes registered for CRES so that I could take them and get credit for my major. How do you double-list a class? [They] made argument, pitch it to both departments and had to agree to it. No one is doing all this for one student. No one is doing all this for a handful of students at all. This is beyond more than enough work. So I think CRES being in the department would’ve been really nice to have at the time so that [they] didn’t had to carry all that weight.”
2. Universities need to restructure their course offering, major requirements, class registration, and financial aid flexibility, keeping first-generation college students of color in mind: The challenges Allan faced were often because of the limiting bureaucratic structure of trying to take the right courses and in the right order. “A lot of the curriculums have a very set pattern.” This pattern can be too restrictive for first-generation college students or students of color who are new to navigating academia. If universities are dedicated to admitting more first-generation college students of color, then they need to restructure their academic pathways with them at the center.
3. High schools and Universities should help students think about their careers through a holistic approach. Since high school, Allan felt he had to navigate his education to prepare him for a specific job tied to a high income. He felt so pressured to stick to this career aspiration that he didn’t let himself initially pursue his passion. It wasn’t until halfway through college that he had to reprioritize his goals. “I was trying to do this because I thought it’s the right thing to do or it’s the logical thing to do.” But his heart wasn’t in it. He encourages schools to help fight this narrative and help students “figure out something that [they see themselves] more holistically see themselves doing.”