RBC Recognized as National Leader in First Gen Student Success
For Immediate Release: April 17, 2026
Contact: Sterling Giles, Associate Director of Communications/sgiles@rbc.edu
FirstGen Forward recently welcomed Richard Bland College into its newest class of FirstGen Forward Network Champions. Network Champion institutions are an exclusive group serving as national leaders in advancing first-generation efforts and contributing to an important knowledge base of evidence-based practices, leadership engagement and scaling student supports.
“We are honored to be recognized as a Network Champion in the FirstGen Forward Network,” said Richard Bland College President Debbie L. Sydow. “First generation student success is central to our mission, and this recognition affirms our deep commitment to removing barriers, strengthening pathways to completion, and building enduring systems that enable students not only to access college, but to flourish, graduate and transform their futures.”
The FirstGen Forward Network provides a three-phase approach—Network Member, Network Leader and Network Champion—to scaling holistic first-generation student success by engaging and empowering higher education institutions to transform the first-generation student experience, advance academic and co-curricular outcomes and build more inclusive institutional structures. The current Network includes 470 institutions of higher education, including two statewide systems, representing 47 states and the District of Columbia.
“As one of only 32 institutions in the country to have been recognized as Network Champions, Richard Bland College has displayed a commitment to actively adopt the continuous improvement model and align their efforts with institutional priorities to guide first-generation students to completion,” said Dr. Martina A. Martin, Vice President of FirstGen Forward. “Not only is Richard Bland College doing excellent work to support their own first-generation students, but they continue to provide support and add to evidence-based practices that serve as a model for all those working to support this population in higher education.”
While moving to this phase is an important progression, Network Champions remain actively involved and committed to continuous improvement principles while emphasizing institution-focused strategic priorities to improve first-generation students’ experiences and completion rates.
“With 54 percent of current undergraduates identifying as first-generation, advancing first-generation student success has a life‑changing, multigenerational economic impact,” said Stephanie Bannister, President of FirstGen Forward. “Across the FirstGen Forward Network, we’re seeing that real transformation comes from intentional institutional systems—not isolated programs—that support first-generation students from enrollment through completion.
“Network Leader institutions are now achieving a 58 percent four-year graduation rate, the strongest results in five years and more than double the national average. Institutions like Richard Bland College is showing what’s possible and setting a national standard for first-generation student success.”
Click here to learn more about first-generation efforts at Richard Bland College. For more information about FirstGen Forward and the Network, click here.
ABOUT FIRSTGEN FORWARD
FirstGen Forward is the center for first-generation student success– your premier source for evidence-based approaches, data-informed strategies, professional development and research. Together, we are building community and belonging through the FirstGen Forward Network, knowledge creation and evidence-based practices, and thought leadership and advocacy, transforming higher education and the student success landscape guided by a first-gen lens.
