User:Djgriffin7/sandbox

A blue-collar scholar or blue-collar academic is a person who comes from a family or background of blue-collar workers who enters into the study and training of higher education as an undergraduate student or is an academician doing scholarly work to make their professional living. A common term used in understanding student who come from working class, or blue-collar families, is a first generation college student. These students are the first in their immediate family to attend a college or university. There are social impacts and struggles for students in higher-education who come from working class families. In the case of blue-collar scholars who are professors, these people had previous careers that were defined by working-class principles or their parents have careers as blue-collar workers.

Ivy league schools, such as Harvard University, have mechanisms in place to attract diverse students, and those include students from working class families. The University of Alabama has a program referred to Coca-Cola Scholars that provides financial support, mentorship, and organized curriculum to sustain and retain first-generation students.