Statistics show black students are more likely than white students to be the first in their families to attend college. For instance, white students represent 70 percent of all continuing-generation college students, while black students represent 11 percent of all continuing-generation students. But when it comes to first-generation students, whites only represent 49 percent of such students, whereas black students represent 14 percent of such students. Since blacks represent 13.4 percent of the overall US population, they are underrepresented among continuing generation students but slightly overrepresented among first-generation students, whereas whites--who represent 76.6 percent of the population--are underrepresented among first-generation college students, for whom they represent 49 percent of all students. The problem with this imbalance is how the population of black students view college. The barriers that stand between black students and higher education are longstanding and transcend how much experience their families have or do not have with college.