Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a four-part series, which discusses the college experience from the perspective of various groups on campus.

For freshman Derek Phillips, college has been a fairly expensive endeavor.

It cost the first-generation student more than $20,000. It cost him a job, a future, a steadfast plan back home in Locust Grove, Okla.

The most difficult price Phillips paid, however, was his relationship with his mom, his siblings. College cost Phillips his family.

"They kind of outcast me in the family," Phillips said. "Without the support from my family and friends back home, it hurts not having that support to fall back on."<br/>Phillips' mom wanted him to go to work after he graduated, to join his uncle, his brother and his cousins at a metal fabricating plant. She wanted him to get a head start on life, a head start on a career.Phillips' mom wanted him to go to work after he graduated, to join his uncle, his brother and his cousins at a metal fabricating plant. She wanted him to get a head start on life, a head start on a career.
Phillips’ mom wanted him to go to work after he graduated, to join his uncle, his brother and his cousins at a metal fabricating plant. She wanted him to get a head start on life, a head start on a career.

“My family is strict on just going to work, and they think you don’t need a degree to make money and be happy,” he said. “They thought it was a waste of money to pay for college.”

Phillips is one of the many students at Baker University who, upon graduation, will become the first in their family to receive a college degree, to walk across the stage at graduation and accept a diploma.

But for many of Baker’s first-generation students, the concept of graduation means something different.

BECOMING THE FIRST<br/>Even though Phillips is only in his first year at Baker, he already knows what he wants to do with his life.Even though Phillips is only in his first year at Baker, he already knows what he wants to do with his life.
Even though Phillips is only in his first year at Baker, he already knows what he wants to do with his life.

Teaching and coaching are his passions, his life, his future. And he won’t let anything get in the way of achieving his goals – not even his family.

“I love (football), but I’ve always wanted to coach it more than play it,” Phillips said.

When Phillips chose to come to Baker to play football, his family didn’t understand it, didn’t agree with it, didn’t want it.

But sophomore Carl Prieto said his family was the complete opposite.

“They didn’t want me to have to go through the things that they have gone through,” Prieto, a first-generation student said. “It was almost like not having an option for me.”

MAKING THEM PROUD<br/>Graduating from college is pretty important to freshman Kaitlyn Haynes' parents.Graduating from college is pretty important to freshman Kaitlyn Haynes' parents.
Graduating from college is pretty important to freshman Kaitlyn Haynes’ parents.

They want her to have something they don’t. They want her to experience something they never got the chance to experience.

“It’s very important to them that I chose to come to college,” she said. “They want me to further my education and get that document that they don’t have in their life.”

Haynes has a brother who also is in college, but neither of her parents ever graduated from college.

“It was just kind of expected that I was going to go,” she said. “My dad also told me stories about why it was beneficial.”

INSPIRING OTHERS<br/>Phillips knows more and more people are starting to attend college.Phillips knows more and more people are starting to attend college.
Phillips knows more and more people are starting to attend college.

But for him, it was something he never really thought was possible, something he never thought he could do.

“I didn’t really know that I had a chance at college,” he said.

“I always imagined it was some high standard, but it’s not.”

Now that Phillips realizes he can be successful in college, he wants to help others make that realization, too.

“My little cousin is a heck of an athlete, and he’s really smart,” he said. “If I can succeed, I think I can get it in his mind that college is good.”

Even if Phillips can’t convince the rest of his family that going to college is beneficial, he knows he made the right choice, the right decision.

"I have everything to prove," Phillips said. "No matter what you do, you have to keep your head up. No matter what people say, you have to go with what makes you happy."<br/>