First-generation low-income lounge opens as community space for students

The First-Generation Low-Income (FGLI) Lounge on the third floor of the Joe Rosenfield Center `25 opened earlier this semester after months of advocating from students. The lounge functions as a community space that highlights Grinnell’s first-generation low-income students.

The room features study spaces for large and small groups, a shelf filled with books and board games and panoramic windows that Maggie Bell `17, the associate director of first-generation & low-income student programs, called her favorite aspect of the room. Right next door is Bell’s office.

“Being first-gen or low-income can be an invisible identity, and that can be very alienating,” Bell said. “So carving out a space that says FGLI students are not just welcome, but wanted I think is a way to signal that the college really truly values FGLI students.”

The Lounge opened on Oct. 10. The FGLI Advisory Committee had consistently advocated for the establishment of a space for FGLI students on campus, according to Keanu Yamanaka `26, Student Government Association president and a Committee member since 2024.

“We’ve been advocating for a space for FGLI students in every meeting that we’ve had with President Harris,” Yamanaka said.

In any given year, about 25 percent of the Grinnell student body is first-generation and low-income, according to Bell’s estimates. Currently, Bell said this includes 18 percent of the student body who are first-generation, about 20 to 22 percent who are of low-income background, and those students who overlap. Yamanaka said that the significance of the lounge is the visibility and recognition that it brings to these students.

“I think it recognises all the FGLI students who came before their courage to try and to navigate a Grinnell College education,” said Yamanaka.

Bell, a first-gen low-income student herself, has served as the first associate director of FGLI programs since August 2022. She noted that the prior absence of her position as an advocate for FGLI organizing may explain the prior lack of a space for FGLI students.

“I think that a lot has shifted on campus since my role was created because having a point person to do this work shifts a lot,” said Bell.

“I can’t answer why it hadn’t happened before,” she said, referring to the establishment of a FGLI space, “but I think part of how it happened now is having this position.”

She also said that President Anne Harris’s support for the FGLI community was a big part of the impetus towards a FGLI space.

Bell functioned as the point person in designing the Lounge. To develop the design, she surveyed students at FGLI events for input, consulted with the Advisory Committee and toured other lounges and study spaces on campus with JC Lopez, the vice president for student affairs.

The Grinnell Alumni Council’s Philanthropy Committee, formerly the Philanthropy Task Force, conducted a fundraising effort for the establishment of the lounge, raising $21,100, more than double their initial goal of $10,000.

“Most alums wanted to donate to things that really impacted the student experience and that students themselves wanted, not just what Grinnell thought was best for students,” said Dawn Helsing Wolters `87, chair of the Philanthropy Committee. “We heard from Maggie Bell and JC Lopez about the lounge, and it was within what we thought we might be able to raise.”

According to Wolters, the Committee raised about half of their targeted amount from members of the Alumni Council before going public in February, campaigning via social media and email.

Within a month, they had raised their targeted amount.

Wolters said that older alums might have been surprised by the initiative.

“Back when I was a student, if you were a first-generation student or a student from a low-income background, you didn’t necessarily make that known to people,” she said. “Things have changed. Students are proud of these identities and there’s a greater understanding now about the barriers that first-generation students face.”