JP Conte On First-Gen Students’ Dropout Risk After Negative Grades

It’s no secret that bad grades can hinder one’s college career. For first-generation students, the probability of that happening is measurably higher than it is for their peers. The data points to why philanthropists like JP Conte have focused so closely on the moment before a student decides to quit.

According to a 2025 study covered by Inside Higher Ed, first-generation students who encounter negative grade events have about a 40 percent likelihood of dropping out — roughly five percentage points higher than observationally identical continuing-generation students facing the same academic setback. First-generation students make up half of all undergraduates, but only one quarter of them retain and graduate with a degree. Spread across that population, a five-point gap in dropout likelihood produces enormous compounding effects.

JP Conte, managing partner of family office Lupine Crest Capital and a first-generation college graduate himself, has described this as “the information gap.” His philanthropic work through the Conte First Generation Fund — active at 11 universities including his alma maters Colgate University and Harvard — centers on the idea that knowing what to do when things go wrong matters as much as any scholarship. “It’s about closing the information gap and giving these students the support they need to succeed,” Conte has said.

What the Research Actually Shows

The study’s findings go beyond raw dropout numbers. Rather than dropping out, continuing-generation students who face academic difficulties in their first year are more likely to switch majors. Researchers found that first-generation students were more likely to consider poor grades as detrimental to their success or a signal of their academic failure, which might push them to drop out. Switching majors requires a kind of institutional fluency, such as knowing the option exists, understanding the process, and having someone to walk you through it.

According to a separate report from Common App, first-generation students are twice as likely to leave college without completing a bachelor’s degree than their peers, even when they come from higher-income backgrounds and arrive academically prepared. Academic preparation and family income matter, but neither erases a gap rooted in something less tangible. Access to knowledge about how college actually works is the variable that changes outcomes.

Why Do First-Generation Students Lack Social Capital?

The dropout gap after academic setbacks isn’t simply about resilience or grit. Having access to people who can reframe what a bad grade means and what options remain is central to whether a student stays or leaves. Continuing-generation students often arrive on campus with informal networks already in place: parents who attended college, older siblings who switched majors, and family friends in professional fields.

According to a Ballard Brief analysis of first-generation undergraduate outcomes, approximately one-third of first-generation students have dependents, and 49 percent of student parents are first-generation students, meaning many are managing family obligations alongside coursework, with no inherited framework for handling the academic side of college life. When grades slip, the pressure compounds quickly. According to a Sallie Mae study, first-generation students were more likely than their continuing-generation peers to consider leaving their program or be at risk of dismissal, indicating a need for greater support structures for this group.

JP Conte’s own trajectory illustrates how consequential informal support can be. His father, Pierre, worked as a tailor and clothing salesman, which connected him with Wall Street professionals who later offered Conte mentorship and internships. “They gave me internships, mentoring, good advice, and it really helped close the information gap, which exists when your parents don’t go to college or aren’t on that track,” Conte has explained. Without those connections, the path from Brooklyn to Colgate to Harvard Business School would have looked very different — not because the ability wasn’t there, but because the map was missing.

Why Does Early Intervention Change the Outcome?

The research points to a narrow but critical window: the first year, and particularly the first semester. According to a 2025 Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab, 55 percent of first-generation students said one of their top reasons for attending college was to pursue a specific career or profession. But, at times, a bad grade or one misread setback, without anyone to contextualize it, can end an enrollment.

Programs that interrupt this pattern early have shown measurable results. According to the Inside Higher Ed study, researchers evaluated Arizona State University’s LEAD program, which supports incoming students through special first-year courses focused on durable skills including time management, smaller class sizes, more faculty interaction, and dedicated peer mentors. The structure addresses exactly the moment where first-generation students are most at risk. Not by lowering expectations, but by building the surrounding support that continuing-generation students often take for granted.

JP Conte has consistently argued that reaching students before they hit that critical moment is even more important. “A light went off, and I came to the conclusion that I need to start supporting students sooner, in high school or earlier, to really help change the trajectory,” he has said. His partnerships with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity and 10,000 Degrees are grounded in that same reasoning, both programs engage students as early as eighth grade, well before the first college grade appears.

What Does Effective Mentorship Actually Require?

Describing mentorship as a solution is easy. Building it at scale, in ways that reach students before they’ve already decided to leave, is considerably harder. JP Conte’s approach draws directly from his background evaluating organizations for operational effectiveness. When he established the Conte First Generation Fund, he visited each institution personally, assessed existing infrastructure for supporting first-generation students, and made funding decisions based on demonstrated capacity rather than stated intention.

“I interviewed each school, visited each school, and learned that some of the schools were really good at it, good at providing resources, attracting that talent, and even mentoring that talent while they were at school. So they had the resources and the focus to do it. And other schools didn’t. They were either too small, didn’t have the resources, or both, and sometimes schools didn’t have the talent or the conviction to do it,” Conte has recalled. A program that exists on paper but lacks staff, committed advisors, and genuine institutional buy-in won’t reach a student trying to decide whether to stay enrolled.

According to research cited by the Daily Californian, closing the completion gap for first-generation students would produce 4.4 million more graduates and a net benefit of $700 billion to the U.S. economy. According to the Ballard Brief, over a working lifetime, a bachelor’s degree holder can expect to earn $625,000, compared to $152,926 for those who attended college but left without completing a degree. “Keeping that American dream alive is incredibly important for society and for the economy,” JP Conte has said. For students most at risk of leaving after their first academic setback, the support structure surrounding them at that moment may matter more than anything else.

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