Students today are different from their counterparts of three and four decades ago. Women have outnumbered men for more than 15 years, and the participation rates for members of historically underrepresented groups have made impressive gains. Many of these "new" students are the first in their families to attend college. It is important that these students succeed in college. The baccalaureate degree is an avenue of upward social mobility, representing the single most important rung in the educational-attainment ladder in terms of economic benefits. In addition, many of the 10 million jobs that will be created in the next decade will require skills and competencies beyond those acquired in high school. Unfortunately, a disproportionately low number of first-generation students succeed in college. According to Warburton, Bugarin, and Nunez (2001), there is a 15% gap between the 3-year persistence rates of first- and second-generation students (73% and 88%, respectively). The present research draws on a national survey database to address three questions: (1) Are the relationships among background characteristics, engagement, and learning and intellectual development the same for first- and second-generation students? (2) Do first- and second-generation college students differ in terms of their backgrounds, levels of engagement during college, and reported gains in learning and intellectual development? (3) Are differences between first- and second-generation students directly related to first-generation status, or are they an indirect result of associations between first-generation status and antecedent characteristics or experiences? In order to examine differences in the backgrounds, college experiences, and learning outcomes of first- and second-generation students, multigroup structural equation models with latent variables were used.