From the time of birth, children begin learning about themselves and the world around them. Parental aspirations for their children's P-16 educational attainment does not exist in a social vacuum within the United States. In aggregate terms, parents' P-16 aspirations reflect the families' social class standing in their respective communities. Referred to as cultural capital, the process of consciously socializing children to develop social assets including learning to read, seems to be a critical piece of more elite societies. This study sought to uncover first year, first generation students' perceptions and memories of early reading experiences to further the understanding of the challenges first generation students face in attending college. Findings revealed our students did not often have strong role models for reading, although the majority believed reading well was a necessity for college and future success. The impact of cultural capital theory revealed families still have great influence on first generation student success in college and should be of critical concern to higher education for how to best support this new generation of learners. Additionally, we may need to transmit to our students the tools to develop more cultural capital by being positive role models.