This study examined whether first-generation community college students (those whose parents did not attend college) differed from others on background, enrollment, and outcome variables and whether first-generation status alone added a unique contribution to predicting academic success. Subjects were 653 first-year students at a large, urban two-year California college, 44 percent of whom were identified as first-generation. Data came from two sources: the annual student survey and the student records database. As expected, first-generation students were more likely to be older and Hispanic, and to report both lower incomes and lower high school grade point averages (GPA) than other students. Contrary to past research, this study found no significant differences in gender, hours of employment, enrollment status (full- or part-time), withdrawal from all classes, first-term GPA, or persistence between first-generation and other students. Although first-generation students were more likely to enroll in basic skills courses and less likely to enroll in transfer-level courses, further analysis indicated that income, high school GPA, and age, not first-generation status, were the unique predictors of these enrollments. The most surprising finding was the negligible relationship between first-generation status and first-term GPA. Results suggest that first-generation status has an indirect rather than a direct impact on student success. (Contains 13 references.) (DB)