Using the linkages available, would it be possible to identify first-generation college students in a family?

I am not to the point of actually pulling data, I’ve done it once before on interracial marriages but that was several years ago! Right now just trying to determine if it is possible. Thanks!

Yes, this is possible. Although you’ll only be able to make these links for children who are still living at home with their parents. Those who have moved on to live in their own household will not be able to be linked to their parents.

The easiest way to do this (in my opinion) is to use the attach characteristics tool. This allows you to attach the characteristics of a parent onto the record of a child. That is, you can create a new variable that identifies the educational attainment (via EDUC) of the parents for each child in the sample you are interested in using. The attach characteristics tool uses the family interrelationship variables, so another way to do this is to manually make these links in your preferred statistical software.