“I’ll Handle It Myself”: A Phenomenological Study on First Generation Graduate Students’ Help-Seeking Behaviors

First-generation graduate students (FGGSs) represent a growing yet understudied population in American higher education, particularly in how they seek help during their graduate education. This descriptive phenomenological study examined the help-seeking behaviors of five FGGSs (n = 5) at a public, mid-sized university in the southern United States. Findings demonstrate that FGGS help-seeking is an identity-informed, culturally situated, and relationally deliberate practice rather than a deficit or generic self-regulatory skill. Implications for theory, policy, and practice center on asset-based support structures, explicit articulation of the hidden curriculum, and sustained institutional recognition of first-generation status at the graduate level.