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Online learning has an important place in widening access and participation in higher education for diverse student cohorts. One cohort taking up online study in increasing numbers is that of mature-age, first-in-family students. First-in-family is defined as those who are the first in their immediate family, including parents, siblings, partners and children, to undertake university studies. This paper looks at the experience of 87 first-in-family students, for whom the opportunity to study open-entry, online undergraduate units through Open Universities Australia made it possible for them to embark on a university education.

Using a qualitative methodology, in-depth interviews and surveys were conducted with these students as part of a wider study into first-in-family students (O'Shea, May and Stone, 2015). Findings include the important role that opportunity plays in providing the impetus for study, as well as the importance of support and encouragement from family, friends, colleagues and institutions in being able to continue the journey.

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Success in a complex labour market requires astute planning, preparation and foresight, particularly within the context of the massification of higher education, increasing graduate competitiveness, and a discourse of employability which places the onus of employment on the individual. A cohort experiencing noticeably weaker graduate employment outcomes are students who are the first in their family to attend university, a group often representing a diversity of backgrounds and intersecting equity categories. Drawing on interviews and surveys of near completing Australian first in family (FiF) students, recent graduates and alumni, this article explores how employability was experienced and enacted by participants. Through the application of Pierre Bourdieu's work on capital theory, the article contributes valuable insights into the experience of FiF students' graduate employment seeking, specifically how their existing capitals, including those that are social, cultural and symbolic in nature, interacted with the job market to achieve (or otherwise) desirable graduate employment. Findings from this study point to a number of urgently needed strategies for the FiF cohort to achieve professional goals.

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Increasing competitiveness in the graduate employment field combined with growing numbers of degree bearing applicants means that gaining employment after completing university studies can be a lengthy and complex undertaking. This is even more the case for students who do not have ready access to the social or family capital often required for successful employment, such as those who are first in their family to attend university. This article reveals hidden tensions within the post-graduation employment market when this is negotiated without the benefit of necessary capitals required to do so successfully. Drawing on interview and survey data from recent first in family graduates and alumni in Australia, the ways in which they negotiated employment was explored. This exposed an alternative perspective on graduate employment that highlights the somewhat 'hidden' inequities and unfair expectations within a hyper competitive job market.

Participants' written and spoken reflections reveal the ways in which the graduate landscape is far from being an 'even playing field'. The perspectives presented contribute to broader understanding about the difficulties of moving towards desired employment goals or social mobility particularly when intangible relational and personal capitals are needed. Such insights are needed to inform both policy and practice globally, particularly as nation states come to terms with the repercussions of the current health crisis.

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This article applies the framework of possible selves to the motivation and persistence behaviours of one group of university students. We draw on possible selves to consider how particular goal-focused actions and life experiences may significantly shape movements towards imagined futures. Utilising a narrative approach from longitudinal data, this article considers the ways in which possible selves were articulated by five first-in-family students, all of whom were mature-aged women returning to formal learning. A series of vignettes enabled us to explore how students themselves conceived of this movement into university, and how hoped-for selves were considered and enacted (or not). The ways in which societal expectations and expected life trajectories impact (re)conceptualisation of 'selves' are discussed, particularly when individuals choose an unexpected or non-normative life course.

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