Notes on Exploring Latino/a College Students’ Transition Experiences
Exploring Latino/a College Students’ Transition Experiences
Abstract
This study examines the social experiences and familial support of first-year, first-generation, low-income Latino/a college students during their transition from an urban charter high school to four-year universities.
Key factors for navigating the educational system:
Maintaining communication and building relationships among:
High school and college peers
High school faculty and staff
College professors
Having a family that supports their academic work, allowing students to focus solely on coursework.
Keywords
Latino/a college students
First-generation college students
First-year college students
College student transitions
Social capital
Ethnography
Research Purpose and Questions
Purpose: To explore the social preparedness and familial support experiences of first-year, first-generation, low-income Latino/a college students during their transition from an urban charter high school to regional urban public universities in Southern California.
Latino/a students in California face challenges:
Lower college-going rates (Burciaga & Zarate, 2010)
Lower college degree completion rates (Fry, 2004) compared to White students.
Factors influencing Latino students:
Often the first in their family to attend college (Brown, Santiago, & Lopez, 2003)
Frequently come from low-income households (Brown, Santiago, & Lopez, 2003)
Often not academically prepared for a collegiate curriculum (Brown, Santiago, & Lopez, 2003)
May have different family responsibilities compared to White students (Fry, 2004)
Gap in research: A study has yet to address this student population’s social preparedness and familial support during their transition from an urban charter high school to a regional urban public university.
Importance of examining charter schools: As charter school enrollment rises (U.S. Department of Education, 2013), it is important to examine their impact on students’ ability to transition to post-secondary education.
Research Questions:
What are the social experiences of first-year, first-generation, low-income Latino/a college students as they transition from an urban charter high school to regional urban public universities in Southern California?
How do first-year, first-generation, low-income Latino/a college students experience familial support as they transition from an urban charter high school to regional urban public universities in Southern California?
Literature Review
Demographic shift: In 2010, Latino/as became the largest community of color in the United States (U.S. Census, 2011).
Projected growth: By 2050, Latino/as will comprise 29% of the U.S. population (Cohen & Passel, 2008).
Youth projection: In 2003, it was projected that children of Latino/a decent under the age of 18 would increase to 20% by 2020 (Llagas & Snyder, 2003).
2011 Data: The Latino/a population under the age of 18 surpassed the 2003 prediction, reaching 23.9% (Fry & Lopez, 2012).
Educational Attainment:
The number of Latino/a students who graduate from high school, enroll in college, and graduate from college remains low.
From 1980 to 2000, Latino/a college student enrollment increased from 16% to 22% (Llagas & Snyder, 2003).
White student college enrollment increased from 27% to 39% during the same period (Burciaga & Zarate, 2010).
Degree gap: Only 25% of Latino/a students who enrolled in college earned a Bachelor’s degree, compared to 36% of White students (Fry, 2004).
Adjustment Challenges:
Latino/a students seek “cultural knowledge, skills, and contacts from their home communities” (Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solorazno, 2009, p. 677) to adjust to college.
Lack of social preparedness and familial support may influence students’ adjustment in college.
Adjustment issues may hinder academic focus and degree completion.
Prior research: Keup (2007) studied seniors in private high schools, but no studies have been conducted in a charter high school setting that address social preparedness and familial support.
First-generation challenges: Hernandez (2002) found that first-generation Latino college students did not adjust well academically or socially to college life.
Socioeconomic status: Freshman Latino/a students from low-income backgrounds experienced distress, affecting their motivation and adjustment (Castillo & Hill, 2004; Phinney, Dennis, & Gutierrez, 2005; Saldaña, 1994; Torres Campos et al., 2009).
Exploration focus: This study explores first-year, first-generation, low-income Latino/a college students’ social experiences and familial support, particularly their transitions from an urban charter high school to regional urban public universities.
Conceptual Framework
Social Capital Theory: Used to guide the development and analysis of this study.
Bourdieu’s definition: Social capital provides access to resources and building networks with groups of people (1986).
Building relationships can provide access to others’ networks and resources, potentially opening up opportunities.
Coleman’s addition (Häuberer, 2011):
Social capital requires reciprocation of information and resources.
Trust, authority, information, and norms are essential to maintain social capital.
Social capital Importance: Various studies have found that social capital is essential for students to establish networks in order to navigate the educational system.
Information networks: Liou, Antrop-Gonzalez, and Cooper (2009) stated that information networks are necessary when providing college-going information to students.
School networks: McDonough (1995) found that high schools needed to establish tight networks within their school in order to efficiently promote college access.
College-going culture: Jarsky, McDonough, and Nuñez (2009) concluded that a college-going culture requires:
Strong leadership positively influencing faculty and staff mindset
Family involvement
Abundance of resources to secure support for students
Family communication: Perez and McDonough (2008) found that students often discuss college plans with parents and extended family.
Methodology
Ethnographic Case Study Design: Used to record descriptive accounts and promote interpretive patterns of a cultural group within a bounded system (Creswell, 1996, pp. 58, 61).
Criterion Sampling Strategy: Set requirements to select the site and student participants (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012).
Site criteria: Charter school in an urban setting.
Southern California Charter High School (SCCHS): Over 400 students, majority Hispanic and African American,
Majority qualified for free and reduced lunch and would be the first in their family to attend a four-year university.
Located next door to a housing project, where the majority of the students lived.
Student participant criteria: Latino/a and low-income background, first-generation college student status, and charter high school experiences.
Chain- or Network-Sampling Strategy: Used to locate student and parent participants, which occurs when participants identify and refer others with similar characteristics (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012).
Collaboration with a school counselor to recruit students and parents.
Data Collection:
E-mailed student participants, mailed invitation letters to family members, and followed up by calling all prospective student participants to confirm interest in participating in the study.
Interviews: Five student participants for early transition interviews during summer 2013 after their high school graduation and prior to their fall 2013 college enrollment.
Participants: Two Latinos and three Latinas; four participants identified as Mexican descent and one of Salvadoran decent.
Attrition: One participant dropped from the study (female of Mexican descent).
Follow-up: Interviewed and observed four of these students at their respective universities during the fall of 2013.
Universities: Three universities within an 80-mile radius of SCCHS, regional public institutions.
University 1: Over 35,000 students, broad range of majors.
University 2: Medium-sized campus, around 14,000 students, six nationally recognized programs.
University 3: Large campus, over 22,000 students, 50 academic departments.
Observations: Social scenes on campus and at home, participants’ interaction with classmates, instructors, and their knowledge of their campus.
Parent Interviews: Three parents of the participants during the fall to ascertain the type of support they gave their children during their transition to a university.
Total: 12 interviews over two transition points, including three participant observations of their college environment.
Data Analysis: ATLAS.ti, a qualitative data analysis software program, by creating domains, in conjunction with social capital theory.
Created a taxonomy of detailed codes and in turn helped define cultural terms related to social and familial patterns during participants’ transition from high school to college (Spradley, 1980).
Results
Participant profiles
Valerie
18 years old, SCCHS graduate, first-year student at University 2.
Two-parent home with an older brother in community college and a younger brother in middle school.
Parents both worked.
Limited information due to only one interview.
Isabela
18 years old, SCCHS graduate, first-year student at University 2.
Only child, immigrated from El Salvador with her mother; father deceased.
Lived with her mother and stepfather in a small, two-bedroom apartment.
AB 540 student: Allowed undocumented students in California to receive in-state tuition and grant funding if they fulfilled statutory requirements (MALDEF, 2008).
Requirements: Attended a California high school for at least three years, graduate with their California high school diploma or General Education Diploma (GED), and submit an affidavit to a California college or university identifying themselves as an AB 540 student (MALDEF, 2008).
Financial aid issue: Had not received information about her grant because the admissions office had not received Isabela’s affidavit.
Enrolled in English development, mathematics development, and physical fitness courses.
Second semester issue: University 2 did not approve her AB 540 paperwork and she was not able to continue at the university.
Enrolled at a local community college.
Pancho
18 years old, SCCHS graduate, first-year student at University 2.
Only child born in the United States; mother immigrated from Mexico, father resides in Mexico.
Lived with his mother in a small bedroom that they shared; shared the home with two other families.
Middle school experience: Sent to Mexico to live with his grandparents for middle school and three years of high school; returned to the United States at the beginning of his senior year of high school.
Senior year: Made up several courses to graduate from high school and fulfill college entrance requirements.
Admissions issues: Admitted to University 3 but, during the summer, his admissions letter was rescinded because the university did not accept one year of the English courses he had taken in Mexico.
Appeal: University 3 did not accept his appeal.
University 2 Admission: Admitted to University 2, but he had never submitted his intent to enroll.
Late Admission : Admitted the day before school began at University 2.
Rushed enrollment process: Met with an advisor to enroll in courses.
Enrolled in English development, mathematics development, a speech course, and a Spanish course.
Pressure due to rushed entry process.
Educational Opportunity Program (EOP): Noticed that EOP students received a lot of support.
Felt he would have benefited a lot from the EOP.
Samantha
18 years old, SCCHS graduate.
Born in the United States after her mother and father had immigrated from Mexico.
Father left the family when Samantha was young, and he had passed away a year prior to the study.
15 siblings in total, resided with her two younger siblings and her mother in a publically subsidized home.
Community college: Was supposed to attend University 1 but was attending a local community college at the time of the study.
Admissions Issue: University 1 had not received her “Intent to Enroll” form.
Appeal: Initially denied then granted admission.
Course availability: Semester had begun and professors would not accept her into their courses.
Enrolled at a community college and was in the process of taking professional development courses to continue with her education.
Juan
18 years old, SCCHS graduate, first-year student at University 3.
Enrolled in English development, mathematics development, and a first-year experience course.
Educational Opportunity Program (EOP): Noticed that EOP students received a lot of support.
First-year experience (FYE) program: Felt supported because he had become familiar with the campus.
Cultural themes
Central role of communication during students’ transition
High school teachers and counselors: Prepared them for college through conversations.
One-on-one and group meetings: Played a critical role in information about college.
College knowledge: Received through their homeroom class.
Communication with high school faculty and staff: Most often communicated directly when they had college-related questions or concerns.
Communication in college: Talked with college peers and professors when they needed to understand concepts from class or get support with course material, but they continued to reach out to high school counselors and/or teachers for information.
Transmission of college-going capital through communication
Meetings and classes: Received valuable college preparation information.
Information sought: About services, programs, and how to adjust to their new environment.
Counselor support: Targeted for college support.
Financial aid: Counselors helped with financial aid information.
Advisory course: Equivalent to a homeroom class but focused on college and career lessons.
Technology-mediated presentations: Used to provide college information in advisory.
College research: Able to research college-related information through their advisory class and work on college-related activities.
Topics covered: Financial aid, classes, tests, work habits, prioritizing, and being on time.
Communicating with new peers in college
Anticipated networking with friends in college courses to exchange information about campus.
Planned approaches:
Introducing themselves
Asking about their major
Asking for academic help
Asking basic questions about the course
Student communication with college professors
Most participants felt uncomfortable approaching their professors for help.
Reasons for discomfort:
Fear of negative perceptions from professors.
Shyness and lack of confidence.
Perceived intellectual gap.
Felt professors were unapproachable - influenced by movies.
Despite discomfort, recognized the need to ask for help to succeed.
Establishing and maintaining relationships to support transitions
Relationships with key people facilitated the transition process.
Reliance on relationships with high school staff and faculty for help with college course material and college-related information.
Close relationships with high school friends due to the length of time they had known them.
Difficulty establishing relationships with college peers due to fears of being judged and perceived personality differences.
Recognized the importance of establishing meaningful relationships with faculty on campus, even if difficult.
Relationships with high school staff, counselors, and teachers
Continuing to work with high school staff, counselors, and teachers was important in a successful college transition.
Counselors offered calm and open support.
Trusted counselors to look for help.
Planned on asking high school counselors for help when in college because they knew them already.
Trusting relationships with teachers influenced them in a positive way, seeing them as mentors and role models.
Teachers provided support and alternate methods to solving things.
Connections with close friends during high school
Many participants had close friends in high school on whom they relied and trusted with their personal matters.
These relationships persisted through their transition to and start of their college student careers.
Small group of close friends created a sense of closeness.
Shared feelings and experiences with each other.
New friendships with college peers
Networking with new friends in college may be challenging due to feeling uncomfortable approaching others.
College students came from different communities and backgrounds and had different personalities, contributing to challenges in establishing peer relationships.
Challenges included:
Trying to be right
Shyness
Lack of confidence
Fear
Meeting rude people
Differences among others
Anticipated meeting new college peers.
Emerging relationships with college professors
Some participants were able to establish meaningful relationships with faculty by asking questions and attending office hours.
Faculty were approachable and willing to help.
Established social relationships with professors.
Importance of a supportive family throughout the transition process
Immediate and extended family members were one of the most important sources of support for participants during the transition from high school to college.
Parents did not provide direct academic support, but participants relied on siblings and extended family members for academic support.
Parents created a comfortable learning environment for their children to complete their academic work.
Family’s sense of pride in participants as students
Family members expressed pride in their loved one attending a university.
Being the first in the family to go to university was a source of pride.
Extended to family members outside of the country who expressed pride in participants.
Familial support for participants’ academic success
Family provided academic encouragement, general help, and specific personal and household tasks that allowed participants to complete their academic work.
Parents and family members reminded participants how they could provide them with support while they were in college.
Created a quiet environment for studying.
Familial financial support
Families offered to provide financial support if needed, covering personal necessities and some college-related supplies.
Findings
Exploring the social and familial experiences of Latino/a college students
First-generation, low-income Latino/a students
Communication was critical in their transition, with counselors and teachers sharing college-going preparation information.
Students desired more information on academic advising, major fields of study, and academic support programs.
Sustained relationships with high school staff, teachers, counselors, and close friends were important.
Family support, pride, and financial assistance made a meaningful difference.
First-year Latino/a college students
Anticipated forming new social support networks but found establishing relationships difficult.
Turned to other students for initial support, meeting them in courses or campus programs.
Sought peers with whom they identified and shared commonalities.
Hesitation when talking with professors initially but recognized the need to establish relationships.
Relied on newly established friends for help with coursework.
Identified programs, services, and organizations at their institution that they would attend or become involved with.
Experienced familial support but also challenges during the transition.
Families provided encouragement and created supportive home environments.
Relied on siblings and extended family members for help with schoolwork.
Parents often did not understand the rigor of university workload compared to high school.
Understanding social experience and familial support among Latino/a college students through the lens of social capital theory
Social capital is imperative to participants’ transition from a charter high school to a university.
Resource sharing about college-going functioned as an initial step during their transition.
High school teachers and counselors shared college-going information, but participants desired more information related to college life and campus experiences.
Extending the social network by working directly with new college student peers and faculty prior to transitioning to college would have likely enhanced the scope of the resource sharing for Latino/a college participants.
Social network building in high school and college settings generally offered necessary relationships.
Even after graduating from high school, they still expected to ask former high school counselors and teachers for help once they began in college.
Social capital shared among teachers, counselors, close friends, and college peers worked well, but resource sharing with their college professors was as natural to develop.
Familial networks enhanced resource-sharing effects, with parental pride and motivational support translating into general support to be a student.
Parents provided limited financial support for tuition, extended family members offered to pick up costs for school necessities and transportation.
Limitaitons and implications for future research and practice
Small sample size.
Use of a charter high school in Southern California.
Focus on three postsecondary institutions as regional public universities also shaped findings in the study.
Information about college transitions portray the spectrum of student experiences.
Strengthen institutional and curricular ties between high schools and universities.
Students’ families to be a part of efforts to strengthen connections between high schools and colleges.
Future studies, conduct future study with funds of knowledge and/or community cultural wealth models.
Future studies, extend to year-long contexts and over the entire first year of college.
A year-long study would provide insight into students’ second semesters or quarters to further understand how they transition into college.
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