Category: Publications

Prior research demonstrates the important role that financial considerations play in prospective students’ decision making when applying to and enrolling in graduate school. Racially/ethnically minoritized students, in particular, face persistent chal- lenges during the graduate application and enrollment process. Capitalizing on a natural experiment, we identify the effects of introducing a PhD fellowship on the …

Read more “If you fund them, will they come? Examining the role of a graduate fellowship in Ph.D. applications and enrollment”

The higher education policy implementation landscape has substantially shaped postsecondary education opportunities for undocumented youth, who are already negatively affected by discriminatory public policies, and institutional agents, who are often unprepared to address their needs. Guided by Bressers’s contextual interaction theory that identifies the role of contexts, actor characteristics, and social interactions among implementers in …

Read more “Examining the undocumented college student policy implementation environment through a contextual interaction theory lens”

In this introduction, we provide an overview of policy implementation, its current landscape within higher education, and the role it can and must serve for community colleges as a tool to advance equity efforts. The articles in this special issue provide a well-rounded overview of policy implementation efforts across various states and institutions. Authors examine promise programs, equity initiatives, …

Read more “Policy implementation as a tool for advancing equity in community college”

Differences in psychosocial well-being were examined between college students with abject immigration status (i.e., undocumented, other temporary documentation), students with permanent status (i.e., U.S. citizenship, permanent residency), and students with visas using a set of one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs). The data were collected from 76 institutions participating in the Healthy Minds Study during the …

Read more “Immigration status and psychosocial well-being of college youth”

Undocu/DACAmented youth continue to face exclusionary policies and educational environments that deter their postsecondary education trajectories. This research draws from 32 interviews with parents and undocu/DACAmented youth in Michigan. Of particular interest were participants’ experiences with postsecondary education access since this is one of the first blocked normative rites undocu/DACAmented youth confront. The theory of …

Read more “Postsecondary education access (im)possibilities for undocu/DACAmented youth living with the potential elimination of DACA”

Inequitable access to postsecondary education continues to persist in many highly segregated, under-resourced urban school districts. This study examined the college-going culture of three urban public secondary schools located in one district, with a close examination of the role magnet and nonmagnet school designations had in shaping college-going culture. Guided by the work of Corwin …

Read more “Examining an urban district’s college-going culture: The role of magnet school designation”

The rise of the Trump regime has sparked xenophobic sentiments directed toward and heightened fears experienced by mixed-status immigrant families living in the United States. Using the Southern Poverty Law Center’s concept of “The Trump Effect”—how the election of Donald Trump has had a damaging impact on undocumented immigrants—the researchers reveal how the lives of …

Read more “Awakened hatred and heightened fears: “The Trump Effect” on the lives of mixed-status families”

We are living at a critical time when the construction of inclusive policies and practices by higher education institutions and institutional agents for students who are undocumented or have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status are needed more than ever. While tens of thousands of undocu/DACAmented students are enrolled in higher education institutions, they …

Read more “Implementation of public and institutional policies for undocumented and DACAmented students at higher education institutions”

This study examined the role higher education institutional agents had as implementers of policies that affected undocumented and DACAmented students. A total of 45 community college professionals in states with equitable and exclusionary policies pertaining to undocumented students’ college access (California, Connecticut, Georgia, and Wisconsin) were interviewed. The findings explore those factors that shaped higher …

Read more “Higher education institutional agents as policy implementers: The case of policies that affect undocumented and DACAmented students”

High school students’ accuracy in estimating the cost of college (AECC) was examined by utilizing a new methodological approach, the absolute-deviation-continuous construct. This study used the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) data and examined 10,530 11th grade students in order to measure their AECC for 4-year public and private postsecondary institutions. The findings …

Read more “High school students’ accuracy in estimating the cost of college: A proposed methodological approach and differences among racial/ethnic groups and college financial-related factors”