This study examines how an urban, California high school supports undocumented students’ college access and the challenges the school and students encounter. Employing case study methodology, school observations and interviews with 14 undocumented students and 13 educators were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the processes involved in undocumented students’ pursuit of higher education. Findings highlight the importance of building targeted college knowledge, providing navigational support to complete college and financial aid applications, unmet financial need, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as a useful but limited tool for college access. Implications for practice and policy are provided.
AbregoL. J. (2006). “I can’t go to college because I don’t have papers”: Incorporation Patterns of Latino undocumented youth. Latino Studies, 4, 212-231.
2.
AbregoL. J. (2008). Legitimacy, social identity, and the mobilization of law: The effects of assembly 540 on undocumented students in California. Law & Social Inquiry, 33, 709-734.
3.
AbregoL. J.GonzalesR. G. (2010). Blocked paths, uncertain futures: The postsecondary education and labor market prospects of undocumented Latino youth. Journal of Education for Students Place at Risk, 15, 144-157.
4.
Anderson-LevittK. M. (2006). Ethnography. In GreenJ. L.CamilliG.ElmoreP. B. (Eds.), Handbook of complementary methods in education research (pp. 279-295). New York, NY: Routledge.
5.
BatalovaJ.HookerS.CappsR.BachmeierJ. D. (2014). DACA at the two-year mark: A national and state profile of youth eligible and applying for deferred action. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
6.
BryanJ.Moore-ThomasC.Day-VinesN. L.Holcomb-McCoyC. (2011). School counselors as social capital: The effects of high school college counseling on college application rates. Journal of Counseling and Development, 89, 190-199.
CejaM. (2000, November). Making decisions about college: Understanding the information sources of Chicana students. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Sacramento, CA.
9.
ConleyD. T. (2007). Toward a more comprehensive conception of college readiness. Eugene, OR: Educational Policy Improvement Center.
ContrerasF. (2009). Sin papeles y rompiendo barreras: Latino students and the challenges of persisting in college. Harvard Educational Review, 79, 610-631.
12.
DozierS. B. (2001). Undocumented and documented international students: A study of their academic performance. Community College Review, 29(2), 45-53.
13.
EnriquezL. E. (2011). “Because we feel the pressure and we also feel the support”: Examining the educational success of undocumented immigrant Latina/o students. Harvard Educational Review, 81, 476-499.
14.
Farmer-HintonR. L. (2008). Social capital and college planning students of color using school networks for support and guidance. Education and Urban Society, 41, 127-157.
15.
Farmer-HintonR. L.AdamsT. L. (2006). Social capital and college preparation: Exploring the role of counselors in a college prep school for Black students. Negro Educational Review, 57(1/2), 101.
16.
FloresS. M. (2010). State dream acts: The effect of in-state resident tuition policies and undocumented Latino students. The Review of Higher Education, 33, 239-283.
17.
GonzalesR. G. (2007). Wasted talent and broken dreams: The lost potential of undocumented students. Immigration Policy in Focus, 5(13), 1-11.
18.
GonzalesR. G. (2008). Left out but not shut down: Political activism and the undocumented student movement. Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy, 3, 219-245.
19.
GonzalesR. G. (2010). On the wrong side of the tracks: Understanding the effects of school structure and social capital in the educational pursuits of undocumented immigrant students. Peabody Journal of Education, 85, 469-485.
20.
GonzalesR. G. (2011). Learning to be illegal: Undocumented youth and shifting legal contexts in the transition to adulthood. American Sociological Review, 76(4). doi:10.1177/0003122411411901
21.
GonzalesR. G.ChavezL. R. (2012). Awakening to a nightmare: Abjectivity and illegality in the lives of undocumented 1.5-Generation Latino immigrant in the United States. Current Anthropology, 53, 255-281.
22.
GreenmanE.HallM. (2013). Legal status and educational transitions for Mexican and Central American immigrant youth. Social Forces, 91, 1475-1498. doi:10.1093/sf/sot040
23.
HammersleyM.AtkinsonP. (2007). Ethnography: Principles in practice (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
24.
HoeferM.RytinaN.BakerB. (2009). Estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population residing in the United States. Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics.
25.
HosslerD.GallagherK. S. (1987). Studying student college choice: A three-phase model and the implications for policymakers. College and University, 62, 207-221.
26.
HuberL. P.MalagonM. C.SolórzanoD. G. (2009). Struggling for opportunity: Undocumented AB 540 student in the Latina/o education pipeline. (Vol. 13, pp. 1-11). Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.
27.
MartinezL. M. (2014). Dreams deferred: The impact of legal reforms on undocumented Latino youth. American Behavioral Scientist, 58, 1873-1890. doi:10.1177/0002764214550289
28.
McClaffertyK. A.McDonoughP. M.NuñezA. M. (2002, April). What is a college culture? Facilitating college preparation through organizational change. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
29.
McDonoughP. M. (1997). Choosing colleges: How social class and schools structure opportunity. Albany: State University of New York Press.
30.
McKillipM. E.GodfreyK. E.RawlsA. (2012). Rules of engagement: Building a college-going culture in an urban school. Urban Education, 48, 529-556.
31.
McWhirterE. H.RamosK.MedinaC. (2013). ¿Y ahora que? Anticipated immigration status barriers and Latina/o high school students’ future expectations. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 19, 288-297.
32.
MehanH. (2012). In the front door: Creating a college-going culture of learning. Denver, CO: Paradigm.
33.
MerriamS. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
34.
MilesM. B.HubermanA. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
35.
MotomuraH. (2008). Immigration outside the law. Columbia Law Review, 108, 2037-2097.
36.
NienhusserH. K. (2013). Role of high schools in undocumented students’ college choice. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 21(85), 1-32.
37.
NienhusserH. K.VegaB. E.CarquinM. C. S. (2016). Undocumented students’ experiences with microaggressions during their college choice process. Teachers College Record, 118(2), 1-33.
38.
OlivasM. A. (2012). No undocumented child left behind. New York: New York University Press.
39.
PasselJ. S.CohnD. V. (2009). A portrait of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
40.
PasselJ. S.CohnD. V. (2011). Unauthorized immigrant population: National and state trends. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
41.
PasselJ. S.CohnD. V.KrogstadJ. M.Gonzalez-BarreraA. (2014). As growth stalls, unauthorized immigrant population becomes more settled. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
42.
PasselJ. S.LopezM. H. (2012). Up to 1.7 million unauthorized immigrant youth may benefit from new deportation rules. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
43.
PastorM.MarcelliE. A. (2013). What’s at stake for the state: Undocumented Californians, immigration reform, and our future. Los Angeles: Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, University of Southern California.
44.
PérezP. A.McDonoughP. M. (2008). Understanding Latina and Latino college choice: A social capital and chain migration analysis. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 7(3), 249-265.
45.
PérezW. (2012). Americans by heart. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
46.
PérezW.EspinozaR.RamosK.CoronadoH. M.CortesR. (2009). Academic resilience among undocumented Latino students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 31(2), 32.
47.
PernaL. W. (2006). Studying college access and choice: A proposed conceptual model. In SmartJ. C. (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. 21, pp. 99-157). New York: Springer.
48.
PernaL. W.Rowan-KenyonH. T.ThomasS. L.BellA.AndersonR.LiC. (2008). The role of college counseling in shaping college opportunity: Variations across high schools. The Review of Higher Education, 31, 131-159.
49.
RoderickM.CocaV.NagaokaJ. (2011). Potholes on the road to college. High school effects in shaping urban students’ participation in college application, four-year college enrollment, and college match. Sociology of Education, 84, 178-211.
50.
SaldañaJ. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
51.
SeifH. (2004). “Wise up!” Undocumented Latino youth, Mexican-American legislators, and the struggle for higher education access. Latino Studies, 2, 210-230.
52.
Suárez-OrozcoC.KatsiaficasD.BirchallO.AlcantarC. M.HernandezE.GarciaY.. . . TeranishiR. T. (2015). Undocumented undergrads on college campuses: Understanding their challenges and assets and what it takes to make an undocufriendly campus. Harvard Education Review, 85, 427-463.
53.
TeranishiR. T.Suárez-OrozcoC.Suárez-OrozcoM. (2015). In the shadows of the ivory tower: Undocumented undergraduates and the liminal state of immigration reform. Los Angeles, CA: The Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education.
54.
YinR. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
55.
YinR. K., & COSMOS Corporation. (2006). Case study methods. In GreenJ. L.CamilliG.ElmoreP. B. (Eds.), Handbook of complementary methods in education research (pp. 111-122). New York, NY: Routledge.
