This qualitative study examined the decision-making process of undocumented college students pursuing graduate degrees, and how their commitment to matriculate in higher education programs is shaped by a myriad of social, familial, financial, and institutional factors. This study drew on 2 years of ethnographic data from a sample of 20 undocumented graduate students. The authors used critical race theory and LatCrit in education as guiding frameworks. The findings revealed that family marginalization, guided pathways, and social activism inform student decisions to pursue graduate school. The article concluded with a discussion of implications and areas of future research on undocumented students pursuing a graduate education in a DACA context.
AbregoL. J. (2006). “I can’t go to college because I don’t have papers”: Incorporation patterns of Latino youth. Latino Studies, 4, 212-231.
2.
AbregoL. J. (2011). Legal consciousness of undocumented Latinos: Fear and stigma as barriers to claims-making for first- and 1.5-generation immigrants. Law & Society Review, 45, 337-370.
3.
AbregoL. J. (2018). Renewed optimism and spatial mobility: Legal consciousness of Latino Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and their families in Los Angeles. Ethnicities. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/1468796817752563
4.
AbregoL. J.GonzalesR. G. (2010). Blocked paths, uncertain futures: The postsecondary education and labor market prospects of undocumented Latino students. Journal of Education for Students Placed At-Risk, 15, 144-157.
5.
AlcaldeM. C. (2016). Racializing undocumented immigrants in the age of color-blindness: Millennials’ views from Kentucky. Latino Studies, 14, 234-257.
6.
BabbieE. (1998). The practice of social research (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
7.
BairdL. L. (1976). Who goes to graduate school and how they get there. In KatzJ.HartnettR. T. (Eds.), In Scholars in the making (pp. 19-48). Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
8.
ContrerasF. (2009). Sin papeles y rompiendo barreras: Latino students and the challenges of persisting in college. Harvard Educational Review, 79, 610-631.
9.
CovarrubiasA.LaraA. (2014). The undocumented (im)migrant educational pipeline the influence of citizenship status on educational attainment for people of Mexican origin. Urban Education, 49, 75-110.
10.
EspinozaR. (2010). The good daughter dilemma: Latinas managing family and school demands. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 9, 317-330.
11.
EthingtonC. A.SmartJ. C. (1986). Persistence to graduate education. Research in Higher Education, 24, 287-303.
12.
GandaraP. (1995). Over the ivy walls: The educational mobility of low-income Chicanos. Albany: State University of New York Press.
13.
GoldbergF.KoenigsknechtR. (1985). The highest achievers: Post-baccalaureate enrollment of four classes between 1956 and 1981. Cambridge, MA: Consortium of Financing Higher Education.
14.
GonzalesR. G. (2007). Wasted talent and broken dreams: The lost potential of undocumented students. Immigration Policy in Focus, 5(13), 1-11.
15.
GonzalesR. G. (2008). Left out but not shut down: Political activism and the undocumented student movement. Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy, 3, 219-239.
16.
GonzalesR. G. (2011). Learning to be illegal: Undocumented youth and shifting legal contexts in the transition to adulthood. American Sociological Review, 76, 602-619.
17.
GonzalesR. G.Suárez-OrozcoC.Dedios-SanguinetiM. C. (2013). No place to belong: Contextualizing concepts of mental health among undocumented immigrant youth in the United States. American Behavioral Scientist, 57, 1174-1199.
18.
HuberL. P. (2009). Challenging racist nativist framing: Acknowledging the community cultural wealth of undocumented Chicana college students to reframe the immigration debate. Harvard Educational Review, 79, 704-730.
19.
HuberL. P.LopezC. B.MalagonM. C.VelezV.SolórzanoD. G. (2008). Getting beyond the “symptom,” acknowledging the “disease”: Theorizing racist nativism. Contemporary Justice Review, 11, 39-51.
20.
KallioR. E. (1995). Factors influencing the college choice decisions of graduate students. Research in Higher Education, 36, 109-124.
21.
LaraA. (2014). Navigating critical terrain: The decision making process of undocumented Latina/o graduate students (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of California, Los Angeles.
22.
LedesmaM. C.CalderónD. (2015). Critical race theory in education: A review of past literature and a look to the future. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(3), 206-222.
23.
MaderaG. (Ed.). (2008). Underground undergrads: UCLA undocumented immigrant students speak out. Los Angeles: Center for Labor Research and Education, University of California, Los Angeles.
24.
MalaneyG. D. (1987). Why students pursue graduate education, how they find out about a program, and why they apply to a specific school. College and University, 62, 247-258.
25.
MalaneyG. D.IsaacP. D. (1988). The immediate post-baccalaureate educational plans of outstanding undergraduates. College and University, 63, 148-161.
26.
MuñozS. M. (2013). “I just can’t stand being like this anymore”: Dilemmas, stressors, and motivators for undocumented Mexican women in higher education. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 50(3), 233-249.
27.
Negrón-GonzalesG. (2014). Undocumented, unafraid and unapologetic: Re-articulatory practices and migrant youth “illegality.”Latino Studies, 12, 259-278.
28.
Negrón-GonzalesG. (2015). Undocumented youth activism as counter-spectacle: Civil disobedience and testimonio in the battle around immigration reform. Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 40, 87-112.
29.
Negrón-GonzalesG. (2017). Constrained inclusion: Access and persistence among undocumented community college students in California’s central valley. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 16, 105-122.
30.
OlivasM. A. (2009). Undocumented college students, taxation, and financial aid: A technical note. The Review of Higher Education, 32(3), 407-416.
31.
PerezP. A. (2010). College choice process of Latino undocumented students: Implications for recruitment and retention. Journal of College Admission, 206, 21-25.
32.
PerezP. A.McDonoughP. M. (2008). Understanding Latina and Latino college choice: A social capital and chain migration analysis. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 7, 249-265.
33.
PerezW. (2009). We ARE Americans: Untold stories of undocumented students pursuing the American dream. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
34.
PerezW. (2010). Higher education access for undocumented students: Recommendations for counseling professionals. Journal of College Admission, 206, 32-35.
35.
PerezW.EspinozaR.RamosK.CoronadoH. M.CortesR. (2009). Academic resilience among undocumented Latino students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 31, 149-181.
36.
RamirezE. (2011). “No one taught me the steps”: Latinos’ experiences applying to graduate school. Journal of Latinos and Education, 10, 204-222.
37.
RamirezE. (2013). Examining Latinos/as’ graduate school choice process: An intersectionality perspective. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 12, 23-36.
38.
SolórzanoD. G. (1998). Critical race theory, race and gender microaggressions, and the experience of Chicana and Chicano scholars. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11, 121-136.
39.
SolórzanoD. G.BernalD. D. (2001). Examining transformational resistance through a critical race and LatCrit theory framework: Chicana and Chicano students in an urban context. Urban Education, 36, 308-342.
40.
SolórzanoD. G.CejaM.YossoT. J. (2000). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate: The experiences of African American college students. Journal of Negro Education, 69, 60-73.
41.
SolórzanoD. G.VillalpandoO.OsegueraL. (2005). Educational inequities and Latina/o undergraduate students in the United States: A critical race analysis of their educational progress. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 4, 272-294.
42.
SolórzanoD. G.YossoT. J. (2001). Critical race and LatCrit theory and method: Counter-storytelling. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 14, 471-495.
43.
Stanton-SalazarR. D. (2011). A social capital framework for the study of institutional agents and their role in the empowerment of low-status students and youth. Youth & Society, 43, 1066-1109.
44.
Suárez-OrozcoC.Suárez-OrozcoM. M.TodorovaI. (2009). Learning a new land. Harvard University Press.
45.
The Students Informing Now Collective. (2007). Students informing now (S.I.N.) challenge the racial state in California without shame . . . “SIN Vergüenza!”Educational Foundations, 21, 71-90.
46.
VillalpandoO. (2004). Practical considerations of critical race theory and Latino critical theory for Latino college students. New Directions for Student Services, 2004, 41-50.
47.
WongK.Shadduck-HernandezJ.InzunzaF.MonroeJ.NarroV.ValenzuelaA. (2012). Undocumented and unafraid: Tam Tran, Cinthya Felix, and the immigrant youth movement. Los Angeles: Center for Labor Research and Education, University of California, Los Angeles.
48.
YossoT. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8, 69-91.
49.
YossoT. J. (2006). Critical race counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano educational pipeline. New York, NY: Routledge.
50.
ZimmermanA. (2016). Transmedia testimonio: Examining undocumented youth political activism in the digital age. International Journal of Communication, 10, 1886-1906.
