“Am I Supposed to be Here?”: The Rural Sense of (Dis)Belongingness of Rural Latinx Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This study explores the challenges rural Latinx undergraduate students face attending an urban-centric university, introducing the concept of rural sense of (dis)belongingness to describe their experiences. Using Chicana/Latina feminist methodology of pláticas, this research highlights how the intersection of rural and Latinx identities influences feelings of isolation, invisibility, and marginalization. This study defines rural sense of (dis)belongingness as the simultaneous experience of lack of belonging and alienation, shaped by the uncommonness of rural Latinx identities, stereotypes, and the urban-centric norms of higher education. Findings reveal that rural Latinx undergraduate students often conceal their rurality to avoid stigma, struggle to connect with peers, and lack institutional support. The study proposes creating tailored programs, such as rural-focused spaces and summer bridge initiatives, to enhance belonging and foster equity for this underrepresented population. This article highlights the significance of acknowledging the distinctive experiences of Latinx students not just by racial backgrounds but also by taking geographic backgrounds within the context of a Hispanic-Serving institution in an urban setting.

Keywords

rurality higher education Chicana/Latina feminist pláticas rural latinx college students sense of belonging rural students

Introduction

The Latinx population is among the fastest-growing and largest ethnic minority groups in the United States (Krogstad et al., 2019). Additionally, there has been an increase in Latinx students enrolling in four-year universities across the nation (Garcia, 2016; Santiago et al., 2024); still, Latinx students continue to complete their bachelor's degree at a significantly lower rate than students of other racial/ethnic groups (De Brey et al., 2019). Latinx students’ low retention rates and prolonged college graduation have been explained by the multiple barriers they face as many are first-generation college students (Capannola & Johnson, 2022) who often come from low-income backgrounds (Santiago et al., 2024), having to balance familial obligations while being full-time college students (Covarrubias et al., 2019; Espinoza, 2010), and perceived as having less social capital than their non-Latinx peers (Ayala & Contreras, 2019). However, a growing body of research highlights the role of institutional factors, including how well colleges foster a sense of belonging among these students. This shift in focus is evident in recent scholarship, which explores the connection between students’ sense of belonging and their college experiences and outcomes (Duran et al., 2020; Gopalan & Brady, 2020; Museus et al., 2017; Strayhorn, 2012, 2023). The notion of belonging on college campuses has been described as students’ perceived connectedness to the campus community, including access to social support systems and perceptions of being accepted and valued (Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Strayhorn, 2012).

Research on students’ sense of belonging has focused on how belonging may differ among marginalized student groups, such as by race/ethnic identities (Hussain & Jones, 2021; Lewis et al., 2021; Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021) and college generation status (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020; Museus & Chang, 2021). According to Strayhorn (2012), students’ intersecting social identities influence how they perceive their belonging on college campuses. Moreover, Hurtado and Carter (1997) claimed that by examining students’ sense of belonging, researchers can assess how social interactions enhance students’ connectedness to the campus community. Although research has investigated the experiences of racial/ethnic minority students and first-generation college students’ sense of belonging (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020; Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021), there has been no attention given to the sense of belonging of rural Latinx undergraduate students at four-year universities. Recent data indicate that only 21.1% of rural adults in the United States hold a bachelor's degree, compared to 35.7% of adults in non-rural areas, reflecting a persistent disparity in educational attainment due to spatial inequities in education (Postsecondary National Policy Institute, 2025). Reports also highlight that among rural students pursuing higher education, 67.6% identify as white, with only 11.5% as Hispanic or Latino, indicating the underrepresentation of rural Latinx students in higher education (Postsecondary National Policy Institute, 2025).

Examining the college experiences of rural students is necessary as they constitute a substantial underrepresented student population in higher education (Cain & Smith, 2020). Rural students encounter distinct challenges during their college transition, experiencing academic unpreparedness alongside emotional distress, social isolation, and limited access to campus support resources (Ganss, 2016; Guiffrida, 2008; Rios Arroyo, 2025a). Rural students often transition into higher education less academically prepared due to spatial disparities in their pre-college educational experiences, having fewer advanced placement (AP) course offerings, and limited college preparatory guidance (Puente, 2022; Rios Arroyo, 2025a). Moreover, the transition from rural towns to large urban university settings presents significant emotional and social challenges, leading to feelings of isolation and difficulties in forming meaningful relationships on campus (Ganss, 2016; Guiffrida, 2008; Heinisch, 2017; Rios Arroyo, 2025a). Despite these shared experiences among rural students, the intersectionality of race and rurality remains inadequately explored in higher education research, with limited attention to rural Latinx and rural Black students (Boettcher et al., 2022; Puente, 2022; Puente et al., 2023; Rios Arroyo, 2025a, 2025b).

The limited literature on rural Latinx students highlights the need to examine the higher education experiences of rural Latinx students. No studies have qualitatively explored the sense of belonging of rural Latinx students in four-year universities. Racial and ethnic representation plays a critical role in shaping the sense of belonging among rural Students of Color, especially when attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs). This current qualitative study examines how the intersections of race and rurality influence the sense of belonging among rural Latinx undergraduate students. This study aims to fill these critical gaps by qualitatively examining how rural Latinx students navigate their college experiences within predominantly white and urban institutions, with an emphasis on how institutional environments and social dynamics influence their sense of belonging. The questions that guided this study were:

How do urban-centric college social environments impact the ways rural Latinx undergraduate students understand their sense of belonging?

How do rural Latinx undergraduate students believe the university can help create social support systems for them?

The present study is structured to explore the existing literature on the experiences and sense of belonging of rural Latinx undergraduate students in higher education.

Literature Review

The literature review examines previous studies on Latinx students’ sense of belonging at PWIs and how racial identity and institutional settings impact their collegiate experiences. It then examines rural students’ social transition into urban-centric universities and their cultural challenges. The literature review concludes by examining research on institutional support approaches that foster a sense of belonging and improve retention rates for Students of Color. The selected sections to review were strategically chosen to contextualize the current study by connecting the intersections of rural and Latinx identities.

Latinx Students’ Sense of Belonging in Higher Education

The rise of Latinx students in higher education has received increasing attention from researchers examining Latinx students’ sense of belonging in four-year postsecondary institutions. Many Latinx students who enroll in four-year institutions are low-income, firstgeneration college students who navigate higher education alone (Falcon, 2015; Green & Wright, 2017). Scholars have noted that Latinx college students may face a period of culture shock when transitioning to PWIs upon entering their college campus (Sánchez-Connally, 2018). Moreover, there is substantial literature on Latinx students attending PWIs and experiencing racial microaggression, leaving Latinx students feeling isolated on college campuses (Choi et al., 2022; Mena, 2022; Ramirez et al., 2023). For example, Clayton et al. (2019) found that the Latinx participants struggled to find a sense of community given their ethnic minority status in a predominantly white institution while transitioning to their PWIs. Other similar studies also found when Latinx students struggled to find a community of support in college, many reported feeling marginalized and having acculturative stress (McCoy, 2014; Nuñez, 2011; Pan & Reyes, 2021).

Furthermore, after Donald Trump took the presidential office in 2016, there was an increase in racism and anti-immigrant rhetoric targeting the Latinx student population (Stokes, 2023). For example, Serrano (2022) found that Latinx students attending a PWI reported being victims of overt and subtle forms of racism on campus. The participants in Serrano’s (2022) study shared that they initially perceived that they had chosen a campus with a positive racial climate by attending a PWI designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Still, the lack of racially diverse professors led them to experience racial microaggressions from white faculty members. Other studies have also found similar findings of Latinx students experiencing hostile environments with white faculty, prompting them to experience imposter syndrome, leading many Latinx students to doubt their academic abilities (Johnson, 2012; Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021).

The College Transition of Rural Students

The literature on the college transition of rural students to four-year universities is very limited. The scarcity of literature on the college transition of rural students can be explained by their lower college enrollment rates than students from urban backgrounds (Wells et al., 2023), which research explained as rural students facing college access barriers primarily due to living in rural regions defined as “education deserts” where rural students have no proximity to fouryear universities (Hillman, 2016; Turley, 2009). Students from rural areas who attend four-year universities often have to travel longer distances to attend their college campuses than their urban counterparts. This can affect the way rural students adjust to an urban-centric campus environment. For example, Dunstan and Jaeger (2016) examined how the linguistic characteristics of white rural Appalachian college students impacted their social integration within a non-rural environment. Dunstan and Jaeger (2016) found that the white rural Appalachian students’ rural backgrounds and distinct rural English dialects subjected them to negative academic stereotypes from peers and faculty. The students in their study became aware of the stigmatization of rural Appalachians as uneducated and perceived to be unintelligent. Moreover, the rural Appalachian students in their study used their distinct Appalachian dialects to detect other students with similar linguistic characteristics, with whom they then developed connections. Conversely, some students in their study consciously decided to distance themselves from students with Southern Appalachian dialects so that they would not be associated with the stereotypes targeting students from the Appalachian region (Dunstan & Jaeger, 2016).

Additionally, rural students often come from low-income communities (Means et al., 2016; Puente, 2022; Puente & Vélez, 2023) and have parents with limited college education (Rios Arroyo, 2025b), which can make it difficult for them to navigate the college environment. Furthermore, rural communities have been defined as tight-knit communities (McNamee & Ganss, 2023). When rural students leave their hometowns, they often struggle to form close relationships with their college peers, which can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection from the campus community (McNamee, 2019; Rios Arroyo, 2025a). For instance, Ganss (2016) and Heinisch (2017) discovered that students from rural areas experience initial isolation when transitioning to a large urban college environment from small rural communities. Research has shown that a supportive community of students with similar backgrounds makes the college transition less intense. For example, Nelson (2019) found that rural students who have direct contact with other rural peers in college have an easier college transition and gain greater forms of social capital, such as access to social and academic support resources.

Leaving their rural communities to attend college has been described as a challenging transition for rural students. Tieken (2016) refers to rural students’ college transition as navigating cultural distance, where rural students depart from their rural communities and enter a college environment that does not align with their rural values and lifestyles. However, not all research has found the same findings. By contrast, Cain and Willis (2022) examined rural students attending college in an urban environment and found that their rural identity was not as salient in their college experiences as their race, gender, and sexuality. Cain and Willis (2022) suggested that rural students used defensive othering to distance themselves from their rural backgrounds and negative rural stereotypes. Moreover, while rural students face challenges when transitioning to urban universities due to distance, this framing oversimplifies the multifaceted nature of their college transition. Rios Arroyo (2025a) suggests that the college transition for rural students is not merely about leaving their rural hometowns; as for rural Latinx students it also involves navigating new academic norms, unfamiliar racial dynamics, and social structures that complicate their sense of belonging in higher education.

Institutional Support

Researchers studying factors that address the retention and persistence of Students of Color have recommended that universities focus on developing ways to help students feel more connected to the campus community (Serrano, 2022; Yosso & Lopez, 2010). College and university administrators have made considerable efforts to address the needs of first-generation Students of Color and have invested in interventions through first-year programming (Gonzalez Quiroz & Garza, 2018). One method universities use to lower the attrition rates of firstgeneration college students is implementing summer transition programs on their campuses (Grace-Odeleye & Santiago, 2019). Many summer bridge programs establish partnerships with faculty, staff, student organizations, and campus support centers to provide students with knowledge of college life and access to support resources, as well as create a space for students to thrive at the university (Strayhorn, 2011). Another method to uphold institutional accountability for student retention and persistence is the implementation of cultural centers that aim to provide racial minority students with academic and social support services, thereby increasing their sense of belonging at their PWI (Castillo-Montoya & Verduzco Reyes, 2020).

To address the low sense of belonging among Students of Color at PWIs, institutions have made efforts to fund multicultural centers that provide a space for racial minority students (Castillo-Montoya & Verduzco Reyes, 2020). Cultural centers have been described as counterspaces for Students of Color, serving as alternative spaces on college campuses to promote well-being, collective resistance for individuals experiencing marginalization, and as spaces for acquiring social capital (Aguilar-Hernández et al., 2021; Kornbluh et al., 2022). For example, Yosso and Lopez (2010) presented stories of Latinx undergraduate students’ reflections and their participation in cultural centers on PWIs. Yosso and Lopez (2010) found that Latinx students often feel empowered to create counterspaces to seek out safe spaces and communities where they obtain cultural and social validation after experiencing negative racial encounters at their PWI.

A key context in the literature on institutional support for marginalized students is the critical role of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), which are federally defined as institutions with undergraduate enrollments comprising at least 25% Latinx students (Garcia, 2019; Turner et al., 2017). The number of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) has expanded substantially. In fact, they now enroll more than 66% of all Latinx students across the United States (Garcia, 2019; Garcia & Cuellar, 2023). Despite this substantial enrollment, critiques have emerged regarding whether HSIs genuinely serve Latinx students beyond numerical enrollment, prompting researchers to investigate the notion of “servingness” as a multidimensional and intersectional framework that highlights institutions’ responsibility to meet the unique needs of Latinx students through culturally relevant academic and social supports (Contreras, 2019; Garcia et al., 2019). Garcia (2019) argues that servingness should be conceptualized as more than increasing Latinx students’ college enrollment and advocates for an institutional identity that connects their cultural practices and policies with the needs of diverse Latinx students. This includes implementing inclusive curricula, recruiting diverse faculty and staff, and promoting culturally affirming campus environments (Contreras, 2019; Garcia, 2019). While the federal designation provides funding opportunities, HSIs often struggle to create these supportive infrastructures due to limited guidance and financial constraints (Garcia & Cuellar, 2023). Moreover, many HSIs continue to reflect PWIs in culture and practice, resulting in a disconnection between institutional operations and the needs of Latinx students (García, 2015). The understanding of servingness at HSIs is critical, particularly for rural Latinx students who navigate intersecting racial and geographic marginalization. Despite ongoing efforts, most HSIs continue to view their service to Latinx students primarily through racial and ethnic lenses, often neglecting the importance of students’ geographical backgrounds. The exclusion of rural identities marginalizes rural Latinx students whose unique higher education trajectories and place-based experiences remain underexamined. To advance equity in meaningful ways, HSI research and practice must begin to incorporate and address the intersection of race and rurality, ensuring that rural Latinx students are not excluded from institutional service practices and policies.

Theoretical Framework

Strayhorn’s (2012) model of sense of belonging framed the study implementation and data analysis. Rooted in Maslow's concept of the hierarchy of needs, Strayhorn’s (2012) model posits that a sense of belonging is an essential need in higher education, where belonging is defined by students’ perceptions of affiliation and identification with the college campus community. In the model, students’ sense of belonging is influenced by their perceived level of being cared for, valued, and connectedness to interpersonal relationships and campus engagement, while considering support systems on campus to satisfy their needs. Higher education research has increasingly focused on students’ sense of belonging, as it has a significant impact on their persistence and retention (Morrow & Ackermann, 2012). Students who feel a lack of sense of belonging may have lower motivation to persist, which can negatively impact their academic outcomes (Lewis et al., 2016), interpersonal relationships with their peers and faculty (Meeuwisse et al., 2010; Strayhorn, 2009), and campus engagement (Gillen-O’Neel, 2021).

Studies examining the sense of belonging have focused on how racial/ethnic minoritized students experience belonging at PWIs, revealing that these students often experience fewer forms of belonging (Fan et al., 2021; Hussain & Jones, 2021). However, Strayhorn’s (2012) model emphasizes the importance of understanding how students’ multiple social identities intersect and influence their sense of belonging. There has been very little research on the higher education experiences of rural students; nonetheless, it is essential to understand how rural Latinx students experience belonging while attending a large university, where their rural and racial identities intersect in campus environments dominated by whiteness and urbanicity.

Methods

Research Collaborators and Recruitment

Recruitment for the study was conducted by sending recruitment emails to various student-led Latinx organizations on campus and to different academic departments at the university. The university's registrar's office also sent the recruitment email to all enrolled undergraduates to ensure that all potential research collaborators received it. To have been included in the study, research collaborators had to be (1) second-year students, (2) selfidentified as Latinx, (3) have at least one farm-working parent, (4) first-generation college students, and (5) come from rural or small-town communities within California's San Joaquin Valley. This study intentionally focused on rural Latinx students in their second year of college, as they could provide greater insight into the challenges they faced in their initial years of higher education. Given the study's emphasis on the intersections of rural background and racial identity, participants were selected from California's San Joaquin Valley, a region known for its large concentration of Latinx immigrant and farm-working communities (Rogers & Andand Buttice, 2013). Limiting participant recruitment to this demographic allowed for a more focused exploration of how shared rural and cultural contexts influence the sense of belonging among rural Latinx students. Moreover, I utilized the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, n.d.) locale lookup map tool to ensure students’ hometowns were classified as rural or small towns.

Fifteen rural Latinx undergraduate students met all the recruitment criteria and were included in the study (see Table 1). Of the 15 students, three graduated from a high school in a rural, distant region (locale code 42), defined as a rural territory located 2.5–25 miles from urbanized regions or 2.5–10 miles from urban clusters (NCES, n.d.). Three students graduated from high school in a fringe town (locale code 31), defined as a town within an urban cluster located 10 miles or less from an urbanized area (NCES, n.d.). Nine students graduated from high school in a distant town (locale code 32), which is characterized as a town within an urban cluster located more than 10 miles but no more than 35 miles from an urbanized area (NCES, n.d.). While twelve students completed high school in areas classified as towns by NCES (n.d.), in the pláticas, they all identified themselves as rural residents of the San Joaquin Valley. The imbalance of gender within the participants can be explained by research that shows that Latinas are more likely to enroll in higher education than Latino men (Hernandez, 2019).

Table 1.

Student Demographics.

Pseudonym	Gender	Major	NCES locale classification of high school
Alicia	Woman	Sociology	Rural distant
Alondra	Woman	Psychological and brain sciences	Town distant
Annie	Woman	Economics	Town fringe
Blue	Woman	Communication	Town fringe
Catherine	Woman	Environmental studies	Town distant
Grace	Woman	Sociology	Town distant
Isabella	Woman	Chemistry	Town distant
Jazel	Woman	Global studies	Town distant
Jose	Man	Biology	Town distant
Juan	Man	Biology	Rural distant
Maria	Woman	Economics and accounting	Town distant
Mimi	Woman	Biology	Rural distant
Sally	Woman	Communication	Town fringe
Sofia	Woman	Economics	Town distant
Taylor	Woman	Communication	Town distant

Positionality

My research interest in rural Latinx students in higher education emerges from my own lived experience as a rural Latino immigrant who transitioned from Corcoran, California, a small, predominantly farm-working town in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an urban, research-intensive institution in Southern California. The geographic and cultural shift from a rural community to an urban-centric environment impacted my undergraduate experience. I often felt socially out of place at UCLA, academically unprepared, and institutionally excluded. My rural Latino identity was subjected to erasure within the university's urban-centric culture and dominant narratives of student success. These experiences inform my scholarly approach and provide critical insight into the institutional neglect that rural Latinx students often face in higher education spaces.

Research Design

This study employed a qualitative approach to understand how students’ rural Latinx backgrounds influenced their sense of belonging. Individual pláticas (conversations; Fierros & Bernal, 2016) were conducted with 15 rural Latinx undergraduate students in their second year at Central Coast University (pseudonym), a research-intensive, public four-year university located in an urban region in California's central coast. Pláticas, as a culturally grounded methodology, enables researchers to engage in dialogic exchanges with research collaborators, creating an intimate and reciprocal space for knowledge co-construction that results in more nuanced insights and transformative research encounters (Fierros & Bernal, 2016).

Chicana/Latina Feminist Pláticas

This study utilized Chicana/Latina feminist pláticas as its methodological framework. Pláticas, grounded in Chicana/Latina feminist epistemologies, emerged from a process of recognizing and legitimizing everyday cultural interactions, specifically, informal and intimate dialogues common in Latinx familial and community contexts (Flores & Morales, 2021; Morales et al., 2023). Initially, scholars utilized pláticas primarily as casual conversations to establish rapport rather than as an explicit method for data collection (Delgado Bernal et al., 2023; Flores & Morales, 2021). Fierros and Bernal (2016) advanced the methodological utilization of pláticas by repositioning them from informal introductory conversations to a research practice within educational scholarship.

Chicana/Latina feminist pláticas actively disrupt dominant Eurocentric research paradigms by validating emotional experiences, relationality, vulnerability, and subjective perspectives as meaningful sources of knowledge (Flores & Morales, 2021; Morales et al., 2023). Fierros and Bernal (2016) outline five core principles that guide pláticas as a methodological framework:

Pláticas are rooted in Chicana/Latina feminist theoretical foundations.

Participants are positioned as co-collaborators and co-creators of knowledge, shaping the research outcomes.

The research inquiry is grounded in the co-collaborators’ everyday lived experiences.

Pláticas offer transformative spaces for healing.

Pláticas require reciprocal engagement, researcher reflexivity and vulnerability.

As Fierros and Bernal (2016) state, pláticas emphasize “the epistemological framing of the researcher and their relationship to the research inquiry and research participants” (p. 107). Pláticas thus challenge traditional research methodologies that often marginalize or erase the experiences of historically underserved communities, promoting processes of healing, empowerment, and transformation within the research itself (Fierros & Bernal, 2016).

Given my positionality as a rural Latino scholar from California's San Joaquin Valley, pláticas represented the most culturally and methodologically appropriate approach for this study, reflecting my shared experiences with the research collaborators who also identified as rural Latinx students from agricultural backgrounds. The study involved 15 rural Latinx undergraduate students, each participating in two individual pláticas, which were approximately 60–90 min in duration and were conducted during their second-year fall quarter at the university. Students were offered the choice of in-person or virtual pláticas, and all chose to participate via Zoom. Moreover, each student created their pseudonym to ensure confidentiality and anonymity. Together, the research collaborators and I discussed our higher education experiences and how our rural Latinx identities have influenced our sense of belonging.

Data Analysis

All pláticas were audio recorded and transcribed using Zoom's transcription feature. I then reviewed each transcript, listening to the audio recording for each plática, to check for accuracy. I used Transana to conduct the thematic analysis, employing Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step thematic analysis process. The first step involved becoming familiar with the data. I wrote brief analytical memos following each plática to document and identify emerging patterns. Initial patterns revealed several recurring experiences among participants, including discomfort with disclosing their rural backgrounds, difficulty forming meaningful peer relationships on campus, uncertainty about available institutional support, and heightened feelings of cultural and social disconnection. These preliminary themes helped guide the first round of the inductive coding process.

The second step of the analysis focused on coding the data. I developed initial codes by drawing on both inductive and deductive coding strategies (Saldaña & Omasta, 2016). Once the first cycle of inductive coding was completed, I conducted a second round of coding to further develop the themes and ensure consistency across the data. Additionally, Strayhorn’s (2012) sense of belonging framework guided the deductive coding process. Using this framework, I analyzed how students’ rural Latinx identities influenced their sense of belonging within an urban-centric university context. Specifically, I looked for patterns such as perceived social support, feelings of mattering, and access to meaningful peer relationships. The third step included searching for themes based on the previously developed inductive and deductive codes to generate separate thematic categories (Saldaña & Omasta, 2016). For instance, some of the thematic categories that emerged from the third phase were (a) reluctance to share rural backgrounds in academic and social settings, (b) challenges in forming friendships due to cultural and geographic disconnections, (c) navigating campus life without culturally relevant support systems, and (d) student reflections on what resources or spaces could better support their rural Latinx identities.

In the fourth step of the analytical process, I revisited the themes to ensure they authentically captured the research collaborators’ experiences and aligned with the study's central research questions. The fifth step involved refining the thematic categories by redefining and naming each theme in a way that synthesized and communicated the core findings. In the sixth step, I began writing the final report, carefully selecting student excerpts from the pláticas that best represented each of the finalized themes. Moreover, to enhance the study's trustworthiness, I employed a member-checking process. Each student received a copy of their interview transcript along with a summary of my thematic interpretations. All students reviewed and confirmed that my interpretations reflected their lived experiences at the university.

Findings

This study explored how the rural identities of Latinx undergraduate students affected their sense of (dis)belonging in an urban university setting. The data analysis revealed three critical themes. The first theme, concealing rural Latinx identity, highlights how students consciously hid their rural backgrounds to avoid being associated with deficit rural stereotypes. The second theme, lack of peer affiliation and isolation, indicates that these students have not formed social networks with other rural Latinx peers. The third theme, envisioning institutional resources to support rural Latinx students, shows that the students have not received adequate support from the university and are envisioning what such support could look like.

Concealing Rural Latinx Identities

In the pláticas, the students shared that they realized that their rural Latinx identities were uncommon on the college campus, leading them to conceal their rural backgrounds from non-rural peers. This allowed students to avoid being perceived as academically inferior to students from non-rural communities. For example, Jose shared how he consciously decides not to share his rural identity with his peers:

Jose:

Talking to classmates in my STEM courses, I guess, that's where there's a lack of me wanting to say that I’m from a small town. Just because I guess if I say, “Oh, I did bad on this test,” or “I'm struggling like with the material and stuff,” I think saying that I'm from a small town might give them a bad stereotype that I am not as prepared as them or they will probably think I'm probably dumb. That's how they view me.

Daniel:

How does that make you feel?

Jose:

In a way, like discouraged and I guess it makes me feel like a kind of isolated. Just because you, I guess, [are] afraid of what other people may think about your background. They can just choose not to interact with, you know, I feel isolated between my classmates. You just don't feel like interacting with them. Even though you should but because they might have this bad stigma about you coming from a small town, they can choose not to socialize with you.

Despite coming from a small town, Jose has concealed his rural background due to fears of being stereotyped as academically inferior. He is worried that revealing his rural Latinx identity may lead his peers to believe he is academically underprepared to succeed in STEM courses (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Jose's experiences highlight how stereotypes around rurality lead to the active concealment of rural identities, which limits rural Latinx students’ social interactions and intensifies their feelings of not belonging within the predominantly non-rural university community.

In addition to not wanting to share their rural Latinx identities with their peers, the students also consciously hid their rural backgrounds when they interacted with their professors. For example, Mimi stated:

I would not want [my professors] to know that I’m a rural student because I feel once they know that I’m a rural student, I feel that they would minimize their way of thinking about me. They'll be like, “Oh, she's a bit more special because she comes from a very bad background.” I feel they'll try to treat me in a certain way compared to other students, and then they would treat me as if I'm dumber just because I'm from a lower place than other people are, and I don't want them to think that.

Rural Latinx students’ concealment of their rural identities extends beyond interactions with peers to include professors, highlighting concerns about academic perceptions and differential treatment from faculty. This perception affects her comfort in revealing aspects of her identity and suggests an internalization of the deficit narratives surrounding rurality. Mimi's reluctance to conceal her rural background emphasizes how rural stereotypes impact student-faculty relationships, potentially limiting authentic academic engagement.

Additionally, students not only concealed their rural Latinx identities to avoid being perceived as academically inferior to non-rural students but also to prevent being judged for coming from rural communities often described as low-income and lacking educational resources. Alicia shared how she does not reveal the true location of her rural town to divert attention away from her rural community:

I just kind of named a bigger city, and so the thing I usually say is, “I'm from near Yosemite.” I think a really big part of that, I think, subconsciously is because I'm trying to divert from where I'm actually from because everyone's like, “Oh Yosemite, that's so cool,” and the focus then becomes on like nature and national parks, and instead of broken down badly maintained country roads. I definitely think that there is a fear about expressing that, especially to certain groups of people on this campus… I do think that people definitely judge you if they know that you're from a place where no one ever comes to college, quote unquote, and so I definitely shy away. I don't ever tell anybody the name of my hometown… usually, it works, and people don't ask too many other questions, but when they do, there is that sense of ridicule or that sense of judgment about where I'm from.

Alicia's account highlights how she strategically concealed her rural hometown by associating herself with a more socially acceptable location, thereby mitigating the stigma associated with rural communities that are often perceived as economically disadvantaged. Her decision to reference proximity to Yosemite demonstrates a deliberate attempt to redirect attention toward a positive, widely recognized national park rather than the perceived deficiencies of her actual rural community. Moreover, Alicia's intentional concealment reflects students’ fears of judgment and their efforts to conceal their rural backgrounds to protect their social acceptance within the university context.

Like Alicia, Taylor deterred attention from her rural Latinx identity by hiding the real location of her rural hometown whenever she is asked where she is from:

Taylor:

So, when I get asked that question, where are you from? What city? “Oh, I'm from the San Joaquin Valley.” I don't know what else to say without lying.

Daniel:

Do you think they think anything of you because you're from a small town?

Taylor:

I feel they think, “Oh, she doesn't have as much money as my family does.” I just feel it's something like that because a small town is usually correlated with low-income, working class. So, I'd say they automatically put me in those boxes.

Daniel:

How does it make you feel in that moment?

Taylor:

A little embarrassed because, like, yes, it's true, but why do you care to that point? Why does it matter? We're all in the same place. We're all trying to strive for better success. I don't know why my [rural] background and my past have to follow me through negatively.

Taylor's generalization of being from the “San Joaquin Valley” is a strategic move to evade negative perceptions, highlighting the students’ awareness of classist judgments embedded within interactions with peers from non-rural backgrounds. Taylor's emotional response illustrates how internalized stigmas impact rural Latinx students’ sense of belonging, suggesting a broader struggle against being reduced to deficit assumptions about their rural backgrounds.

Lack of Peer Affiliation and Isolation

For the rural Latinx undergraduate students in this study, the lack of a community of support was particularly evident throughout the pláticas. The students shared their challenges in adapting to the university's social environment due to a lack of affiliation with other rural Latinx undergraduate students from the San Joaquin Valley. Juan elaborated on his lack of belonging at the university:

Juan:

I remember at orientation, you know, they tell you, “Oh, don’t worry if you do not find your group of friends right away. Give it time, and by the third week, you will have met other students who share similar backgrounds and interests as you. “I am now in my second year and have yet to find people from the Valley or with farm-working backgrounds.

Danel:

How does that make you feel?

Juan:

Alone. When I think about it, this whole university is bigger than my town, like all these students probably would not fit in my town, yet I haven’t found someone who has the same background as me. It makes you feel isolated and like you don’t belong here because you can’t relate to anyone, or you can’t share your struggles because they wouldn’t get it because they don’t know what it means to be from the Valley.

Daniel:

Yeah, I feel you. At UCLA, I only met one other person from the Valley. He was from Delano, which is bigger than Corcoran, and his parents were not farmworkers, but that made me feel like I was not alone; just having someone from the Valley made a huge difference to me. We became best friends and decided to become roommates just because of that.

Juan:

Yeah, even one person can make a difference, right? Even if they are not from a small town, they at least know the Valley or have heard about your town.

Juan's reflections emphasize the significant emotional toll of a lack of peer affiliation on rural Latinx students, highlighting persistent feelings of isolation and disconnection within the college campus community. Despite the university's large student population, he feels it lacks individuals from rural areas with whom he can genuinely relate. Moreover, his claim that even a single peer with shared geographic ties could enhance his college experiences highlights the importance of geographic and cultural representation in fostering a meaningful sense of belonging among rural Latinx students.

For Alondra, one of the most challenging aspects of navigating the university has been being unable to form social connections with other rural Latinx students. The lack of rural Latinx peers at the university has caused Alondra to reflect on whether she made the right decision to enroll at the university:

I do not see people like me. I was starting to second guess myself, like, am I in the right school? Am I supposed to be here? I do not see people with the same background as me at all, and I haven’t met someone to this day who has the same background as me, you know, small town agricultural parents like none of that. So, it really had me doubting myself because I was like, am I smart enough to be here? Am I gonna be able to pull through with this? I was really second-guessing myself.

Alondra'sinability to find students who share her rural Latinx background intensified her sense of being an outsider, directly impacting her confidence and leading her to question the legitimacy of her belonging at the university. This lack of peer affiliation exacerbates imposter syndrome, as Alondra explicitly connects the absence of community to her uncertainty about her academic capabilities and her deservingness of enrollment at a research-intensive institution.

Annie also shared similar sentiments of not belonging at the university based on the rarity of her rural Latinx identity at the university:

Coming from a rural background, I would say that, in a way, I know that I'm aware that our backgrounds are not common. You know, as a student, I'm already aware of that, but if anything for me, you know, in the beginning, I took it as like maybe I don't belong here, maybe I just got accepted because I'm a minority.

Annie's experience reveals how awareness of the uncommonness of her rural Latinx identity on campus impacts her feelings of alienation and undermines her sense of belonging. Her perception of not having a sense of belonging is further complicated by an internalized fear that her admission might have been primarily due to her minority status rather than academic merit, highlighting the psychological consequences of lacking a relatable rural Latinx peer community.

The lack of affiliation with other rural Latinx peers has contributed to students feeling a sense of disconnection and not having a sense of belonging. In the pláticas, students described having a strong support system of social networks in their rural communities. In contrast, at the university, they have been unable to form social connections with their peers, as Blue shared:

Coming from a small town definitely impacted my sense of belonging because, back home, everything feels so tight-knit. Whereas here, everything is, I think of it as points on a map, and we're all spread out, and you have to really reach each other to build a connection.

In the pláticas with Blue, she shared how, in her small town, she formed tight-knit relationships with friends and community members. However, when she came to the university, she struggled to connect with other students:

Establishing friendships is harder for most students who come from small towns, or at least it's harder to find those people who do because when you talk to someone new, they're either coming from the Bay Area or they're coming from Southern California. You are not meeting anyone from the middle. So, it's also harder to build relationships coming from a small town.

Blue's experiences highlight how transitioning from a tightly knit rural community to an urban university environment disrupted the social structure that once supported her sense of belonging. In a plática with Blue, she defined a sense of belonging as having “a home away from home;” however, at the university, Blue has experienced emotional and geographical disconnectedness on campus, highlighting the challenge of forming meaningful connections in a context that lacks shared cultural and rural commonalities.

Envisioning Institutional Support Services and Spaces

The students shared that they have not received resources from the institution aimed towards students from rural backgrounds. Despite not currently having resources allocated to rural students, in the pláticas, students envisioned what institutional support would look like, as Alicia expressed:

No one thinks about the rural Latinx population…and I do not know off the top of my head what that would look like if the university really cares about diversity and equity and inclusion is creating some type of program or funding something that services rural Latinx students would be the first thing they should do because that's where most of the students don’t ever reach college are from.

Alicia highlighted a critical gap in institutional support for rural Latinx students, emphasizing how their unique experiences are frequently overlooked in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. She highlights the importance of targeted institutional investment that acknowledges and supports the academic and social integration of rural Latinx communities. In the pláticas, students proposed that the university invest in developing a college transition program for rural Latinx students. For example, Catherine proposed that the university create a summer program for rural Latinx students:

For rural students, I think that a summer program would be really cool. I don't know if that would have to come from the Hispanic-Serving Institution funds, but it would be a good investment because I feel like there's a decently large or decently small but still big group of people who are from the San Joaquin Valley who come here and would benefit a lot from it.

Catherine's suggestion highlights the need for pre-college transitional programming that recognizes the unique challenges faced by rural students when transitioning to a large, urban university. Her summer program proposal also reflects a broader student awareness of how HSI resources could be leveraged to create inclusive and equity-driven initiatives that foster belonging for rural Latinx students. Blue also noted that a summer bridge program would be beneficial for rural Latinx students and provided insight into how the university can develop one:

I would basically do a copy and paste of my summer enrichment program, and I would just really serve it for San Joaquin Valley students. I would get them familiar with faculty and staff and set them up with mentors who also came from the San Joaquin Valley. You could have mentors that serve your majors or your identities, but I would probably also provide them like serving the location that they came from in hopes that they could really resonate with that person, like, “Oh, you're from Bakersfield? Okay, cool. Like, alright, or you're from Corcoran? Or you're from Kerman?” and just hope that they would stick with them throughout the four years.

Blue participated in the university's summer bridge program, but noted that it lacked culturally and geographically responsive support for rural Latinx students. Her emphasis on pairing students with mentors from similar geographical backgrounds reflects an understanding that place-based belonging can significantly enhance retention and community-building.

The rural Latinx students also discussed having their own physical space on campus to meet other students who also come from rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley, as mentioned by Isabella:

I would probably have a space, a rural community space, because then I could meet people who are also from the same area, and I could relate to their experiences, which I'm used to, and talk to them.

Having a designated rural community space on campus reflects a desire for both visibility and connection among rural Latinx students who often feel isolated in urban university settings. Alondra also shared the same idea as Isabella that having a physical space on campus for rural Latinx students would be beneficial for rural students:

[The University] should have an area for people like me because not only will it be more comfortable, but it like if any of you guys are struggling, you guys will have each other early on, you know, like get the help and meet together and not feel out single would be a great start to be in with as well as having an organization for people like me having a spot in the [student center] for people like me are things like that I feel like would be very good for people like me.

Alondra's emphasis on comfort, mutual support, and early connection reflects how such a space could help alleviate the isolation many rural students experience during their college transition. In addition to having a physical space on campus, the students wanted a living-learning community for rural Latinx students, as Maria shared:

A community housing, I feel like they kind of have floors for everything except maybe rural, right? I feel that would be a really good addition. Having like a floor just of rural students who can like find like a sense of community on their floor because they're probably not gonna find it in their classes.

In the pláticas with Maria, she expressed that she could not connect with other rural Latinx students on campus, as she had not encountered any rural Latinx students in her courses. She highlights the need for residential spaces that foster visibility, collective identity, and ongoing peer support. Maria expressed that housing initiatives for rural students would enhance their sense of belonging by creating environments where students’ rural and cultural identities are acknowledged and valued.

Discussion

The 15 rural Latinx undergraduate students in this study were second-year students attending a research-intensive public university on California's Central Coast. Attending a university that vastly differed from their rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley subjected the students to experiencing a rural sense of (dis)belongingness.

Based on the pláticas with rural Latinx undergraduate students, this study defines a rural sense of (dis)belongingness as a dynamic and multifaceted construct that captures the simultaneous experience of not belonging and feeling alienated by rural Latinx undergraduate students within urban-centric university environments. This term reflects their awareness of the uncommonness of their rural Latinx identities, the stigma and stereotypes associated with rurality, and their struggles to form meaningful connections with peers, faculty, and the broader campus community. For these students, having a rural sense of (dis)belongingness encompasses persistent feelings of isolation, invisibility, and marginalization due to their rurality, racialized identities, and the urban, often elitist, norms that dominate the college environment. Rural sense of (dis)belonging highlights how rural Latinx undergraduate students negotiate their sense of self and community in the face of cultural, geographic, and systemic barriers, often concealing aspects of their rural Latinx backgrounds to mitigate stereotypes or judgment while simultaneously yearning for institutional and peer affiliations that affirm their unique experiences and contributions.

Strayhorn’s (2012) sense of belonging serves as the foundation for the concept of rural sense of (dis)belongingness, which expands the existing theoretical framework through its explicit inclusion of geographic and intersectional dimensions of belonging. Strayhorn (2012) argues that students’ sense of belonging is influenced by their perceptions of being cared for, valued, and connected to the campus community. However, existing research on student belonging has mainly focused on racial and ethnic identity, overlooking geographic identity and its intersection with race, particularly among rural Latinx students at predominantly urban-centric universities. The rural sense of (dis)belongingness extends Strayhorn's model by highlighting how the intersection of rurality and Latinx identity uniquely influences these students’ perceptions of affiliation and identification within campus communities. The study's findings show how rural Latinx students’ sense of belonging is influenced not only by racial identification but also by their rural identities, which include unique cultural experiences, stigmas, and resource inequities. Therefore, by emphasizing the importance of recognizing how marginalized identities such as race and rurality interact within higher education systems dominated by urbanicity and whiteness, the rural sense of (dis)belongingness enhances our theoretical understanding of belonging.

As the students navigated the college campus, they learned that their rural Latinx backgrounds were uncommon in the campus community. According to Strayhorn’s (2012) sense of belonging model, identification with the campus community has a significant influence on students’ sense of belonging. However, the rural Latinx students in this study did not perceive their rural identities as part of the campus community. The uncommonness of rural Latinx identities led these students to feel isolated. As a result, they consciously concealed their rural backgrounds to avoid negative rural stereotypes and fit into the urban college environment. This finding that rural Latinx students are aware of negative rural stereotypes aligns with Dunstan and Jaeger’s (2016) and Cain and Willis’s (2022) findings on how rural students, upon entering higher education, are subjected to rural stereotypes that depict them as uneducated and unintelligent. However, in Cain and Willis’s (2022) study, the students’ rural identities were not salient in their college experiences as they were in this study, which found that students’ rural backgrounds made them conceal their rural Latinx identities and feel isolated in the urban college environment.

Moreover, many of the rural students in Dunstan and Jaeger’s (2016) study used linguistic cues to identify other students who may be from rural regions, forming connections, and only a few chose to disassociate themselves from their rural backgrounds. However, the rural Latinx undergraduate students in this study consciously chose to conceal their rural backgrounds from peers and professors, often without any physical or linguistic support, to connect with other rural Latinx students on the college campus. Furthermore, the literature describes rural students coming from low-income families (Mattingly & Schaefer, 2021). For the rural Latinx undergraduate students, their poor rural migrant farm-working backgrounds also prompted them to conceal their rural Latinx identities.

Strayhorn’s (2012) model of belonging emphasizes the importance of positive interpersonal relationships in fostering students’ sense of belonging. The higher education literature also highlights the importance of developing social networks with other students and their positive impact on students’ sense of belonging and persistence (Museus et al., 2017; Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021). However, after attending the university for one year, the rural Latinx undergraduate students in this study have not developed interpersonal connections with other rural Latinx students. The rural Latinx students realized that their rural identities were uncommon, which made them think they did not belong at the university and caused them to feel isolated from the campus community. Previous studies on the higher education experiences of rural students have found that, during the college transition period, rural students struggle to develop social networks, leading to feelings of isolation from the campus community (Ganss, 2016). However, the rural Latinx undergraduate students in this study felt isolated because they were unable to establish social networks with other rural Latinx undergraduate students. Moreover, previous literature on rural students’ higher education experiences has not connected students’ social isolation with their perceived sense of belonging. This study bridges that gap by examining how rural students’ backgrounds contributed to their awareness of the rarity of their rural Latinx identities and how the lack of institutional resources further exacerbated their rural sense of (dis)belonging.

As second-year students, they have not received institutional resources and support services specifically designed for students from rural backgrounds. Strayhorn’s (2012) sense of belonging model highlights the importance of having support systems on campus, enabling students to develop an affiliation with the college community and increase their campus engagement. The third finding of this study highlights that, despite lacking resources for rural students, rural Latinx undergraduate students envisioned institutional support that could mobilize their sense of belonging. For instance, rural Latinx undergraduate students are experiencing a sense of (dis)belonging, and it is suggested that the university should have a rural community space to ease the social transition challenges. Rural Latinx undergraduate students are seeking a physical space on campus where they can connect with other students who share similar cultural backgrounds and experiences. This aligns with the higher education literature on counterspaces, which are spaces that promote students’ well-being and the acquisition of social capital (Yosso & Lopez, 2010). Yosso and Lopez (2010) found that when Latinx students lack access to designated campus counterspaces, they often feel motivated to create their own spaces on campus, providing cultural validation and increasing social capital. However, the sense of (dis)belongingness of rural Latinx undergraduate students has led them to conceal their rural Latinx identities, making it harder for them to connect with peers who share similar backgrounds.

Recommendations for Future Research

According to the findings, rural Latinx undergraduate students face social challenges due to the uncommonness of their rural backgrounds in urban college environments. Researchers must consider the critical role that students’ geographical backgrounds play in the sense of belonging of rural college students. The existing literature on the sense of belongingness of college Students of Color has mainly focused on race, sex, gender, and socioeconomic status (Duran et al., 2020; Hussain & Jones, 2021; Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021), and must make efforts to include the impact of rural backgrounds on students’ sense of belonging. For the rural Latinx students in this study, their rural identities were the most salient in shaping their rural sense of (dis)belongingness while attending a university in an urban region.

Additionally, as more Latinx students enroll in higher education institutions, researchers have examined the role of colleges and universities designated as HSIs to assess their effectiveness in serving this population (Garcia, 2019; Garcia & Cuellar, 2023). While these studies have provided important insights into the institutional support, academic outcomes, and social integration of Latinx students at HSIs, they often overlook the voices and experiences of rural Latinx students. Latinx students are not a monolithic group, and their college experiences can vary significantly by their geographical backgrounds. Research on HSIs should focus on the unique experiences of rural Latinx students, emphasizing that although they share the same racial background as other Latinx students, their educational journeys are shaped by their distinct rural identities.

Lastly, the pláticas for this study were conducted towards the end of the rural Latinx undergraduate students’ fall quarter of their second year. Future research should conduct longitudinal studies from the college transition to college completion. Understanding the higher education experiences of rural Latinx undergraduate students from beginning to end will provide significant insights into how colleges and universities can provide institutional resources to support rural students in increasing their sense of belonging to the university and ensuring college completion.

Recommendations for Higher Education Practice

Universities in urban regions must assume a pivotal role in outreach and recruitment efforts targeting rural students, as the participants in this study have recognized the rarity of their rural Latinx identities within the academic community. Therefore, higher education institutions must increase their recruitment efforts in rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley. By actively engaging with these communities, universities can not only attract more rural Latinx students but also ensure they feel valued and supported through their transition and college completion. This proactive approach is essential for creating an inclusive environment where rural Latinx students can feel represented in the campus community.

The lack of spatial familiarity (Puente et al., 2023) has led to rural Latinx students feeling isolated and excluded from the college community. One of the key recommendations from the rural Latinx undergraduate students was the establishment of a summer bridge program specifically designed for rural students. Summer bridge programs have been proven effective in helping first-generation college students, Students of Color, and low-income students adjust to college life, providing academic support and fostering a sense of community (Howard & Sharpe, 2018; Johnson, 2016; Walpole et al., 2008). These programs typically offer a range of resources, including tutoring, mentoring, and social activities, that help ease the transition to college. Implementing a summer bridge program tailored for rural students would allow them to connect with peers who share similar backgrounds, forming social networks that can support them throughout their four years of college. This aligns with Strayhorn’s (2012) models, which emphasize the importance of interpersonal relationships in fostering students’ sense of belonging. Such connections are crucial for rural students who might otherwise feel alienated in an urban-centric campus environment.

Additionally, despite attending a university designated as an HSI, the rural Latinx students still did not receive any resources specifically designed for Latinx students from rural backgrounds. In the pláticas with the students, it was revealed that although the university has a student center funded through the HSI grant, the rural Latinx students wished for their own physical space on campus. One student recommended that the university use the HSI grant to create programs specifically for rural students, which could also fund an organization to support rural students on campus. This recommendation is grounded in the literature on counterspaces, which highlights their importance in providing supportive environments where Students of Color can affirm their identities, share experiences, and build community (Aguilar-Hernández et al., 2021; Kornbluh et al., 2022). By creating such spaces, the university could better address the unique needs of rural Latinx students, fostering a greater sense of belonging and support within the campus community.

It is essential to acknowledge that universities face various competing demands to assist diverse student groups through programs and spaces tailored to their identities. Institutional support specifically designed for rural Latinx students within current institutional efforts, such as multicultural centers, first-generation programming, and HSI initiatives, would provide a feasible and impactful approach. This study articulates a rural sense of (dis)belonging, suggesting that meaningful integration could involve specific peer mentoring programs that connect rural Latinx students with mentors from similar geographic and racial backgrounds. Additionally, it involves culturally responsive counseling and academic advising designed to understand the experiences of rural Latinx students, along with curricular and co-curricular programming that recognizes and enhances the cultural assets of rural Latinx students. Universities can efficiently utilize their existing resources to directly address the unique intersectional barriers faced by rural Latinx students by implementing targeted supports within established institutional frameworks.

Conclusion

This study examined the impact of rurality on the sense of belonging among rural Latinx students in an urban college setting. The findings revealed that the rural backgrounds of students significantly contributed to their feelings of a rural sense of (dis)belongingness. The lack of university-provided resources specifically designed for rural students exacerbated these feelings, as students perceived that their rural Latinx identities were neither valued nor supported. Consequently, many students felt compelled to conceal their rural Latinx backgrounds. They experienced a lack of affiliation with the broader campus community due to the limited number of peers who shared similar identities and backgrounds. As rural Latinx undergraduate students navigated the campus community, they yearned to form connections, experience acceptance, and receive recognition of their unique rural Latinx identities within institutional spaces. Universities must develop and implement resources tailored to the needs of rural students, as this group has historically been underrepresented in academic research and higher education practices. Addressing these gaps is crucial for creating a more inclusive environment and enhancing the overall educational experience and success of rural Latinx students.

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Daniel Rios Arroyo

Ethical Considerations

This study was approved by the UCSB HUMAN SUBJECTS COMMITTEE protocol number 81-23-0416 on July 07, 2023

Consent to Participate

This study was approved by the UCSB HUMAN SUBJECTS COMMITTEE protocol number 81-23-0416 on July 07, 2023. All participants provided written informed consent prior to participating.

Author Contribution(s)

Daniel Rios Arroyo: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data Availability

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Author Biography

Daniel Rios Arroyo is an assistant professor of Higher Education at Appalachian State University.

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