Sociocritical Matters: Migrant Students’ College Access

Migrant students face many educational, economic, social, and cultural challenges to college access. Anti-bilingual, anti-affirmative action, and anti-immigrant policies also constrain their postsecondary pathways. With these issues in mind, this article draws on quantitative and qualitative research to examine the influence of a residential outreach program at a public university on migrant student participants’ college access. We find evidence that cultivating sociocritical skills to challenge exclusionary political and economic systems while also cultivating academic skills and knowledge about college can broaden migrant students’ sense of postsecondary possibilities. To expand college access for migrant students, we suggest that outreach programs address the development of these and other skills.