Postsecondary pathways for undocumented Latina/o students: The different roads to and through bachelor’s degree attainment

The pathways students take into and through higher education are more diverse than ever. Undocumented students, an often invisible yet vulnerable population, must navigate the college-going process alongside being constrained by their legal status. In this study, we ask what federal, state, and institutional factors shape the enrollment and pathway decisions of undocumented Latina/o students. To address this question, we take a critical qualitative approach by presenting testimonio narratives of three undocumented Latina/o students as they navigate higher education pathways across multiple institutions. We found that participants in our study did not have linear decision-making processes at the point of application, nor did their college journeys proceed linearly. We also found that policy at all levels impacted students unevenly, given how undocumented students experienced policy and tacit practices applied by staff and faculty across institutions. These findings suggest that the factors shaping undocumented student pathways are deeply connected to the way information is procured and put into action by students and institutional agents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)