Familial Brokering: Navigating the Transition to College for Undocumented Students

• In Event: Students of Color and Family Impact on Their Educational Experiences

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the navigational strategies undocumented Latinx youth employed during their transition to college. Drawing from 10 interviews conducted with youth in their first year of college, this work expands on cultural brokering by exploring how youth employed their experience and their knowledge of the U.S. education system and processes to bridge information and scaffold the college transition process to their families. This scholarship names the cultural brokering youth engaged in as familial brokering and demonstrates how familial brokering was employed as a strategy to navigate the transition to college. This research challenges deficit framing of immigrant families of color and re-frames Latinx immigrant families and youth as active and critical in promoting educational success.

Author

• Brianna R Ramirez, University of California - San Diego