Al esconder, Hide and Seek: RicanStructing College Choice for Puerto Rican Students in Urban Schools

• In Event: 47.037 - The Family Goes to College: Understanding Family Engagement in College Choice and Access for Diverse Students

Abstract

Drawing from two data sets—one focused on DiaspoRican students in high school actively engaged in the process of college choice, the other centering the perspectives of DiaspoRican college graduates and their parents reflecting back on the process— this study critically examines the journeys of Puerto Rican students trying to gather information and make informed decisions about college choice. The implications of this study suggest that understandings of college choice need to be complicated—or as we argue, RicanStructed— to center the experiences of specific groups of students of color, account for variation in the college choice processes within and across groups, and reflect more race and culture conscious approaches to increasing diversity in higher education

Authors

• Nichole Garcia, Rutgers University

• Jason G. Irizarry, University of Massachusetts - Amherst