Challenging Stereotypes: Factors Influencing College Persistence of Rural Latinx Undergraduates From the San Joaquin Valley

• In Event: Precarious Places: Navigating Educational and Social Challenges for Latinx Communities

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the factors motivating the college persistence of 15 rural Latinx undergraduate students from California’s San Joaquin Valley. Prior literature has depicted rural students and their families as having lower college-going aspirations. Utilizing a Chicana/Latina feminist pláticas (conversations) methodology, the study conducted 30 in-depth pláticas. The study, guided by Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth framework, identified three themes: (1) fulfilling familial aspirations, (2) challenging deficit rural myths, and (3) becoming transformative agents of social change. These findings highlight the factors that kept the rural Latinx undergraduate students from returning after their first year to persist in completing their college degrees.

Author

• Daniel Rios, University of California - Santa Barbara