Unequal Distribution of Stress: The Disparate Impacts of COVID-19 for California College Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Sesion 4
  In Roundtable Session: Racial Bias in Higher Ed. Fight or Flight: Student Experiences in American Institutions of Higher Education

Abstract

The path to a college degree is fraught with countless obstacles – academic demands of coursework, juggling work, home, and school responsibilities, and navigating complex college environments to obtain necessary support. The COVID-19 global pandemic exacerbated many of these challenges. Drawing on more than 175,000 responses to two large-scale surveys jointly administered by the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) and University of California, Davis, this paper documents the experiences of California financial aid applicants as the pandemic disrupted all aspects of life and learning. What emerges is a story of profoundly uneven impacts and confirmation that financial constraints remain key obstacles in the educational trajectories of college students, especially for students of color, from lower-income households, and attending community colleges.

Authors

• Sherrie Reed, University of California - Davis

• Ryan Fuller, California Student Aid Commission

• Elizabeth Z. Friedmann, University of California - Davis

• Michal Kurlaender, University of California - Davis

• Paco Martorell, University of California - Davis

• Jessica Moldoff

• Patrick Perry, California Student Aid Commission

• Derek Rury