Transnational Youths’ Perspectives: Selecting a US College or University

• In Event: 21020 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 2: College Admissions and Stratification

Abstract

This paper focuses on the college selection process among 57 Indian American high school and college students who grew up in Bangalore, a city in southwest India. They are young people who are either US citizens (by birth or naturalized) or permanent residents who grew up in the US before their family relocated to Bangalore, a city in southwest India. Because of their experiences of transnational migration from a relatively young age, I refer to this group as transnational youth. By analyzing data collected from interviews with 57 transnational Indian Americans conducted between 2015 and 2018, this paper addresses the following questions: Why do Indian American high school students who grew up in India want to attend college in the US? What factors do they consider when selecting a US college or university? I find that transnational youth consider their family histories, availability of in-state tuition, and professional opportunities, along with information they gather from parents, peers, and college representatives when deciding where to attend college.

Author

• Adrienne Lee Atterberry, University of Massachusetts Lowell