High-Achieving, Low-Income Latino Community College Students' Choices: The Role of Families, Schools, and Student Perceptions

• In Event: 29.034 - The Success Factors for High-Achieving Latino Students: Families, Schools, and Communities

Abstract

This study discusses the process by which high-achieving, low-income Latino students make college choices. Based on McDonough’s college choice model, student interview data was analyzed to help explain how social class, schooling experiences, families, and student perceptions impact college choices. The data indicated that parents played an immense influence on the students’ college aspirations by providing consejos, family advice, and being aware of their lived experiences of hardship. The parents’ consejos shaped a positive reframing outlook on life. Further, institutional agents and having older siblings who had concrete college advice or words of encouragement were reported to be beneficial. Key educational practices and policy implications to better prepare future Latino generations are drawn from both previous research and study results.

Author

• Veronica Ventura Gonzalez, Los Angeles Unified School District