Intersection of Race and Employment: How Working Students Make Decisions on Pursuing Graduate Education

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 2: Higher Education

Abstract

Racially minoritized students remain underrepresented in graduate education, despite having a higher educational aspiration than White students. Prior research shows that there is an aspiration-attainment gap. Racial disparities in working conditions, family obligations, debt burden, institutional experiences are found within undergraduate study. While quantitative data captures such an aspiration-attainment gap, less in known about the lived experiences of racially minoritized working students that influence graduate education trajectories. This qualitative study investigates how race influence the experiences of these working students and the way these daily realities impact their micro-level decisions regarding pursuing graduate education. Conducted at the University of Mississippi, this study will employ in-depth interviews of 15 racially minoritized working students enrolled in undergraduate degree at this university which will be analyzed through thematic analysis using Atlas.ti. Drawing upon Thompson’s opportunity structure as well as Bourdieu’s forms of capital theory, the study expects to find that working conditions, education system, familial obligations, lack of access to crucial social and cultural capital create extreme barriers for these students. Emphasizing on student’s narratives, the study wants to highlight how unequal educational experiences explain the decision-making process of these students in terms of graduate education.

Author

• Anika Tabasum Barsha, University of Mississippi