Against All Odds: Latinas Activate Agency to Secure Access to College

Abstract

This qualitative study seeks to understand Latinas’ college-going behaviors by examining their agency and role in securing opportunity for college. The authors examine the activation of agency among 16 urban Latinas when navigating the structures influencing college opportunity through a cultural ecological model. Examples of agency are represented as Latinas resist educational inequities and navigate their educational, familial, communal, and out-of-class environments. In some cases, individuals and systems within these environments serve as agents of resistance; in other environments, they serve as agents of support for Latinas. We specifically were interested in understanding how Latinas activate agency and make sense of how their college-going behaviors influenced college opportunity and transition.