Applying PVEST to identify the diverse coping and identity resources with which DACAmented and undocumented latine students navigate their journeys to and through higher education.

Abstract

Undocumented and DACAmented Latine high school graduates are enrolling in college at a low rate despite being eligible for in-state tuition in 25 U.S. states. More research is needed about the conditions that support students' journeys to and through their institutions. We conducted this qualitative study with nine Latine students who attended our small, public university in Washington to better understand how to support them throughout their educations and the inequities they confronted in K-12 schools that impact higher education experiences. Through applying the phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory in a thematic analysis of participants' interviews, we illuminated variable pathways to college, including differential access to supports and challenges in K-12 spaces, and how such supports/challenges may influence students' meaning-making and the coping strategies and identity development processes they engaged when confronting stressors in higher education (e.g., relying on strong academic identities, or, alternatively disengaging from school). Findings highlight the complex psychosocial processes Latine youth engage in throughout their academic journeys and ways to support them as they resist oppressive systems.