Minority status is often treated as a singular condition in higher education research. This essay argues that it comprises three distinct dimensions: structural marginalization, numerical minority status, and experiential marginality. Border-region Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), where Hispanic students form a numerical majority while remaining structurally marginalized, reveal how these dimensions can become decoupled. This perspective challenges the assumption that these dimensions consistently align across institutional contexts. By reframing minority status as a context-dependent configuration, this essay offers a more precise foundation for understanding student experience, evaluating institutional servingness, and designing contextually responsive research and practice.
The persistent underrepresentation of Latinas in computing highlights the need to examine their early experiences and long-term engagement. Using Strauss and Corbin's systematic Grounded Theory approach, this study analyzes interviews with 13 Latina computer science majors to develop a grounded model of their K-12 computing trajectories. Findings describe these trajectories as developmental processes evolving from initial exposure to participation and eventual postsecondary readiness. The study offers a framework for understanding Latinas' pathways in computing and provides implications for policy, practice, and future research supporting their persistence across the K-12 pipeline.
This qualitative case study examined how the upbringing of five Latina educators shaped their teaching philosophies and relationships with students. Drawing on individual and group interviews with the educators (ages 34-57) and their 75-year-old mother, the study explored how intergenerational cultural knowledge informed ethical care in classrooms. Findings illustrate Transformative Latina Pedagogy grounded in rasquachismo as a framework of survival, resourcefulness, relational responsibility, and care. Three dimensions emerged: caring through culture, rasquachismo as community practice, and pedagogies of love. Participants used language, dichos, music, spirituality, and familial practices to cultivate classrooms grounded in belonging, respect, protection, and collective responsibility.
We conducted a fully crossed between-subjects experiment to examine how manipulations of the direction and focus of a social comparison target influenced outcomes for students (N = 184) attending a Hispanic Majority Institution. Results showed that participants perceived themselves as most similar to high-achieving peers when asked to write about similarities, but perceived themselves as better off than low-achieving peers regardless of prompt and worse off than high-achieving peers when generating differences. Participants who generated differences from low-achieving peers reported lower self-doubt and greater encouragement, whereas those who generated differences from high-achieving peers reported greater discouragement and self-doubt.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning resulted in higher dropout rates, particularly among Hispanic engineering students. This study investigates the effect of a video-based psychosocial intervention on the retention and psychosocial outcomes of Hispanic engineering students. Using a randomized controlled design, 41 students were assigned to a control or intervention group and participated in biographical and controversy-driven Creative Video Projects. Survey results showed significant improvements in academic and engineering self-efficacy and a decreased intention to leave engineering. Although identity and belonging showed upward trends, these changes require engagement. Our findings support scalable, equity-focused interventions to enhance persistence in STEM fields.
Familismo, a prominent cultural value emphasizing strong familial bonds, loyalty, and collective decision-making, profoundly influences the educational experiences of Latinas. This qualitative study explores the perceptions of eight Latina undergraduate college graduates regarding how familismo shaped their college experiences and bachelor's degree completion. Through semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation, rich narratives were collected and analyzed using restorying techniques, visual timelines, and thematic coding connected to Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth framework. Participants identified the vital role of culturally responsive support, representation, and affinity groups in helping them harness the strengths of familismo.
This study examines the bureaucratic obstacles faced by citizen Latina/o college students with undocumented parents when applying for financial aid. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, participants described barriers encountered when parental information was required for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Findings reveal that documentation requirements restrict access to educational resources, particularly in three areas: parent demographics, parent income information, and parent signatures. These bureaucratic hurdles can lead to delays, denials, or reduced aid, producing consequences that resemble illegality despite students' legal citizenship status. The study underscores the need for policy reforms to promote equitable access to higher education.
This study examines how racialization and nativist ideologies shape the linguistic identities and heritage language development of twelve second-generation Spanish heritage language learners in Massachusetts communities with low concentrations of Spanish speakers. Drawing on Latinx Critical Theory (LatCrit), raciolinguistics, and participant testimonios, the study analyzes learners' experiences across both Trump administrations. Findings show that participants' Spanish was shaped by racialized othering, institutional neglect, and limited community affordances, while also functioning as a resource for survival, identity, professional opportunity, and symbolic resistance. The study calls for Spanish heritage language curricular tracks, critical pedagogies, and stronger institutional commitments to linguistic justice.
