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A new lens to examine and increase sense of belonging of Latin* students from postsecondary institutions in the midwestern United States
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A new lens to examine and increase sense of belonging of Latin* students from postsecondary institutions in the midwestern United States
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Content
A New Lens to Examine and Increase Sense of Belonging of Latin* Students from
Postsecondary Institutions in the Midwestern United States
William N. Vela “Billy”
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education
August 2023
© Copyright by William N. Vela “Billy” 2023
All Rights Reserved
The Committee for William N. Vela “Billy” certifies the approval of this Dissertation
Ronald Hallett
Artineh Samkian
Zoë Corwin, Committee Chair
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2023
iv
Abstract
This exploratory qualitative interview study examines how Latin* students experience academic,
social and campus-community belonging in three postsecondary institutions in the Midwestern
United States. The findings demonstrate that Latin* college students experienced a sense of
belonging in complex and fluid ways that were influenced positively and negatively by
individual factors, programmatic factors, institutional factors, and community factors. Overall
Latin* students showed a strong sense of persevering; however, some were more effective than
others, because of additional institutional support they received. In addition to student’s
perseverance, students were strengthened by assets derived from their community and family
prior to their arrival on campus and a wide variety of individual characteristics and experiences
that support how they navigate campus life. Through a deeper understanding of each of these
factors, including how they interact with one another, and the difference that more institutional
support can have on Latin* college students' success, this study aims to better equip institutions,
practitioners, and researchers to more effectively support Latin* students during their 1st year in
college and ultimately in achieving success.
v
Dedication
To God, thank you for always looking after me, supporting me, carrying me and guiding me to
be better, I could not have achieved this dream without you. I would like to dedicate this
dissertation to my mother, mi mami, Alex Diaz, for all the sacrifices you made for us and for
always inculcating the value of an education to me and my sisters. I have learned so much from
you mom, to always dream, work hard, help others, and never give up. Throughout your life you
have been an inspiration to me and my sisters—immigrating from Guatemala to the United
States in 1968; working various jobs throughout the years including cleaning houses and being a
caregiver for senior citizens, while always taking care of and raising four children. You always
found a way to make us feel special and to help us move forward. I would not be here without
your love, faith in God, dedication, guidance and support.
vi
Acknowledgments
I would first like to acknowledge the support and guidance of my dissertation chair, Dr.
Zoë Corwin. I cannot thank you enough for your mentorship throughout this process and for
always believing in me, even when I doubted myself. Thank you for your patience, empathy,
understanding, care and for always believing in the type of work I have stood for throughout my
career in higher education which disrupts white supremacy. I was fortunate to know you before
this dissertation process, as colleagues our work crossed paths on various social justice issues
and this along with my faith in God guided me to you. I would also like to thank my dissertation
committee members, Dr. Ronald Hallett and Dr. Artineh Samkian for helping me strengthen my
dissertation. A special thank you to Dr. Samkian for inspiration, support and guidance you
provided me earlier in the dissertation process, I will always remember our social conscious class
discussions, and the wonderful community of educators you helped establish through your
leadership. A special thank you to Raltisa Todorova, Joey Kitchen, and Christine Rocha for all
your resourcefulness and support. And I could not have done this without my dissertation group,
Claudia Rodriguez, Alex Hazard, Serina Bravo and Khalilah Lauderdale.
I would also like to thank Matt Stevens, so grateful that we had the opportunity to begin
this journey 5 years ago and as the years went by, we continually stayed in touch and supported
one another. I could not have done this without you, especially the last few years leading up to
our dissertations. Really appreciate you Matt, and thankful for the many times we spent
supporting one another to finally meet our goal. Also thank you to Jordan Silva in the EdD
Program Office for all your resources and support as an advisor and friend. Thank you to Chris
Mattson in the Doctoral Support Center for your encouragement, advice, guidance, and going
above and beyond to help me reach my goal.
vii
And finally, to my sisters and brother, Claudia, Susy, Wendy, Yuki and Leon, thank you
for always being there for me and for your endless love and support. You each picked me up
throughout the past 5 years, when I wanted to give up. Your mentorship, guidance, support, and
belief in me I can never repay, I love you all very much. I also want to give a special shout out to
my COVID-19 Pod for all your love and support, from my nephews and nieces (Phennix,
Griffin, Luna, Anzu, Natalia, Mateo, Aiden, Sayuri, Iliani, Itzel, & Gael) to my brother-in-law
Mario, mother-in law, Victor, Tony, Cris, Tiffany, Gerry, Trish, Gavin, and Pat. I would also like
to thank the rest of my family, mentors, friends, former students, alumni, former co-workers,
colleagues, supervisors, faculty, advisors, teachers, educators, social justice activists, and
ancestors for blessing me with your knowledge, guidance, love and support. Special thank you to
my sister Claudia, Juan, Ray, Hady and Roger, Jessica and Leon, Ms. Robinson, Kevin, John
Brooks Slaughter, Gwen, JT, Jody, Kelby, Corliss, Marshall, Michelle, Felix Gutierrez, Jacklyn
Rodriguez and Eric Newhall, Dawn Person, Edwina, Leela, Justin, Belinda, Mak, Abel Amaya,
Carol Sigala, Mary Ann Pacheco, El Centro Chicano, La CASA, Deanna Campbell, NV, X, Pete,
Azul, Camila, Amarillo, Isa and Tana, Jason, Ana and Oscar Chang y la familia en Guatemala.
viii
Table of Contents
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... vi
List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x
Chapter One: Overview of the Study .............................................................................................. 1
Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................... 2
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework ............................................................................. 2
Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................... 3
Research Question .............................................................................................................. 5
Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 5
Limitations and Delimitations............................................................................................. 6
Organization of the Study ................................................................................................... 7
Definitions........................................................................................................................... 7
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 8
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ........................................................................................ 10
Latin* Students ................................................................................................................. 10
Sense of Belonging ........................................................................................................... 17
Institutional Agents and Family Support .......................................................................... 32
Summary ........................................................................................................................... 35
Chapter Three: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 36
Population and Sample ..................................................................................................... 37
Site Selection .................................................................................................................... 39
Data Collection Strategies................................................................................................. 40
Data Analysis Procedures ................................................................................................. 41
ix
Trustworthiness and Credibility ........................................................................................ 42
Ethics................................................................................................................................. 44
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 45
Chapter Four: Findings ................................................................................................................. 46
Overview of Participants................................................................................................... 46
Thematic Presentation of Findings ................................................................................... 47
Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 85
Chapter Five: Discussion .............................................................................................................. 96
Relationship of Findings to Prior Research .................................................................... 101
Implications for Practice and Research........................................................................... 103
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 108
References ................................................................................................................................... 110
Appendix A: Cohort 1 Student Protocol, November 2021 ......................................................... 124
Section 1: Introductions and Rapport Building (10-Minutes) ........................................ 124
Section 2. Psychosocial Constructs During College Transition (20-Minutes) ............... 124
Section 3. Qualitative Paper Ideas (30-Minutes) ............................................................ 126
Wrap Up .......................................................................................................................... 128
Appendix B: Cohort 1 Student Protocol March/April 2022 (60-Minutes) ................................. 129
x
List of Tables
Table 1: Fall 2021 Study Participants and Number of Interviews 39
1
Chapter One: Overview of the Study
The literature of the past few decades has consistently shown that students of color have
continued to feel dismissed and overlooked due to discrimination against them in predominantly
White institutions and spaces (Ledesma & Calderon, 2015; Lewis et al., 2021; Patton, 2010). In
order to support BIPOC-identifying students, many colleges and universities have set up cultural
centers or college transition and support programs to provide cultural, academic, and social
support for at-promise students (i.e., the term puts the onus on higher education institutions to
change to better serve students from historically marginalized and racially minoritized
backgrounds, instead of expecting them to assimilate to the majority culture and norms)
(Bettencourt et al., 2023). This study focuses on one particular group of at-promise students—
Latin* students—because there continues to be a lack of knowledge on how best to support their
needs, especially those attending postsecondary institutions in the midwestern United States.
It is important to understand how to better serve this group because Latin* student’s
college enrollment has been increasing, they are often low-income, first-generation students and
higher education have been slow in acknowledging and embracing their cultural values, and the
importance of familial connection (Covarrubias, 2021). It is therefore imperative that higher
education institutions, administrators, faculty, and staff support Latin* students by continuing to
“create space and build community so they can thrive in an environment in which social,
cultural, and academic capital is held mainly by the majority population” (Patton, 2010, p. 4).
Deepening understandings of sense of belonging and empowerment of Latin* students warrant
increased research attention in order to facilitate a coordinated effort of various departments with
faculty, staff, resources, and funding to address their needs (Kitchen et al., 2021).
2
Statement of the Problem
The problem this study focuses on is how to effectively support Latin* students during
their transition to college and through their 1st year. The issue motivating this study is the lack of
knowledge on this particular community, specifically Latin* students in a midwestern state. By
highlighting the perspectives of Latin* students, the study will add nuance to research focusing
on sense of belonging of Latin* students. The research question guiding this study: How do
Latin* postsecondary students experience academic, social, and campus-community belonging in
the midwestern United States?
Although there is literature focused on Latin* students in colleges and universities in the
United States, we do not know very much about their experiences and the challenges they face
while attending colleges and universities in the Midwest. Furthermore, one of the most
significant challenges to overcome in higher education, according to Kezar (2003, 2007), is the
tension or ambivalence that researchers, faculty, and practitioners experience in communicating
how to make needed changes to support new initiatives focused on marginalized groups, such as
Latin* students. This study is an effort to provide institutions, faculty, practitioners, and support
staff with the knowledge regarding increasing sense of belonging among Latin* students in
higher education. The ultimate goal is to inform efforts to increase the retention of Latin*
students, especially those from midwestern communities.
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
This dissertation draws on the theoretical framework—Nunn’s (2021) theory of
belonging. Nunn’s (2021) framework on belonging provides a holistic mechanism to examine
the challenges, successes, and changes that need to occur to increase the postsecondary retention
and success of Latin* college students. Nunn (2021) focuses on three different levels of
3
belonging include social belonging, campus-community belonging, and academic belonging.
Social belonging can be described as having people you call friends or being socially connected
to one or more groups on campus. Campus-community belonging can be described as feeling “at
home” on campus or the campus reflects your identities and preferences. Lastly, academic
belonging is feeling confident and comfortable in courses, adequately prepared and appropriately
challenged, and feeling empowered to utilize resources like tutoring, office hours, and writing
assistance.
Nunn’s (2021) holistic framework along with Stanton-Salazar’s (2011) action-oriented
empowerment agent lens builds upon scholarship focused on Latin* students and provides new
possibilities to support their success in higher education, providing a deeper look at
organizational structure and what facilitates or hinders social, campus-community, and academic
belonging.
Purpose of the Study
This study addresses the need to improve sense of belonging for Latin* college students.
Universities and colleges have various institutional programs and services to support students.
This study will focus on the specific needs that Latin* students have and what additional
mechanisms can be established to increase their sense of belonging. While there are studies on
Latin* students at colleges and universities and best practices on how to best support them, more
research is needed to understand the nuanced needs of this growing population.
Specifically, Nunn’s (2021) framework challenges us to use a three-pronged approach
that allows us to examine how the institution, faculty, practitioners and students are creating
proactive, intentional opportunities for Latin* students to increase their sense of belonging via
their social belonging, campus-community belonging, and academic belonging. Additionally,
4
this new lens provides the opportunity to provide accountability measures to evaluate progress
and identity gaps for future changes to best support Latin* students’ growth, personal
empowerment and ultimate success.
This study is part of a larger research project at the USC Pullias Center for Higher
Education involving a mixed-methods, longitudinal research design—the Promoting At-Promise
Student Success (PASS). The PASS project is dedicated to building deeper knowledge of student
success in higher education institutions. In the first phase, over 6 years was dedicated to
documenting and gaining a better understanding of whether the Thompson Scholars Learning
Communities (TSLC) program at three University of Nebraska campuses resulted in greater
success for students academically and psychosocially. TSLC is a comprehensive college
transition program (CCTP), providing structured opportunities that impart academic and social
support for at-promise students (i.e., refers to students who are low-income, first-generation, and
racially/ethnically minoritized; Bettencourt et al., 2023) during their entry into college and
universities. PASS project measurements of student success include retention and GPA, as well
as validation, mattering, and sense of belonging. In the second phase, the research focus was
expanded to take into consideration the experiences of at-promise students who did not
participate in the TSLC programs.
This dissertation study focuses on the second phase of the PASS project’s qualitative
dataset in order to generate an in-depth understanding of how Latin* students experience
belonging and mattering at three public universities located in the midwestern region of the
United States. Data analysis will identify Latin* students’ needs and potential mechanisms to
increase their retention. Interviews with students will shed light on the complexities of the
5
diverse Latin* student community and highlight the strengths and social capital that these student
scholars and their families bring to institutions of higher education.
Research Question
This study will explore sense of belonging by highlighting the experiences of Latin*
students at three University of Nebraska campuses. The study is guided by following research
question: How do Latin* postsecondary students experience academic, social, and campus-
community belonging in the United States?
Significance of the Study
As noted earlier, there is a gap in knowledge about Latin* college students especially
those from midwestern communities. Thus far, PASS scholars have focused on at-promise
students as a whole, building theory and developing practice-oriented ideas for this group.
Therefore, an opportunity to better understand the nuances and experiences of Latin* students is
significant. Moreover, it is important to note that the Midwest has traditionally been overlooked
in research settings, while more of the attention has focused on bi-coastal regions. Additionally,
it is important to acknowledge that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought
unprecedented challenges both for people and society, including institutions of higher education.
This study will apply Nunn’s framework to provide a new lens to examine retention and success
mechanisms, institutional policy and programs, and college-university cultural norms in this
context, offering a more complex view of sense of belonging.
This study is significant for several campus constituencies. One group that might benefit
from the results of this study includes institutional agents, namely faculty and staff, who occupy
a high-status position of authority and can impart highly valuable resources to students (Stanton-
Salazar, 2011). They might develop a better understanding of the complexity of the Latin*
6
student community, especially in Nebraska, and gain insight into how and what they can each do
to better guide, support, and retain these at-promise scholars.
Another group that might benefit from the results of this study includes various programs
established to support and retain Latin* students such as cultural centers and student life
programs which reside under the umbrella of student affairs offices and organizations. The
leadership might gain a better understanding and appreciation of this diverse Latin* student
community, especially in Nebraska and insights into how all staff and units across the division of
student affairs needs to increase their awareness of what they can do to better guide, support, and
retain these at-promise students on a continual basis.
Lastly, upper management and administrators, including the president’s office, provost,
academic affairs leadership, program directors and faculty might gain a better understanding of
how campus climate and institutional racism impact this complex and diverse Latin* student
community in Nebraska and how they can act to improve campus climate and eradicate
institutional racism to better support and increase the success and graduation rates of these at-
promise scholars. In addition, more nuanced knowledge about Latin* students’ experiences can
guide upper management and administrators on how to effectively begin to break down
institutional norms and constructs, effectively decolonizing higher education.
Limitations and Delimitations
A major limitation of the study is that the research was conducted at three University of
Nebraska campuses, hence it is not generalizable as we only focused on one public university
system in a specific regional context (Dee & Penner, 2017). Through thick description, however,
the study’s findings could be transferable to other contexts, situations, times, and populations
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
7
A delimitation of the study is I am solely focused on how Latin* students experience
belonging. If I had more time, I would examine other historically marginalized students’
experiences and consider a comparative analysis. In addition to the student experience, I also
examine how practitioners support Latin* students. Due to the timeline of the PASS2 study,
analysis focuses on what changes they can implement and not necessarily the process this group
went through to arrive at these recommendations. Furthermore, data for the study were collected
prior to my involvement and thus are not tailored to the research question I pose. Regardless of
these limitations and delimitations, the study will provide a significant contribution to the field of
higher education, adding nuance to what we know about sense of belonging.
Organization of the Study
This study is organized around five chapters. The first chapter will cover the statement of
the problem, the purpose of the study, the significance of the study, research questions,
limitations, delimitations, assumptions, organization of the study, and definitions. Chapter Two
will cover the literature review of the study. Chapter Three will explore the study’s methodology.
Chapter Four will introduce findings of the study. Lastly, Chapter Five will reflect on findings,
and discuss implications for practice, as well as recommendations for future research.
Definitions
This section includes key terms to inform the reader in reference to this dissertation.
At-promise students: As a nation and society, we often unfairly view youth from
underserved communities through a deficit lens. “At promise” references the extraordinary raw
potential every young person possesses. The term views youth through a strength-based
perspective. For purposes of this study, at-promise students refer to low-income, first-generation,
racially minoritized students (FACES for the Future Coalition, 2022). The term puts the onus on
8
higher education institutions to change to better serve these students, instead of expecting them
to assimilate to the majority culture and norms (Bettencourt et al., 2023).
First-generation college students are students who enrolled in postsecondary education
and whose parents do not have any postsecondary education experience (National Center for
Education Statistics, 2018).
Latin*: Students who identify within the diaspora of the Latin* community, including
Latinx, Latine, Latinu, Latino, Latina, Latina/o, Latin@, Latin, or Latin American (Salinas Jr. &
Lozano, 2017; Salinas Jr., 2020). For purposes of this study, this term will be used to identify
students from this diverse ethnic community, including those with origins from Latin American
countries (the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America).
Institutional agents are defined as an individual who occupies one or more hierarchical
positions of relatively high-status and authority. Such an individual, situated in an adolescent’s
social network, manifests his or her potential role as an institutional agent, when, on behalf of the
adolescent, he or she acts to directly transmit, or negotiate the transmission of, highly valued
resources (Stanton-Salazar, 2011).
Predominantly White institutions (PWIs) is the term used to describe institutions of
higher learning in which white students account for 50% or greater of the student enrollment
(Lomotey, 2010).
Conclusion
Understanding and promoting a sense of belonging can be a difference-maker for Latin*
students’ success in higher education. Nunn’s (2021) book provides us not only a framework, but
a magnifying glass, giving us the ability to focus on the little things that matter, introspection
from faculty and staff on how belonging is or is not being facilitated, and how the institution as a
9
whole as well as its community members are inviting all students fully or not to the classroom,
offices, programs and community gatherings. Specifically, Nunn (2021) asks us to reexamine
belonging, requesting institutions and their key stakeholders to proactively and intentionally
create measurable opportunities to increase Latin* students’ sense of belonging by utilizing a
three-pronged approach, which includes sense of belonging, campus-community belonging, and
academic belonging. Fostering a sense of belonging and relatedly, retention, requires all
stakeholders at institutions of higher education to intentionally work together and share
knowledge, empowerment and enabling their authentic empowerment and critical consciousness.
The final goal is not just increasing of numbers of Latin* students who graduate but inviting
them to reach their highest potential of intellectual, physical, and human development. With this,
the expectation is to add to the body of research, practice, and policy through nuance and
intentionality.
10
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
This chapter offers a review of the literature informing the study and is organized around
three major sections: First, in exploring how Latin* students experience higher education, it is
important to understand the strengths of the diversity of the Latin* community. Second, I
examine the literature surrounding sense of belonging that Latin* students experience and
describe important institutional and practitioner effective practices. Third, I highlight the
importance of institutional agents and family support to Latin* students. In particular, I discuss
frameworks that have been shown to validate, empower, and support Latin* students in higher
education.
Latin* Students
Latin* college students are a multifaceted, diverse group with a projection for significant
growth in the future and whose success has the potential to add enormous value to their fellow
students, institutions, communities, and the country as a whole. The following will include a
literature review of the following sections: Diversity of Latin* Students, Undocumented
Students, New Latin* Diaspora, and Latin* Generation Z. Latin* students are not monolithic,
instead complex, multifaceted, and deserving of a more critical lens to truly appreciate,
understand, support and uplift them.
Diversity of Latin* Students
Literature describing Latin* college student ethnic identity explains that this population’s
culture is complex and multifaceted when taking into account several factors, including
generation, immigration status, country of origin, and socioeconomic status (Cerezo & Chang,
2013; Torres, 2004; Torres & Hernandez, 2009). Overall Latin* students share a common
general culture that stems from their connection to a Spanish-speaking country, including if their
11
parents were born there (Torres, 2004). However, Torres (2004) explains that even if students
share the same country of origin, they have distinct backgrounds, including differences based on
generation, gender, and socio-economic status (SES). Thus, Latin* students are not monolithic,
as they come from a wide range of cultural and economic backgrounds (Hernandez & Lopez,
2004). Fry and Hugo Lopez (2012) utilize the critical lens of Latin* critical theory (LatCrit) to
highlight the lack of attention on the Latin* community’s culture in the majority of research
studies. This lens is rooted in critical race theory (CRT) and aims to bring the stories of this
community to the forefront (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012).
Latin* college students are a historically underrepresented population (Fry & Hugo
Lopez, 2012). Furthermore, according to Ryan and Bauman (2016), Latin* students have lower
rates of educational attainment from secondary education to advanced postsecondary degrees
when compared to White, African American, and Asian American populations. Additionally,
when it comes to research about this student population’s persistence, scholars often overlook the
importance of how Latin* students identify and define their culture. Yet despite historical
challenges in the United States—including anti-immigrant policies, anti-affirmative action, and
anti-bilingual education, to name a few—the Latin* community has continued to persevere and
many Latin* students seek opportunities in higher education. According to the Pew Research
Center (2022), “The share of U.S. Hispanics with college experience has increased since 2010.
About 44% of U.S. Hispanic adults aged 25 and older had at least some college experience in
2021, up from 36% in 2010” (para. 19). Additionally, a phenomenon known as “academic
undermatch” exists, where well-qualified students who have the credentials to access a more
selective institution choose to attend a less rigorous program (Smith et al., 2013). Initial research
has shown that undermatching is pervasive, in particular with low-income students, minorities,
12
and first-generation students (Smith et al., 2013). Ultimately, undermatched students are less
likely to graduate (Bowen & Bok, 1998; Bowen et al., 2009; Horn & Carroll, 2006; Light &
Strayer, 2000). Therefore, although more Latin* students are gaining access to higher education,
they are still far behind their White peers in obtaining 4-year degrees.
First-Generation Latin* Students Parents and Social Class
In addition to these noteworthy recommendations, Sanchez-Connaly identifies another
gap in the literature, namely asking for more research on alternative supplemental educational
programs such as “after school tutoring, college readiness, and summer bridge programs”
(Sanchez-Connally, 2018, p. 237). In particular, highlighting traditional indicators used to
measure social class does not account for first-generation Latin* students’ parents. Many had
post-secondary degrees, and some had accumulated property and wealth in their countries of
origin but the current measure did not account for this. In short, the author identifies a lack of
understanding of what these students and their families truly bring to the table based on
assumptions and a deficit lens. Sanchez-Connally (2018) explains that by using critical race
theory, one can better understand and explain disparities in retention of Latin* immigrant
students by focusing on “the systematic and structural barriers that students experience” from
higher education institutions (p. 238). In addition, Sanchez-Connally (2018) discuss how
Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) climates have negatively impacted marginalized
students particularly their sense of belonging, academic success, social integration, and
persistence as documented in various studies (Harper, 2008, 2009; Sólorzano, Ceja, & Yosso,
2000; Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Rodriguez, 2010). Sanchez-Connally (2018) highlight various
other studies (Harper, 2008, 2009; Sólorzano et al., 2000; Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Rodriguez,
13
2010) that discuss how PWIs climates negatively impact marginalized students “sense of
belonging, academic achievement, social integration and overall persistence” (p. 239).
Undocumented Students
One particular subset of the Latin* population who merits special attention are students
who identify as undocumented, DACAmented or Dreamers. Understanding their experiences is
critical in determining the best ways to serve the diversity of Latin* students. Valdez and
Goulash-Boza (2020) examined the experiences of 35 undocumented students at a Hispanic-
Serving Institution (HSI), stating that previous studies tended to focus on legal status, while not
acknowledging other identities. This study instead took an intersectional approach investigating
undocumented students’ college experiences along with their sense of belonging. Researchers
found that undocumented students are not solely identifying by legal status, but instead their
sense of belonging is connected to multiple pieces of their identity including legal status,
ethnicity, and class. Students in Valdez and Goulash-Boza’s (2020) study talked about
experiences connected to being poor, Latin*, first-generation and undocumented. The idea of a
master status concept, only focusing on one aspect of one’s identity, is instead dwarfed by a
much more comprehensive sense of self emphasizing intersectionality, which researchers
referred to as intersectional social location (Valdez & Goulash-Boza, 2020). When students were
asked in this study how their legal status mattered as college students, they would not focus on a
single aspect but instead described a comprehensive view including “their legal status with their
social class or first-generation college student status” (Valdez & Goulash-Boza, 2020, p. 23). In
addition, this shift was based partially on the idea that the campus provided an inclusive and
welcoming climate where these students felt a connection with other students, meaning they felt
like they belonged regardless of their status and identities.
14
New Latin* Diaspora
The widespread growth of the Latin* population in the United States, is well documented
and warrants attention (Hatch et al., 2016). According to widely cited projections, an increase of
26% of the Latin* population is expected by 2050 (Passel & Cohn, 2008; Pew Hispanic Center,
2013; U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). Although there have been increases in K–12 enrollment, high
school graduation rates, and college enrollment (Fry & Lopez, 2012; Fry & Taylor, 2013;
Murnane, 2013), Latin* educational success continues to be marred by continuous racialized
barriers outside and inside of higher education (Crisp & Nora, 2010; Solórzano et al., 2005).
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2011), this inequality, including
access, outcomes and retention, has existed across all higher education institutions, and
especially across the public postsecondary sector whose duty is to serve the public good.
Hence, we need to examine the greatest rate of growth of new destinations for Latin*
individuals throughout the United States rather than traditional entryways (Frey, 2014; A. Singer
& Suro, 2002). This phenomenon is called the new Latin* diaspora (Hamann & Harklau, 2010;
Murillo & Villenas, 1997), which encompasses new immigrants and multigenerational U.S.
residents. This is important for two reasons: it acknowledges and identifies other states and their
uniqueness driven by a myriad of forces connected to regional differences. This is important
because practically no data regarding variation across all U.S. states exist to better understand
differences in the Hispanic demographic growth and its relationship to college equity – critical
knowledge for practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and entities working to cultivate more
equitable access and success for Latin* (Hatch et al., 2016).
15
Latin*: Generation Z
Miller and Mills (2019) found that institutions of higher education are more
multigenerational than ever before based on the various members that are represented from
faculty, staff, and students. Faculty comprise the “silent” generation, baby boomers, Generation
X, and even some millennials (Kleinhans et al., 2015; Rickes, 2016), while traditional-age
students who are the majority of undergraduate students are now transitioning from millennial to
our youngest group, Generation Z (Seemiller & Grace 2016; Shatto & Erwin 2016). The
diversity in generations of higher education can be a challenge to both engagement and retention
of current students since these students’ attitudes and tendencies do not match expectations of
faculty teaching their courses (Goldman & Martin, 2016; Howe & Strauss, 2000).
Generation Z students were born in the 2000s, they are even more technologically fused
than millennials; their attitudes, emotions and behaviors are interlocked with a complex
technology-grounded world (Shatto & Erwin, 2016). Global-connectedness through social media
has been a constant in their lives, with uninterrupted connections to others and to information.
Similarly, to millennials, they grew up with much oversight resulting in success and rarely
failure, with an attention span shorter than millennials, and a higher need for immediate answers
and information (Shatto & Erwin, 2016).
Some research has suggested stark differences between millennials and Generation Z.
Generation Z tend to be more career-minded, cautious, more entrepreneurial, and even less
politically engaged compared to millennials. In addition, Loveland (2017) states that a high
portion (42%) are looking to be self-employed during their lifetime and want to customize their
education to be applicable to the real-world. Miller and Mills (2019) in short state that this
youngest generation have technology front and center, are used to and at ease with a diverse
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society and are motivated and expect their educational institutions to be helpful, responsive, and
practical enabling them to succeed in their future careers.
Lastly, Generation Z students do not consider a variety of possible personal, social, and
academic obstacles they may encounter in their journey from high school to college. College and
university institutions are less technology-focused, are not strong in providing oversight such as
they have experienced with their families and are more lenient and hands-off when it comes to
providing academic expectations (Therrell & Dunneback, 2015). This tends to result in these
younger students facing their first academic challenges with lesser direct parental participation
and less connection with their teachers. In this new academic environment, this group is needing
and wanting faculty to “care” about them and support their success, although few research
studies have taken into account what students directly need and want (Therrell & Dunneback,
2015). According to Staley (2022), a recent white paper provided a clear understanding of Gen
Z’s unique stressors impacting their mental health, while also offering sound recommendations
specifically for higher education. Gen Z students are not weak, in fact quite the opposite. They
are truly resilient in light of being more distressed than previous generations of students with the
many challenges they are facing (Staley, 2022). Higher education institutions need to accept that
stressors such as climate change, racism, sexual assault/harassment, and mass shootings are not
going away, and require solutions driven by compassionate and wise leadership (Staley, 2022).
Adding staff to mental health centers will continue, however in light of Gen-Z mental health
worsening due to the pandemic, institutions will need to offer new solutions offering an array of
options to meet the demand (Staley, 2022). Lastly, these new solutions will need to include direct
clinical care, scaled to the level of need of each school’s population, appeal to students while
being easily accessible, including availability whatever time of day or night they are
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experiencing distress (Staley, 2022). Little research exists that explicitly focuses on the
intersection of Generation Z status and Latin* identity.
Sense of Belonging
Institutions, a proactive stakeholder community, and institutional agents with family
support all have the potential to facilitate a sense of belonging for Latin* students. According to
Dueñas and Gloria (2020), many first-generation college students (FGCS) in comparison to their
continuing-generation peers are not aware of college processes and the expectations that come
with this new world, which in turn leads to lower connection, sense of belonging, and self-worth.
Additionally, it’s been well documented that PWIs’ values and systematic structures are
challenging for Latin* students’ and their cultural values (Castillo et al., 2004; Jones et al.,
2002), again reinforcing incongruity and connection (Gloria & Kurpius, 1996). This is also
consistent with assessments of Latin* FGCS, higher education institutions have failed to provide
the same social capital or framework of connection that continuing generation students have to
find their place within a college-university setting (Reyes & Nora, 2012; Saenz et al., 2007;
Saunders & Serna, 2004). The upcoming sections examine the literature surrounding sense of
belonging of Latin* students experiences in addition to key institutional and practitioner
effective practices.
General Theories of Belonging
Nunn (2021) first begins her book with a brief overview of how researchers had
historically conceptualized belonging. Belonging was discussed at college and universities with
students being integrated academically as well as socially into the campus community. The
connections that students made were described through their relationships with others which
included student and academic clubs, teams, support programs and resource centers (Tinto 1993;
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Strayhorn 2012; Chambliss and Takacs 2014). However, Nunn (2021) explains that in order for
belonging to be successful, the responsibility and onus lies in the institutions and communities,
this group collectively offers it to individuals. Therefore, belonging cannot be achieved by
individuals for themselves, instead the community bestows it as a “gift and only exists when a
group collectively offers it to a member” (Nunn, 2021, p. 8).
Much of the previous research focused on students making connections for themselves
and did not address the community-level responsibility of universities (Nunn, 2021). Nunn
further explains that some research did address this issue, specifically highlighting the influential
work of Vincent Tinto (1975, 1993, 1997, 2012). Nunn (2021) states that Tinto ’s work
emphasized the importance of institutional action, noting that the premise of this assertion is
based on Durkheim ’s sociological theory. Durkheim ’s theory presses upon us that institutions
who do not integrate their students into the larger community are at fault and must take
responsibility to connect their members to “the institution in meaningful ways” (Nunn, 2021, p.
9). In short, students do their part—faculty and staff as well—but colleges and universities as a
whole are not doing their share and it matters. Lastly, Nunn’s (2021) study asserts that belonging
is in fact a three-pronged process including academic belonging, social belonging, and campus-
community belonging. Previous scholarship had not distinguished these three realms clearly,
resulting in efforts to foster a sense of belonging that lacked complexity and consequently did
not lead to successful support of at-promise students. Additionally, the notion that belonging in
one realm (i.e., academic belonging) does not necessarily translate that students will experience
other forms of belonging (i.e., social and campus-community) or a holistic sense of belonging.
Nunn (2021) concludes that a multi-faceted approach positions belonging as a result of
successfully navigating integration and tied to university accountability. Ultimately, it is not the
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responsibility of students to develop a sense of belonging, but instead, colleges and universities
must proactively and intentionally create holistic opportunities to bolster student belonging
(Nunn, 2021).
Nunn’s Theory of Belonging
Nunn (2021) explores the concept of belonging with a diverse set of students, including
continuing-generation and first-generation students on two different California college
campuses—a large public school and a smaller private school. Nunn (2021) examines whether
students are finding their place at college and universities, and how these institutions are
fostering and supporting belonging among these students. Nunn’s (2021) framework includes
three forms of belonging: social belonging, campus-community belonging, and academic
belonging.
Social belonging pertains to students’ networks of family and friends that help them
socially connect with various groups on campus. This tends to be the most common way students
discuss their sense of belonging (Nunn, 2021). With respect to campus-community belonging,
students describe whether they feel at home or not on campus and if their institutions reflect their
identities and preferences. Lastly, academic belonging is connected to students feeling accepted
by their academic community, feeling confident and comfortable in their courses, and
knowledgeable of the resources that exist to help support any class challenges they might face
(Nunn, 2021). Nunn (2021) explains that students will seek out opportunities to belong,
particularly traditionally marginalized students, who tend not to see themselves, their culture, or
community reflected on campus or in its culture. However, colleges and universities need to be
intentional and proactive in offering opportunities for students to develop a sense of belonging
(Nunn, 2021). This requires administrators, faculty, and practitioners to consider how they are or
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are not fostering belonging in classrooms, programs, and across the campus (Nunn, 2021). An
opportunity for careful analysis, reflection, and conversation among students, staff, faculty, and
administrators utilizing Nunn’s (2021) framework can lead to more collaboration and new,
holistic approaches, including social, campus-community and academic belonging.
Nunn (2021) additionally discusses ethnoracial majority (i.e., White) students’ desire for
nice diversity on their campuses, meaning “they want diversity that is not divisive or disruptive”
(p. 147). Nunn (2021) further explains they agree diversity is important, however they say
differences among people should not cause conflict or discomfort. This is important because
Nunn (2021) adds that from their point of view, the nice welcoming environment is offered to all
universally, so if there are any students who have a difference of opinion and experiences, this
perspective is seen as rejecting the mainstream campus culture, thus withholding campus-
community belonging. Nunn (2021) further describes that universities facilitate campus-
community belonging by executing programs and fostering a campus culture, which in turn
makes students feel valued, acknowledged and seen—resulting in them feeling comfortable, one
of the most common descriptions students use to describe belonging. This dissertation seeks to
complicate Nunn’s (2021) discussion on diversity by devoting attention to more deeply
understanding the experiences of Latin* students.
Belonging and Socio-Ecological Perspective
Johnson (2022) offers a socio-ecological approach to sense of belonging, which is
designed to assist institutional actors in creating equitable opportunities for racially and
ethnically minoritized students (RAM) to meet their belonging needs. Johnson (2022) states that
we all want to belong and that meeting this need will lead to optimal learning, development, and
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success for students. Belonging is clearly important to student success, but not equally
experienced among all groups (Johnson, 2022). Johnson (2022) explains:
Racist and oppressive institutional structures, particularly at Pre-dominantly White
Institution (PWIs), coalesce in the othering and unbelonging that so many racially and
ethnically minoritized (REM) students consistently experience. That Black, Latinx,
Indigenous, and other minoritized students are expected to “find” a sense of belonging at
institutions that are normed on white, Christian, heterosexual, cisgender men, is
problematic. (p. 60)
Johnson (2022) further states that it is the responsibility of college and university leaders
as well as institutional actors to prioritize reforming policies, practices, and processes that
currently obstruct students’ sense of belonging at their college or university. Instead, many
colleges and universities choose diversity and inclusion programming and rhetoric to address
students concerns about problematic campus climates, while institutional structures and policies
remain the same (Johnson, 2022). Johnson (2022) concludes that more work is needed to better
understand sense of belonging as a construct and bring into focus the plethora of institutional
elements within colleges and universities that impact it.
Belonging: Transition From Integration to Supportive Network
Swanson et al. (2021) discuss how researchers have transitioned from conceptualizing
“belonging” as integrating to a dominant campus to instead viewing this process as locating a
supportive network which acknowledges, affirms and respects students’ identities.
Conceptualizing “belonging” as assimilating to a dominant campus community (Tinto, 1993) has
been found to be an incredibly painful process for students who feel they have had to renounce
their identities and experiences (e.g., Lee & Kramer, 2013; Lehmann, 2013; Yosso et al., 2009).
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Perez et al. (2021) discuss in their article the challenge that low-income and first-
generation students face navigating campuses that are not reflective of themselves but instead of
the majority white cultural norms, while concurrently facing financial, academic and personal
stresses in higher education historically not designed to serve them. The cumulative impact can
be psychologically taxing and could lead to emotional distress, decreased sense of belonging as
well as self-efficacy, and persistent fear of failure (Ardoin & Martinez, 2019; Jury et al., 2017;
Langout et al., 2019).
Belonging and Mattering
Dueñas and Gloria (2020) examined the role of belonging for collective self-esteem,
mattering, and cultural congruity for 141 Latin* undergraduates by using a psycho-sociocultural
approach. Collective self-esteem is defined as how one looks at your own self-image based on
how you interact with others as well as groups you belong to (Constantine et al., 2002).
Mattering is defined as having a sense that you make a difference to others around you (Dueñas
& Gloria, 2020). Cultural congruity is defined as the connection of one’s internal values and
processes with those of the external setting such as a university (Constantine et al., 2002). The
researchers found that the psychological dimension (collective self-esteem) had the largest
prediction on mattering, followed by the social dimension (cohesion and university belonging).
Overall, the researchers’ findings informed student affairs professionals on how they can best
cultivate Latin* undergraduates’ sense of mattering and ultimately their success academically as
institutional change agents (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020), those who provide essential information
and access to connections so that Latin* students succeed in their educational institutions
(Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Consistent with previous findings (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020) and
researcher expectations, differences came about by college generation but not student standing.
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A lower sense of belonging, cultural connection of the individual and environment values, and
perception that they mattered within their institutional setting was reported by first-generation
college students.
Dueñas and Gloria (2017) found that students’ sense of collective self-esteem was most
connected to whether they mattered. Therefore, students who had an increased affinity to the
university then felt that they mattered to others in this academic setting. The authors also found
similar findings for the relationship of esteem and mattering as far as it being partially mediated
by belonging, “clearly, belonging plays a significant role for students to feel that they have
importance or meaning as an undergraduate” (Dueñas & Gloria, 2017, p. 901).
Belonging, Mattering and Persistence
Dueñas and Gloria (2020) speak about the importance of mattering and of the connection
to sense of belonging and persistence in higher education. In addition, an increase in cultural
congruity, which is making connections with what you believe and in this case your college or
university setting have shown growth in Latin* students’ overall self-esteem. Examples that
helped increase Latin* students’ sense of belonging are Greek life, and student organizations
such as student government and MEChA, to name a few (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020). In the study
Dueñas and Gloria (2020) conclude how critical a sense of belonging is to a student’s academic
success, stating, “students’ sense of belonging was the strongest positive predictor of their
university mattering, accounting for nearly half of the variance” (p. 108).
It is essential for academic advisors and university counselors to understand how student
involvement informs Latin* students’ experiences (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020), and, in particular,
they should strongly consider how these groups provide a sense of familismo, the value of
collective family processes. They suggest that advisors should keep familismo in mind when
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discussing academic or student organizations for Latin* students. The notion and need that
Latin* students have to create counter spaces as well as academic and personal growth
opportunities that serve as community, family, and foster a sense of mattering is key to
successfully guiding them in higher education (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020).
Belonging and Mental Health
Sims et al. (2020) explored “the relationship between negative experiences of political
climate [NEPCs], violence exposure, financial hardship, sense of belonging, and psychological
distress among 104 Latin* undergraduate students” (p. 356) after they graduated from a 4-year
public university on the West Coast. They concluded that a sense of belonging played an
important role and was positively correlated with better mental health outcomes; it is important
to note that the participants attended an HSI meaning that at least 25% of the students are Latin*.
This is an important factor because HSI’s have a wealth of resources and programs focused to
support Latin* students, which other colleges and universities might not equal. Ultimately the
study concluded that negative experiences of the political climate did not change Latin*
undergraduate students’ experience, but despite these findings “it is important to continue to
empirically examine how anti-immigration policies may negatively impact Latin* students’
mental health and increase the probability of negative student outcomes in the future” (Sims et
al., 2020, p. 362). The authors suggest that future research be conducted on how to best facilitate
belonging in higher education for Latin* students, keeping in mind that political climate plays an
important role in their ultimate success.
Swanson et al. (2021) offer recommendations for practitioners supporting low-income
students, first-generation college students, students of color and/or students who are
academically underprepared. Recommendations focus specifically on practices that would
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improve students’ psychosocial well-being, including belonging. Through feeling connected to a
community, affirmed by their peers, and being an integral part of campus, students have a sense
of belonging (Anant, 1966; Hurtado & Carter, 1997). Having a stronger sense of belonging to
their campuses leads students to feel less like an outsider (Swanson et al., 2021).
Individual Versus Latin* Experiences and Values
In the study, Dueñas and Gloria (2020) utilized a psycho-socio cultural approach for 236
Latin* undergraduate students attending a Midwest research university focusing on how
motivation, belonging and congruity relate to sense of mattering. In this study, Dueñas and
Gloria (2020) defined a sense of belonging in higher education as believing one is connected to
others and mattering that one holds to the belief that they make a difference in others’ lives.
Furthermore, the authors described the various challenges that Latin* students in higher
education previously have faced including racism, discrimination, and lower academic
expectations as well as how being a member of a university, knowing that you have a place and
are valued, is empowering (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020). The authors also state that the culture and
value of a university of individual competition often does not align with Latinx students’
experiences and values learned from their parents. Ultimately Latin* students lean on their
family for support, encouragement and motivation to continue (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020).
Belonging and Academic and Social Integration
Many Latin* college students seek to not only enter college but also be included in the
fabric of a dynamic academic setting, where they can critically engage on various issues while
also building relationships with fellow college students. This includes being successful in their
classes while also finding opportunities to network with faculty, staff, and student leaders. It also
includes engaging in challenging issues and various social opportunities, hence finding their
26
place at the institution. Current research conducted on college student experience suggests that
there is a strong relationship among belonging, academic and social integration into the college
and student retention and graduation (Tovar et al., 2009; Cole et al., 2020). Sense of belonging is
associated with student persistence and retention, specifically Tinto’s (1993) concept of
integration into college. The ability for Latin* students to not only be accepted but fully integrate
themselves in this robust and exciting academic environment leads to their ultimate success and
well-being.
Belonging and STEM
Rodriguez and Blaney (2017) utilized Strayhorn’s (2012) model of sense of belonging to
examine the influence of academic and social collegiate experiences with 17 Latina
undergraduates majoring in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) at a tier-
one public PWI in the southwest. In this study “sense of belonging” means a feeling of mattering
or being connected in areas of support in a university setting. They found that Latina students
often felt marginalized in STEM settings, facing negative criticism by male peers and they felt
isolated during their college tenure. In order to combat marginalization, students built their sense
of belonging by reframing their experiences as trailblazing and they were active in identity-based
STEM organizations (Rodriguez & Blaney, 2017).
Rodriguez and Blaney (2017) explained that Latina STEM students may experience
many forms of marginalization because of their multiple intersecting identities complicated by
racism and sexism, which can lead them to feel that they do not belong because the environment
is unwelcoming. Strayhorn’s (2012) model of sense of belonging was one framework used,
meaning that a student uses both individual and institutional factors to develop their sense of
belonging. This study was also “framed by the tenets of intersectionality” to capture the various
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experiences of belonging for Latina students. Intersectionality says that a person’s positionality
within the world is simultaneously based on class, gender, race, which lead to unique
experiences and various forms of oppression (Collins, 2008; Crenshaw, 1991; hooks, 1990a;
Noddings, 1992).
In this context, students had to find a way to “combat marginalization,” and they did so
by “developing a sense of belonging that was related to the sense of pride they felt as trailblazers
in STEM fields” (Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021, p. 450). These Latina students also connected with
on-campus women, Latina/o/x, and Latina-based organizations to help foster relationships
building their sense of belonging in higher education and STEM (Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021).
These finds were consistent with what we know about marginalized students finding sense of
belonging, researchers “found that the participants’ sense of belonging was shaped by both the
hostile environments within STEM spaces and the supportive communities they were able to find
on campus through identity-based student organizations” (Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021, p. 450).
Rodriguez and Blaney (2017) discuss how much of the existing literature has focused on
increasing women of color into spaces of STEM, however, the current work speaks to the need to
refocus on the role of the institution, namely hostile climates and systemic inequities within
STEM spaces. This means making a shift toward the behaviors of the dominant group, looking
beyond mere representation in STEM (Rodriguez & Blaney, 2021). The data here showed that
White and male classmates unjustly questioned Latina students’ abilities and belonging in STEM
leading the researchers to state that practitioners “must give students clear expectations for how
they are supposed to treat each other” while also holding them accountable (Rodriguez &
Blaney, 2021, p. 453). Lastly, the current study also revealed that STEM faculty perpetuated
racism and sexism, it is imperative that professors examine and challenge their own biases and
28
attitudes (Museus et al., 2011). Rodriguez & Blaney (2021) concluded that institutions need to
look at their hiring practices recruiting and developing faculty who challenge inequity in their
field, as well as create professional development programs that educate the majority groups in
STEM.
Belonging and Validation
Alcantar and Hernandez (2020) examined interactions between nine Latin* students and
faculty enrolled in a two-year HSI’s using validation theory as a guiding framework. Their
findings highlighted the critical role that faculty play as “validating agents’’ and how important it
is to support these students’ academics to practice validating experiences (Alcantar &
Hernandez, 2020). Before exploring the theoretical framework and literature on student-faculty
interactions, the following provide historical context to this study: in-class interpersonal
validation, validation experiences beyond the classroom, limitations, and implications.
Sandler et al. (1996) explained that college campuses originated through a Eurocentric
model catering to White male students and that these institutions continue to perpetuate an
environment that is often exclusionary, isolating, hostile, and invalidating for marginalized
students. Higher education is entrenched in these structures and the results have been a lack of
representation of racial/ethnic minority faculty and administrators (Alcantar & Hernandez,
2020). Past research has captured the deep impact this Eurocentric model has on racial campus
climate as well as the success of racial/ethnic minority students (Cabrera et al., 1999; Hurtado &
Carter, 1997; Hurtado et. al, 1998).
Perez and Ceja (2010) focused on community colleges, specifically Latin* transfer
students who declare their intention to transfer but most do not move to a 4-year college or
university. The authors provide an overview of data related to transferring goals and rates. They
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also highlight key practices that promote transferring by utilizing the lens of Latin* critical race
theory and validation theory. Lastly, based on prior scholarship the authors outline a Latin*
transfer culture and provide recommendations for future research and policy (Perez & Ceja,
2010).
To better understand Latin* transfer culture, Perez and Ceja (2010) utilize the lens of
Latin* critical race theory (CRT) and validation theory. In education, CRT has challenged the
view of how educators understand and analyze inequalities in higher education for students of
color. The authors highlight the work of Yosso (2006), who utilizes counterstories, a method
drawn from CRT that demonstrates resistance to and continual inequalities throughout the
Chicana/o educational pipeline. CRT key tenants include how race/racism intersect with other
forms of oppression, the notion of challenging the majority ideology, being committed to social
justice, centrality of experiential learning, and use of an interdisciplinary approach (Sólorzano &
Yosso, 2000; Yosso, 2005). Perez and Ceja (2010) provide examples highlighting the importance
of Latin* students seeing role models in others including counselors, students, faculty, and
administrators, especially if they were of Latina/o descent. In addition, the presence of Latin*
faculty serving as role models increases students’ sense of belonging as well as social integration
among students. Perez and Ceja (2010) note that the scholarship highlights the importance of
faculty, staff and students who mirror the students’ backgrounds including “ethnic/racial
background, first-generation college student status, and shared academic/personal experiences-in
facilitating transfer” (pp. 11–12).
Perez and Ceja (2010) using theoretical models of Latin* CRT and validation theory
highlighted key practices, programs, and policies to encourage transfer. However, the key to
increasing the Latin* transfer rate is institutions’ need to come together to make this a priority
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early on in students’ lives, beginning in middle school through high school leading to community
college and ultimately resulting in transferring. With the substantial future growth of the Latin*
population and the need for advanced education to stay competitive in a global economy, “it is
essential that we come together to promote a practical community college transfer culture for
Latin* students” (Perez & Ceja, p. 17).
The first phase of the Promoting At-promise Student Success (PASS) study on
comprehensive college transition programs at three predominantly white postsecondary
institutions in Nebraska led to the generation of theoretical concept called the ecology of
validation (Kitchen et al., 2021). This study draws from data from the second phase of the PASS
study. Ecology of validation is defined as “an approach to at-promise student support and
success that is ecological in nature and validates at-promise students’ multiple identities, assets,
strengths, and innate capabilities for success in a web of multiple coordinated student support
context over time” (Kitchen et al., 2021). Additionally, since how support is provided to students
is critical to the model, when hiring educators, it is important to socialize them to the norms and
values and practice of the community (Kitchen et al, 2021). A culture of ecological validation
focuses on the experiences, strengths, and needs of at-promise students aligned with a set of
norms that include being identity-conscious, holistic, strengths-oriented when interacting with
and designing programs for students and developing professional practices that are proactive,
collaborative, and reflective (Kezar et al, 2022). Additionally, this study empirically documented
a culture that affirms at-promise students, while focusing on their diverse values instead of
centering white, middle-class beliefs (Kezar et al, 2022). The theory is helpful in better
understanding how Latin* students develop a sense of academic, community, and social
belonging given particular institutional contexts.
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Belonging and Review of PASS Contribution
Belonging and Multiple Identities
Hallett et al. (2022) argue for a shift in fostering belonging, one that considers supporting
diverse at-promise students through a multiple-identity conscious lens while still affirming
identity-centered programming and cultural centers that provide a supportive refuge for
marginalized students. At-promise students are defined as traditionally underserved by higher
education, they include being low-income, racially minoritized and first-generation college
students (Hallett et al., 2022). Shifting language is not just for semantic sake, scholars choosing
to use this terminology embrace focusing on the potential of students while acknowledging the
systematic barriers that often exist (Hallett et al., 2022).
Gaps and Contributions to PASS Study and Concept of Belonging
The PASS Project is dedicated to having a deeper understanding of student academic and
psychosocial success in higher education. The first phase occurred from 2015-2020 and the
second phase began in 2021, expanding on the study’s initial findings. The PASS project aspires
to add to the scholarship of belonging, mattering and validation in higher education, providing
data driven recommendations for institutions and practitioners. Thus far PASS scholars have
focused on at-promise students as a whole building theory and ideas for this group. Hence a
research opportunity is taking a deeper dive into subpopulations as well as utilizing a framework
that is not so large in concept and construct, but instead provides possibilities to uncover
nuances.
With the wealth of research, findings, and recommendations that the PASS study has
contributed to scholarship, we can now identify gaps and opportunities to build on this project’s
significant and important work. First, an opportunity to better understand the nuances and
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experiences of Latin* students are significant, because within the three schools that are a part of
the TSLC program, two of them are emerging HSI’s. Additionally important, the state of
Nebraska has had a significant increase in their Latin* population, increasing by 77 % over the
past decade (Gouvela et al., 2012). Secondly, through a deeper dive into nuance, new areas can
be identified through the use of Nunn’s framework (2021) consisting of academic belonging,
social belonging, and campus-community belonging. This new framework provides the
opportunity to further explore and research the significance that these three realms could have on
the ultimate success of Latin* college students.
Institutional Agents and Family Support
Institutional agents and family support are essential allies to supporting and opening
doors for Latin* students, a multi-facet group with large growth that is extremely diverse. In
particular, institutional agents are well trained staff can help Latin* students navigate
successfully higher education institutions by transmission of highly valuable resources to them.
Additionally, Latin* families hold a collective culture and are a strength for students, this is why
it is highly important to include them in the college experience. These two concepts are
important to support Latin* students sense of belonging and their ultimate success in higher
education. Institutions, proactive stakeholder community must partner with Latin* students
foundational support, as their success will add tremendous value to their fellow students,
institutions, community, and the country as a whole.
Institutional Agents and Belonging
Persisting through college and completing a degree are complex endeavors, especially for
Latin* students. The current political climate, racism, and institutional racism along with campus
climate issues for marginalized students have added greater urgency for these students and
33
higher education professionals who seek to support them. Institutions that espouse equity but
enact hostility are perpetuating negative campus climates (Harper & Hurtado, 2007). Institutions
need to develop methods that consistently reveal and evaluate campus climate and provide
actionable steps to address issues that might adversely impact Latin* students. Higher education
institutions must acknowledge the roles they play in perpetuating these anxieties when they fail
to create diverse, equity and inclusive environments for all marginalized college students.
Institutional agents are individuals who occupy one or more hierarchical positions of relatively
high-status and authority who act to directly transmit highly valued resources to adolescents
(Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Well-trained staff, also known as institutional empowerment agents,
who do act professionally and effectively can help Latin* students effectively navigate the
institution culture and climate (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Latin* students and allies of the Latin*
community will respond most favorably towards leadership decisions based on sound best
practices geared towards elevating and supporting all members of the college and university
community including Latin* individuals.
Latin* students utilize “cultural enclaves or academic families” that help them feel they
belong and provide guidance on how to so successfully navigate this new academic setting
clarifying and putting into focus what the expectations and norms are of a 4-year institution
(Delgado-Guerrero et al., 2014; Sule, 2016). In this same respect, it is imperative that student
affairs professionals serve as institutional agents, providing Latin* students information, access
and connections needed to succeed in an academic environment (Stanton-Salazar 2011).
Additionally, it is important to address the environmental factors that impact Latina
FGCS student sense of belonging and ensure that they have access to and advocacy and
empowerment from institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). An opportunity for communities
34
of support impacts their sense of belonging and again their belief that they matter in this
academic setting (Nuñ ez, 2011; Sulé , 2016). Clearly then the implications for student affairs
professionals and university staff is that they need to emphasize Latina undergraduates’ sense of
belonging, specifically those who are FGCS. It is incumbent upon these professionals to help
these students navigate the university, helping them make connections with various resources
and spaces increasing the “feeling of mattering as a result of relationships with university
personnel” (Huerta & Fishman, 2014, p. 903). In order to assist and prioritize Latina students’
sense of belonging, Dueñas and Gloria (2017) emphasized that “universities must find venues
and provide resources for them to increase their personal, social, and cultural connections” (p.
903).
Families and Belonging
Witkowsky et al. (2020) focused on the collectivist culture and strong family connections
in Latin* families and how it is important to engage parents and family members in higher
education to promote retention in new Latin* students. Specifically, parent and family member
orientation programs offered in Spanish that provide a bridge between students’ families and the
institution were highlighted and the study focused on the perspectives related to involvement and
sense of belonging. The author explains that when developing culturally-responsive practices for
Latin* parents and family members, one must be aware that there are differences among Latin*
cultures, but the general concepts of familismo and collectivism are connected (Witkowsky et al.,
2020). Latin* families hold a collective culture and therefore families being included in the
student’s college experience is important. However, providing information in Spanish is not the
only step, institutions need to also provide “culturally relevant content provided by faculty and
35
staff from similar backgrounds creates the trust and desire to remain connected to the campus
beyond the PFMO program” (Witkowsky et al., 2020, p.363).
Higher education institutions along with student affairs professionals work to develop
community throughout the academic year, but programming needs to be connected to the
concept of familismo in order for Latin* students to make a connection to their institutions.
Through this lens, universities and colleges can focus on helping Latin* parents and families
better understand how they can be a part of their students’ goals and ultimate success.
Institutions can give specific examples of how Latin* students can build a family connection on
campus through culturally relevant student organizations and also address how their students’
degree will contribute to their overall well-being as a family (Witkowsky et al., 2020). Lastly, in
addition to these findings the authors highlighted Spanish language orientation programs to
culturally engage both Latin* students and their parents whose main language is Spanish
(Witkowsky et al., 2020).
Summary
This review of literature provided an overview of three main areas covering Latin*
students experience at colleges and universities in their 1st year. First, strengths of the diversity
of the Latin* student community were highlighted. Second, Latin* students' sense of belonging
was covered including best practices for institutions and practitioners. Lastly, the importance of
institutional agents and family support of Latin* students, in the context of frameworks that have
validated, empowered, and supported Latin* students in higher education were covered. The
following chapter discusses the population and the methodology used in this study.
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Chapter Three: Methodology
This study is designed to examine how Latin* students experience academic, social and
campus-community belonging at three University of Nebraska campuses—a metropolitan
university, a rural regional campus, and a research institution. This study is also designed to
better understand how practitioners support Latin* students in developing academic, social and
campus-community belonging. Universities and colleges have various institutional programs and
services to support students, this study will focus on the specific needs that Latin* students have
and what additional mechanisms can be established to increase their retention.
Data for this study derive from a larger multi-year concurrent mixed methods study that
investigates at-promise students’ psychosocial and academic outcomes. Data analysis explores
distinctions among students who participate in the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities
(TSLC) and those who do not. Researchers additionally used qualitative methods to assess
experiences, perceptions, and perspectives of students, TSLC staff members, instructors and
other key stakeholders in order to understand changes over time and the role of programs and
institutions in influencing students ’college experiences. This particular study relies on
qualitative methods in order to better understand the experiences of Latin* students at the
University of Nebraska. The purpose of qualitative research is to explore, understand, and
discover human behavior (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). As previously noted, I will be analyzing
data from the qualitative dataset of a larger mixed methods study. In doing, so I will be adding
nuance to what the project team and the field know about Latin* students.
The study employs qualitative interview research methods in order to address the
following research question: How do Latin* students experience academic, social and campus-
community belonging in the United States?
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Population and Sample
This study utilizes data collected as part of a larger, grant-funded, mixed-methods study
which focused on at-promise students at the University of Nebraska and includes a particular
focus on students who participate in the Thompson Scholars Learning Community (TSLC), a
program targeting first-generation, low-income students with holistic academic, personal, and
social support services (Hallett et al, 2020). These at-promise students participate in 2 years of
structured programs, receive a scholarship covering their tuition and fees in the University of
Nebraska system (Hallett et al, 2020). The first PASS1 study examined whether, how, and why
the program fosters key psychosocial outcomes for college student success such as sense of
belonging and academic self-efficacy (Hallett et al, 2020). Data for this dissertation study were
collected during the second phase of the study PASS2 and include students who do not
participate in the TSLC program. Qualitative data were gathered through longitudinal interviews
with TSLC and non-TSLC students.
During the 1st year of data collection, the research team completed 79 students interviews
with 49 participants; of those, 14 identified as Latin*, 31 were the first in their families to attend
college and the vast majority were Pell eligible (a marker of low-income status). Student
interview participants were recruited from a larger sample of low-income students who had been
invited by the PASS team to complete 1st-year experience surveys. Researchers focused on
recruiting students who were undeclared, identified as BIPOC, were first-generation college-
goers, and reflected multiple gender identities. For the initial set of interviews, 36 students came
from UNL and UNO (17 TSLC and 19 non-TSLC) and 13 from UNK (7 TSLC and 6 non-
TSLC). This dissertation study used a purposeful sampling strategy to select Latin* college
students from the study’s interview sample, a typical sampling technique where participants were
38
selected deliberately to reflect particular experiences (Maxwell, 2013). I worked collaboratively
with the research team to identify all the Latin* students who directly addressed questions of
sense of belonging. Once they were identified, I selected 10 students out of the 14 and looked to
have a balance of participants representing all three universities, as well as a good balance of
TSLC and non-TSLC students. I analyzed all the interviews for each student in the sample,
totaling 24 interviews. Table 1 captures a breakdown of study participants and interviews
reviewed.
Table 1
Fall 2021 Study Participants and Number of Interviews
Study participants (pseudonyms) Number of interviews analyzed
Adrian 2
Cecilia 2
Gio 1
Guadalupe 3
Jude 2
Laura 3
Mabel 3
Sky 3
Xavier 3
Whitney 2
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It is worth noting the additional backdrop to these students’ experiences – the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic—which has brought unprecedented challenges for all, including Latin*
students in higher education. It is important to work with Latin* students because they are a
population of very talented students whose retention rates likely would increase by raising
awareness and rededicating strategies for their success. Therefore, having a study for institutions
and practitioners that provides further understanding of what Latin* students are experiencing
while highlighting best practices to increase sense of belonging offers potential to inform closing
this gap.
Site Selection
This study is situated in three distinct campuses which include University of Nebraska
Omaha (UNO), University of Nebraska Kearney (UNK) and University of Nebraska Lincoln
(UNL). UNO is Nebraska’s metropolitan university, their students mainly come from Iowa,
Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas and Missouri. In addition, 41.3% of their total
undergraduate population is first-generation (University of Nebraska Omaha, n.d.). UNK is a
rural regional campus, a public residential university, and has the smallest enrollment of the three
campuses. Notably four in 10 UNK students are first-generation and one in eight students at
UNK are Latin* (University of Nebraska Kearney, n.d.). Additionally, UNL is the large public
research university, and is a member of the Big Ten Conference as well as the Big Ten Academic
Alliance and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (University of Nebraska
Lincoln, n.d.). UNL also has a 25-year strategic plan and inclusive excellence and diversity are
part of the aims within the first 5 years of the strategic plan (University of Nebraska Lincoln,
n.d).
40
Data Collection Strategies
The second phase of the Promoting At-Promise Student Success Project (PASS) project
launched in July of 2021 and was designed to expand on findings from the initial study while
creating new knowledge. The study utilized an actionable research approach including working
with institutions to promote institutional change, closely working with change agents, and
tackling inequity issues to better support at-promise student success. The study’s mixed methods
approach allowed for longitudinal analysis of elements that supported at-promise students’
experiences both psychosocial and academically. This dissertation study focuses on data
collected by a team of researchers through longitudinal qualitative interviews. In this study, I
analyze a set of longitudinal student interview transcripts pertaining to 10 students.
With regards to sense of belonging, the research team used a combination of methods to
learn about how students experience sense of belonging and how practitioners help foster sense
of belonging; this dissertation focuses on qualitative data. Student interview and survey
questions assessed a feeling of being connected to a group, accepted by peers, and of being an
integral part of a campus community. Quantitative survey questions measured belonging on a 1–
7 scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Qualitative questions followed up on
some of the quantitative measures and student’ responses; in order to gather stories about
specific experiences students had on campus that influenced their sense of belonging. Two
examples include:
● Thinking about your adjustment to college the first few weeks, how strongly did you
feel a sense of belonging and connection to others here at [campus]? Why? How has
your sense of belonging changed since the beginning of the semester, if at all?
41
Describe an experience that affected your sense of belonging during your transition to
college and why?
● What’s the best thing that has happened to you this semester? What’s something
that’s been really hard to navigate this semester? Where on campus have you felt
supported this semester?
Data Analysis Procedures
I conducted a qualitative exploratory interview study where I analyzed student
transcripts. I reviewed materials and background reports on the TSLC program, this provided
clear context on what this research team was looking to accomplish with their interviews.
Additionally, I sorted through documents and interview data directly pertinent to Latin* students
and belonging. Student interview data were de-identified then uploaded to Dedoose (a qualitative
data analysis system), which I then utilized to conduct my data analysis. Throughout the analytic
process, I was open to seeing what themes emerged from the data. I was also intentional about
coding for academic, social and campus-community belonging in the data.
Initially I began coding—identifying a word or short phrase that captures the essence for
data from transcripts, observational notes, documents, etc. (Saldaña, 2008). When I completed
first round coding, I expanded the code list by adding theoretical concepts. In first cyle coding I
captured codes in single words to sentences; in the second cycle coding process, I captured
longer passages or a reconfiguration of the codes themselves (Saldaña, 2008). Second round
coding was done in Dedoose, a qualitative analytic software tool. While coding, I used notes
from Nunn’s theoretical framework and key terms as guides. I continued to capture ideas and
themes to incorporate into my overall analytic process. After reviewing the coded data and my
memos via Dedoose, I created categories of data and then decided on individual level,
42
institutional level and community level themes for the findings. Ultimately, I created a
systematic process of classification, categorization, development of themes, and finally
identification of findings (Saldana, 2008), again with my framework as a roadmap.
Trustworthiness and Credibility
When considering how to increase trustworthiness and credibility of my findings, prior to
analyzing the data I reflected on my positionality. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) assert the
importance of being reflexive when being a critical researcher, specifically needing to reflect on
one’s positionality and try to own your biases and their influence in the research process. My
process of reflexivity included acknowledging how my interests and agenda relate to my
problem of practice and research questions and what biases I bring to my study. I provided this
strategy because I needed to be conscious of all my biases to make sure I describe my
interviewees’ experiences as best as I can and to be as transparent as possible. This is a central
issue especially when a researcher proposes a study on marginalized populations (Agee, 2009).
As this was a qualitative study, I served as a research instrument and therefore the importance of
being reflexive of my choices, assumptions and biases are integral to how this research will be
conducted (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017).
My personal and professional experiences have impacted my interest in this study. I am a
Latin* formerly low-income first-generation straight cis-gender male practitioner-scholar. As a
Guate-Americano, at a small private liberal arts college, I experienced various issues of
belonging, not feeling I fit in, questioning my acceptance into a prestigious college and
constantly fighting through imposter syndrome. During my activism and advocacy as a student
leader and throughout my career I have elected to help students to increase their sense of
belonging, foster identity development, develop leadership skills and social capital providing
43
them with resources, connections, programs and a mentor. As a confidante I wanted to make sure
my students felt comfortable speaking to me about their challenges, to help me find ways to
recognize their strengths and increase their confidence through community building, networking,
and reinforcing their sense of identity and family legacy. These are all my biases that I wanted to
be conscious of, because I wanted to make sure I tell their story and be clear to understand their
student college experiences. I chose to be aware of my biases to listen to their story carefully
while analyzing data and arriving at findings.
My advocacy work on behalf of Latin* students throughout my work in student affairs,
residential education and cultural centers has included encouraging and supporting students to
begin various Latin* student clubs/organizations with different foci and serving as an advisor for
many of them. In addition, my work with student leaders, faculty, staff and administrators has
included advancing the creation and launch of an undocumented resource center at the
University of Southern California (USC), as well as supporting and advising the first
undocumented club/org at USC. My philosophy is pro inclusion and social justice and my
political bias is pro Latin* students. My personal and professional experiences in higher
education have included working with the diverse Latin* community, as well as honoring other
important identity pieces such as sexual orientation, gender, religion/non-religion, ability, etc.
Lastly, I have worked with Latin* students for 25 years at UC Berkeley, Loyola Marymount
University, and USC; and wanted to focus on this community because belonging, institutional
racism, social capital, and retention are still very much issues.
As described by Merriam and Tisdell (2016), ensuring trustworthiness is important
throughout the research design and analysis. In addition to one’s positionality, by using more
than one method, Flick (2007) describes the importance of triangulation, which means extending
44
the activities of the researcher beyond just one data collection approach, but instead using many
different methods, theoretical approaches and data points are important for triangulation and
trustworthiness. This allows for knowledge to be produced at different levels, meaning it goes
beyond one approach thus contributing to furthering quality in research (Flick, 2007). An
additional analytic method I used to increase the quality of my research was taking extensive
detailed analytic memos throughout the data analysis process, journaling after reading through
data as well as utilizing Dedoose’s feature to memo as well. I maintained detailed analytical
memos in a reflective journal on the research project in order to increase trustworthiness
(Saldaña, 2008).
Further techniques to increase the study’s credibility included prolonged engagement
with respondents as well as using rich, thick description to describe students (Lincoln & Guba,
1986). The PASS research team interviewed students usually two to three times during the
academic school year, providing different time points as well as the opportunity to intentionally
build relationships with participants. Furthermore, I provided a rich detailed account through
thick descriptions of the interviews of students. Utilizing thick description also allows for
transferability of findings, meaning the narrative developed about the context provides an
opportunity for the reader to understand the specific context and therefore make comparisons
(Lincoln & Guba, 1986). In the final analysis, the reader will come to their conclusions if the
study’s findings pertain to their contexts and are transferable.
Ethics
Throughout the research design and study, ethics were taken into account. An important
ethical consideration was participant consent. Prior to participating in the study through
extensive and multiple interviews, students were informed by the research team about the extent
45
of the interview process as well as their rights. Students consented to participate in the study,
however they did not consent directly to me and to my dissertation. As a graduate student I was
able to join the USC Rossier Pullias Center for Higher Education PASS research team in order to
complete my dissertation; in doing so, I completed all Institutional Review Board trainings and
was included on the study’s IRB. I have taken confidentiality and protecting the data I have had
access to seriously. All names have been changed to pseudonyms and I have taken care not to
provide identifiable details about students’ demographics in order to protect the identities of
students. Lastly, there are also protective measures with respect to the data analysis system
utilized called Dedoose—all data in Dedoose is de-identified and the system is password-
protected.
Conclusion
The goal of this chapter was to outline the research methods used to answer the research
question. A discussion and summary of the procedure, study participants, data collection
methods, and procedures for analysis were initiated. In Chapter Four I present the specific data
and findings of the research. Followed by Chapter Five, where I will continue the discussion
about the findings and provide implications for practice and how universities and colleges can do
a better job supporting Latin* students and increasing their sense of belonging.
46
Chapter Four: Findings
This study is designed to examine how Latin* students experience academic, social, and
campus-community belonging at three Universities in the Midwest—a metropolitan college, a
rural regional campus, and a research one institution. Data were collected through interviews
with students who identified as Latin*. Data for this study derive from a larger multi-year
concurrent mixed methods study. This particular study relies on qualitative interviews with
students conducted during the 2021–2022 academic school year. In order to better understand the
experiences of Latin* postsecondary students in the Midwest. The study employs qualitative
interview research methods in order to address the following research question: How do Latin*
students experience academic, social and campus-community belonging in postsecondary
institutions in the Midwestern United States? This chapter outlines the study findings and is
organized into different sections. I begin with a summary of participants, followed by a section
discussing their process of transitioning to college and navigating their 1st year.
Overview of Participants
I analyzed longitudinal interviews from ten students from three universities in the
Midwest to learn how they experience belonging over the course of their 1st year in college.
Each school has its unique characteristics which provide students their own distinguished
experiences. The demographics of the larger study’s student interview sample included being
Latin*, first-generation college status, some TSLC participants, various sexual orientation and
gender identities, as well as various majors declared.
The ten participants identified as Latin*; four students identified as male; five students
identified as female; and one student identified as non-binary. One student identified as not being
first-generation. Five students had declared their major at the time of the interviews. These
47
demographic characteristics provide context to the students’ complex experiences during their
1st year of college. These students’ unique stories provide insight into how they perceive
belonging at their university.
Thematic Presentation of Findings
The students in the study’s data set were in the process of transitioning to college and
navigating their 1st year. Most students participated in three interviews. During the first
interview, the university was a new place for them and becoming familiar with all the pieces of
their new environment was part of their process. Data from the second interview conveyed how
students were finding their place and building off what they learned through challenges and
successes. Lastly, in the third interview, data showed how students were closing out their 1st
year, while thinking and planning for summer and their second year. Below I organized the data
by the following three themes to demonstrate how these students developed academic, social and
campus-community belonging as they navigated their 1st year: first by examining how individual
factors such as pre-college experiences/preparedness/set-up affect belonging, second, by
examining how institutional factors such as participation in the specific support programs and
how the greater university affects their belonging; and finally, by examining how community
factors such as their family, home and educational experiences affect their belonging.
Through their 1st year of transition, some students appeared alone, others had community
or were in the process of building it, and all were trying to effectively navigate their new
environment. Students brought different experiences, challenges and strengths, and had different
opportunities to resources that could support their journey. Furthermore, various factors from the
school they attended to their family home life were part of their 1st-year experience. Three
questions to consider while reviewing the data were as follows: Why are students having
48
different experiences instead of more comprehensive one? What is the difference for folks in
small programs vs those who are not in one? What is the greater university doing or not doing for
these Latin* students from rural Midwest America?
Individual Factors Influencing Belonging
At the individual level, pre-college experiences, preparedness, and other factors
influencing the way students are set-up for success affected belonging. Below I discussed how
academic success, identity, financial struggles, and student strengths influenced students’
academic belonging.
Academic Success
This section offered insights into factors that contributed to the academic success of
student participants and consequently their academic belonging, from how groups like TSLC and
program for first generation students (FGS) contributed to their success, to students’ personal
assessment of what academic success means to them, to messages they received from various
institutional agents, who positively impacted their sense of belonging by transmitting and
translating highly valuable resources to successfully navigating higher education .
Laura provided an example of academic and personal growth during her 1st year in
college. It was clear that there were many differences at play that helped Laura grow and become
a better student, while also adding onto strengths she had and cultivating new ones to continue to
help her learn-grow-and continue to academically succeed.
I’d say basically it’s been a stressful and obviously like a struggling period. But college
overall has been, I’d say for me like necessary kind of, and it took a lot for me to learn
what I learned about myself or what I know about myself now. And, I don’t know, I’m
just kind of thankful that I was able to kind of grow so it definitely helped me.
49
Laura talked about how she procrastinated a lot in high school and needed to let that go
as she was getting older. She also talked about needing to prioritize and be more responsible to
keep herself on task and focused. She lastly talked about having to “dig with yourself to bring
out what you need to do for that school or for the semester.” Laura’s insights illustrated that she
had grown a lot on various levels, but in this case academically and personally. She was moving
forward and piecing things together, with the help of strong professors and the TSLC program.
Well like I was saying in high school I did procrastinate a lot but now that I’m older and
realize that these things are more of a priority and a responsibility, I’ve been able to kind
of keep myself on task more and keep myself focused and I just – like being a student,
like everybody knows being a full-time student is going to be hard, but you have to really
be able to kind of dig within yourself to bring out what you need to do for that school or
for the semester, and so it took a lot of like digging to kind of get me where I am right
now.
Laura spoke about TSLC and said even non TSLC staff members and professors made
her feel cared for. Both TSLC and non-staff and professors provided a very positive-caring and
supportive environment for her right from the beginning.
Well in the beginning a lot of the TSLC and even not TSLC staff members and
professors, they were super heavy on taking breaks when you need to and getting your
work done, but also getting stuff done for yourself as a person like mentally and
everything and I feel like that helped ease a lot of stressful students right away. It’s just
good to know that you have that type of like emotional and academic support right there
for you, so it helped me a lot.
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A different student talked about how she felt about achieving her definition of success.
Cecilia talked about how her academic progress went up and down but ultimately went up as she
put in the work and saw the results. It came from within, a drive, but also, she put together a way
of approaching how to get to academic success that came from her experiences and continuing to
build her confidence. Overall, she went through some ups and downs but ultimately came out on
top—she did well her first semester.
If I’m not doing great in some classes, I kind of start to doubt myself a little bit. I feel like
up and down, but usually gradually goes up, because I can see the results at the end that I
did try, and I got where I wanted to be.
Cecilia talked about the difference of knowing that high school teachers thought she was
a good fit for college. So that positive affirmation and validation from teachers from high school
made a big difference for her wanting to pursue college. This made a difference for her wanting
to again attain college even more.
Yeah. I think some of my other teachers would tell my parents, I was a great fit for
college. And they didn’t tell me until after a couple years ago. I think that’s what really
made me want to go to college even more.
Cecilia discussed making connections in class, specifically math. She explained that it
was the professor’s different techniques that helped her make connections in math. Cecilia also
talked about how her professor was very engaging and did more talking than writing. She
appreciated this and said if she was following behind, the professor would always post what they
had just done, so she could catch up if she felt she was behind.
I think my math course, I think it’s a class where the professors and the students, we both
engage with each other. So, it was a pretty fun environment to learn in. And that’s what I
51
really liked about [it]. Well, his grade system was a little bit more different. Some of his
teaching methods were just different than other professors are. He did more talking than
writing. So that’s what I liked. And I feel like I learned more from that. Also, just staying
updated with the—they would always post what we did. So, I think that really helped me
catch up, if I was behind or something.
Additionally, Cecilia elaborated on professors being engaging and how they presented
themselves made a difference. And she discussed knowing that people cared about her and that
she mattered during her first weeks of college, including professors and fellow classmates. This
high level of engagement was a difference maker for Cecilia in helping her feel more connected.
I feel like professors [are] really engaging. I feel like that made me more engaged into the
classroom and to the other students as well. I think just how they presented themselves
and how they talked about students that they really [did] care. They would always reach
out. So that’s what I liked about [it].
Finally, Cecilia discussed taking dual-enrollment in high school. This seems to have
helped make a connection for her and she adds that she received 17 or 19 credits.
Oh, yeah. So basically, in school I took some AP courses. And if you were in AP, you
also had the option to do dual enrollment for the university. So basically, whatever grade
you got at the end of the course, that would kind of be your grade as a college student,
and it would just transfer all your credits and your grades to the university transcript. I
started doing dual enrollment with them in high school. So, I guess I got more interested
in that as well.
Mabel discussed her high school counselor being genuine and a mentor. She further
explained that her counselor taught her to be more open-minded and it sounded like it helped her
52
with perfectionism. She adds that it also has helped her during her first semester where her
grades were not what she was expecting. Mabel explained a gap here as there is no one else she
identified with who had these characteristics in college, especially another staff, faculty, or
university official who served in this capacity. This was a big loss for Mabel and made her
experience more difficult. The power and role of the university was missing here and could be
rectified for students like Mabel. When asked what staff or faculty member had helped her
during her 1st year in college, she spoke about what she learned from her high school counselor.
No, she was genuine. You could tell she genuinely cared about her students. I don’t
know, I think she had that same mindset where as long as you try your hardest that’s the
best you can do. Yeah. And oh, sorry I did learn something. So, in high school I was just
this straight on perfectionist. If I received even a B plus I would have a breakdown. I
know it sounds terrible; I know. But she opened my mind, I guess you can say. And she
taught me, not to beat myself up about that kind of– yeah. And I’m still learning, but she
has definitely helped me with that.
Although Mabel said she would not be meeting her academic standards, it sounded like
she has had much growth thus far and understood this was part of the process.
I am still struggling with my grades right now, I’m not gonna lie. It is harder in college.
So, I don’t know. I’m not trying to be like a Debbie Downer, but this semester in
particular, no, I don’t think I will meet those standards. But I’m trying to learn that it’s
okay. It’s about learning and growth, I guess.
She appeared to have a medium to strong sense of academic belonging because although her
grades might not be where she would like, more importantly she appeared to be understanding
the culture, community, system and was at a better place overall. Mabel’s academic belonging
53
was influenced by what she brought to the table along with support from the FGS program who
provided her good role models that she could relate to. In this case, the role models had been
first-generation and came from similar experiences as Mabel. The opportunity to interact and see
herself in these role models was powerful for this 1st year college student.
Mabel further discussed that she had a class with FGS and that they genuinely cared for
her. She goes on to state that there was no one else she can say cared for her on campus, this is
both a simple but very heartbreaking statement from her perspective. At this point only FGS are
faculty and staff she saw as genuinely caring about her success, so the question is what about the
rest of the university touch points? She stated that through FGS is class this was going on and
later explained it was a one-year class, so this was a scholarship program that so far, we knew
had a class and later Mabel mentioned had faculty/staff mentors too.
Mabel also stated that faculty/staff did not have influence on her when it came to people
on campus who had helped or hurt her sense of belonging. She further explained that faculty
were just teaching, that was all. Other students shared a similar sentiment, illustrating that there
had been thus far some missed opportunities to engage students on other issues and/or build
community with them, besides the role of just teaching the course material. For example, one
student stated:
To be honest, no. I wouldn’t say they hurt my experience, but I wouldn’t say they really
influenced it. They just kind of teach, and that’s about it. Nothing towards them, but they
just haven’t had an influence on me.
This was definitely an important point to continue to think about. What were the expectations of
the university on what faculty should do with respect to helping build community besides just
teaching at the university, in this case?
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Jude explained they learned about academic success from witnessing their parents not
helping their brother and sister. As a result, Jude tried to help their siblings the best they could.
Jude further explained their interest in civil engineering and helping others, deciding to combine
these passions. Having a strong goal and passion helped Jude to academically belong, leading to
community and social belonging and overall belonging at the university. Jude seemed to have a
strong sense of purpose, connecting their passion for engineering and helping others, which led
to a unique sense of social consciousness. The ability to make these two connections was
incredibly important for Jude’s belonging and the ability to connect different disciplines led to a
huge moment of growth and learning for this student in their 1st year of college.
I guess that came from when my parents, wouldn’t help my brother and sister when they
went through their issues. I tried to help my best with their issues so since – I am the
youngest one in the family and they were facing problems, I wouldn’t face until another 5
years, I still tried my best to help them. I did help other people with their issues as well.
And I was also like, but I have an interest in engineering so I thought I could just
combine both of them, because I know I could make a huge impact with engineering.
Jude provided an example of how their psychology professor fostered academic
belonging by supporting them, checking in, and working with them to be more organized –
illustrating intentional outreach effort by this faculty member. Furthermore, Jude also spoke
about two friends who looked out for Jude’s best academic interest by helping Jude focus on
tasks and deadlines—and they recognized and appreciated it.
There was my psychology teacher, he would ask me hey, I noticed that you haven’t really
been showing up and your work isn’t always on time. Is there anything we can do, or I
can do to help you? And he set up a meeting outside of class to help me be more
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organized with myself, which was nice. And the two friends that I reconnected with, they
encouraged me to do my work well, they see me they like oh, did you say you have
homework? They were like oh, you should probably get off your game. And they would
turn it off and I was like yeah, I was getting mad, but I was like oh, but wait. I understand
why they did it. I have an exam to study for.
Thus, Jude offered an example of key people who helped support their academic belonging.
Student Identity
This section offered insights into factors that contributed to student identity of student
participants and consequently their academic belonging, from how they view themselves and
their strengths or areas to improve on, to messages they received from the university regarding
diversity, inclusiveness, LGBT community, social class and belonging.
Laura spoke about her identity and personality. Laura said she was a very generous
person, who liked to brighten others’ lives including friends, family, animals, coworkers,
teachers, everybody. She also said in a professional or academic state she was a quick learner,
and she was proud of it because she knows it helped her succeed.
Well, I’d say I’m a very, very, generous person and I really hope that doesn’t sound
cocky, but I’d say I found that I give people more chances than they tend to deserve and
stuff like that. But even if it’s not people, I love to just kind of brighten the kindness that
I feel that I have with friends, family, animals, coworkers, teachers, everybody. It’s just
not me to be rude and like overbearing to people, you know. But like in a professional or
kind of an academic state, I’d say I’m very like a quick learner kind of. I tend to pick up
on some things faster than others and I don’t know, it’s just something that I’m proud of
because it helps me succeed a little bit faster than I would’ve originally planned.
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Mabel spoke about her Hispanic identity and how it connected to her low-belonging. This
was an important point, Mabel talked about how she felt embarrassed because she did not know
a lot about her identity including not knowing Spanish.
I feel I want to learn more about it obviously, but I feel almost embarrassed and ashamed
because I don’t know a lot about it. So, it’s like if you go to a diverse event for Hispanics,
let’s say I just kind of feel like out of place, just because I don’t even know Spanish,
which is probably a huge factor towards that, but yeah, I feel like there’s both the
negative and positives to it.
Mabel discussed differences between high school and college, stating that more open-
diversity in college helped with her social belonging. Mabel discussed these differences with
respect to diversity and inclusiveness and her identity, in particular with her sexuality. Mabel
acknowledged that in high school there was not the ability to explore or question like you can in
college. This was important for Mabel’s social belonging at college.
Yeah. I think in college it’s such a huge difference from high school. I feel like people
are more inclusive, it’s more diverse. I just love it all around, but thinking about that, I
feel like in high school we’re just present and with more heterosexual people. But on
campus, I feel like people are more open and expressing about their identity. I feel that
just helps me with my own identity. Yeah.
Mabel discussed a cultural event that made her feel welcome. In describing this event for
all Hispanic heritage, she said she felt really welcomed because she was half-Hispanic. She
added she did not know a lot about her culture and identity, and it was challenging, but the event
made her feel welcomed.
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There was this event … and it was just all Hispanic heritage. And I felt just welcomed in
general, because I am half Hispanic. And not being or not knowing a lot about your
culture, it’s just kind of hard. And especially when you want to make new friends and
you don’t really know your identity, it can be hard. But that event, in particular, it just
made me feel really welcomed.
Mabel identified with this cultural event and said she felt very welcomed but at the same time
talked about struggling with her identity. It was likely there were other students like Mabel and
others that were at different places in exploring their identity. The event provided a great
opportunity for both the event planners and the university and its stakeholders to have an impact.
Subsequent events might provide additional opportunities for more connection with faculty and
fields of study along with a chance to talk about identities.
Jude recalled an example where a sense of belonging did not go well. Jude spoke about
befriending an engineering student until that student made fun of another student because of their
pronouns. Jude ended that relationship and did not further address the matter. This was an
unfortunate event that affected Jude with respect to their identity.
I guess with one of the engineering students I talked to, that I tried talking to, we were in
a group together and I sort of got along with him until the point where there was this
person in our class, and they went by different pronouns, and he then proceeded to make
fun of them for that. And I was like oh, never mind. Nah. Because I just didn’t really
agree with him there. And I was like oh, never mind. So, I kind of stayed closed off
afterwards and hid my sexuality from him and my beliefs.
Another student, Guadalupe, reflected on the differences her social class made compared
to White and more affluent students. This quote was a response to the following interviewer
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question: are there aspects of your social class identity that make your experience different from
other students, maybe a white student or a non-first-generation student? Guadalupe explained
what a big difference it was for her community compared to White students who she felt tend to
see college as work or a chore they need to do. She talked about dreaming about this opportunity
and being able to be somebody. The differences were gigantic as one reflected entitlement and
the other one illustrated the struggle for a people trying to better themselves and their
community.
I think it makes quite a bit of a difference, just because for me, it’s a big deal. Like, for
me, it’s a huge deal to be sitting right here. I have this conversation a lot, and a lot of the
people are like, “Why does it matter?” I’m like, “What do you mean, why does it
matter?” Like, being in college to a lot of people is either a job, like a chore, like they
have to be here and therefore, their parents are sending them and stuff like that. But for
me, it’s a huge accomplishment. Because I remember, first of all, dreaming of being able
to go to college and dreaming of being able to be somebody. And then also, the idea of
being able to make my mom proud.
Guadalupe’s reflection on experiences made her feel she did not belong when compared
to White students. The following quote was a response to being asked about particular
experiences you felt you did not deserve to be here. In reflecting upon an essay, she wrote on the
question, “Why teach?” She explained profoundly how vulnerable she felt as a young girl living
in a predominantly White community. Guadalupe talked about feeling overwhelmed because
now she is in a bigger community, but then realized why it was important to be affiliated with
smaller communities like the TSLC program or the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI)
Scholars and how they were there to support them.
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So, we wrote our first teacher essay. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was a,
“Why teach?” essay, like, why do you wanna be a teacher. And I remember talking about
what it felt like to be a little girl who felt very vulnerable, and she felt like—in a very
predominantly white neighborhood, like, you feel like you’re not enough. And I
remember thinking, “Oh, my gosh. Well, if I wasn’t enough back home,” and I was like,
in a big place like here, and then there’s so many people. And I just, I was so
overwhelmed, and I didn’t stop to think that there’s so many people like you. Like,
obviously, that’s why there’s communities, that’s why—like, the Thompson Scholars and
the ODI Scholars communities are wonderful, and everybody’s there to support you.
At first Guadalupe struggled and did not feel like she deserved to be here upon reflecting
on a question about how her social class influenced her experience coming to college. She
further explained that her social class identity made her feel she did not belong because she did
not have the economic means. She then talked about being on scholarship and feeling like she
was not smart, so having very much an imposter syndrome response.
At first, I struggled quite a bit, because I felt like I didn’t deserve to be here. I was like, “I’m
kind of broke and, you know, everybody here maybe isn’t,” like, all the people that I had met so
far. And I was really stressed out. I was like—do I even deserve to be here? Because I was like,
“I’m here on scholarships. I’m not even smart.” And I was just thinking like that.
Financial Struggles
Financial struggles were an important issue that greatly impacted Latin* students’ access
to opportunities, as well as negatively or positively affecting their sense of belonging.
Laura spoke about her family’s struggles and now where they are at. Laura had spoken
about how her mom and dad had a few jobs and there were financial struggles, but now she
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talked about the progression her family has had. She says they both got better jobs and now they
can afford “nice things’’ including items Laura has for school such as a phone and laptop to
name a few. She goes on to say they are not where they used to be, but nowhere near wealthy
families. Laura and her family seem to be in a much better position financially:
Well I think it kind of goes along with our income too because as we got older we – my
parents had both gotten better jobs and better pay and stuff like that, so we have nice
things, like I have an iPhone and an Apple Watch and a laptop and a PS4 so we can
obviously afford these good things or they can obviously afford these good things for us
so that we can have this type of entertainment and it’s just stuff like that. I think it goes
along with their working too, because it’s not like this stuff was handed to us. They had
to pay for it and we had to earn it and all that and so I’d say the middle is kind of where
we used to be, but we’re not anywhere near how some people have that type of an
advantage.
Gio said he is lucky to not have taken loans-refusing to take them even if it kills him. He
talked about not wanting to fall into a cycle like his mother and so he did not want to have a high
loan. This choice meant he was not able to live on campus and have access to various resources
as readily as his fellow classmates. Financially he appeared to be in a better position than his
mom, but there were challenges presented as well to Gio during his 1st year in college.
Because I don’t wanna fall in the same cycle that my mother has, or anybody else that I
know of, which is a pretty good thing. Because seeing right now, I think I owe $3,799.00,
which is not bad, compared to other people, who I know who live in the dorms, which
costs $5,700.00, and $7,000.00 just for tuition. And plus, with the meal plan, you’re
looking at around an estimation of 14,000 to $15,030, which is quite a lot, especially if
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you’re rich. Even some of my friends are like, dude, my tuition is too much. And I’m
like, yes, I know. That’s why I’m lucky, I don’t have a loan. Which I’m actually still
happy with. I’m like, yep, I refuse to get a loan, no matter what, even if it kills me.
Cecilia described why she chose the university with cost and credits being central to her
decision. Cecilia talked about choosing the university because it was less expensive compared to
another local institution, even though both were close to her home. And she added she wasn’t
sure credits from dual enrollment would transfer. These two factors seemed to have limited her
thought process to consider other colleges. Although there were great advantages because of her
dual enrollment, again it seemed to limit options for Cecilia which was unfortunate.
Yeah, I think it was just mostly the cost. It was way more expensive than other
universities. Also, I wasn’t sure all my credits would be transferred over there. And I
wanted to keep all my credits that I earned in high school.
Mabel talked about not living on-campus (not receiving the Buffet scholarship had a
significant impact) and as a result she had a very different college experience. This quote here is
significant with respect to Mabel understanding she was not getting the college experience she
could have received or had because as she stated, she did not land the Buffet scholarship. She
talked about how she felt she should have lived on campus for full college experience and to
have had the opportunity to be away from family. But she ultimately felt she made the correct
and smart decision because of financial reasons.
I was actually supposed to live on campus. I applied for the Buffet [scholarship] but I
actually didn’t get it. Which is okay. But yeah, it’s kind of when people live on campus,
it’s kind of a reminder that I am not where, I guess I should be. But yeah. I just kind of
felt like I should have lived on campus to receive the whole college experience, just to
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get away from family and stuff, but obviously being smarter with financial stuff, it was
smarter to live at home.
Mabel spoke about her social class having an impact on her applying to NYU (her dream
school). Mabel talked about how her social class had a big impact on her not applying to her
dream school, NYU. She spoke about not even bothering to apply and trying to avoid debt.
But yeah, just money wise, it definitely discouraged me just because my dream school
was NYU and it’s like 60,000 a year, so I didn’t even bother applying, because that’s so
unrealistic. Like even with all the financial aid you get, you’re still gonna be like
hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. I’m trying to think smart here, I don’t wanna be
in debt. I mean, obviously no one wants to be in debt, but I just didn’t even bother with
NYU.
Gio discussed not living on-campus and the challenges it presented. Gio stated not living
on campus saved him $5K, however, it can also bring a disconnect because he was not on
campus and could also be an additional level of stress since he was still living at home, “Since I
live—yeah, since I live in Kearney, I don’t need to pay $5,000 for a dorm, which is an advantage
for me, of course.”
Student Strengths
Student strengths was an important asset that institutions needed to acknowledge and
foster in Latin* students, which will lead to increasing their sense of belonging and ultimate
success.
Cecilia talked about connecting with other students who shared a similar social class.
When asked about coming to the university and if she thought she had any skills, strengths, or
experiences that relate to her social class that have been helpful in terms of navigating and being
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successful in college, she talked about knowing many students in her same social class. She said
it made her feel not alone and she appreciated that others were going through similar things. She
went on to say they had shared stories and their experiences with one another which are a
powerful tool, especially since it appears that Cecilia was not in any program, such as TSLC or
TRIO, etc. However, her many other strengths that she had brought with her to the university
along with connecting with others who were similar to her as she described and going through
the experience together had helped her a lot.
I think just knowing many students in the same social class as me kind of makes me feel
like I’m not by myself. Others are going through the same thing as me. Oh, yeah. A
couple of my friends, I just tell them my experiences. They tell me theirs as well. So, we
kind of just relate to each other.
Cecilia talked about having a good mental state because of family and raising siblings.
She talked about how she grew up, having a couple of siblings she had to take care of sometimes.
She added how this helped her, not allowing anything to bother her too much and taking care of
others, it helped her to keep going. This was an important strength she identified that comes
within her and from her family. She talked about how she grew up with responsibility, meaning
her maturity level was strong and again a strength as a 1st-year college student.
I feel like I have a pretty good mental state right now. If something doesn’t go right, I feel
like I can get over it pretty quickly and go on into the next step. Oh, probably just the
way I grew up, I guess. I have a couple of siblings I had to take care of sometime. So, I
can’t really let anything bother me too much. I had to take care of them as well. So, keep
going on.
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Cecilia talked about some academic strengths that had helped her. She talked about trying
new things, trying new methods and she reflected on about trial and error. This reflected her
inner drive and spoke to her open-mindedness, determination and perseverance to keep going
and trying different methods until something worked.
Gio was self-driven and independent because he had to be. Gio explained when
addressing the question of whether he had any strengths or characteristics from family that have
helped him to be academically successful, that he was the oldest and as a first-generation student
most of his family did not graduate from high school let alone college, so he was really on his
own, “I would say I’m just a one-man type of thing. I really do everything by myself. Yeah,
more of an independent person type of way.” He shared that he has had to figure it out on his
own, so that in itself was an attribute to his academic success, his self-motivation and
perseverance.
Adrian’s strengths (patience and determination) helped him achieve academically. Adrian
had a very mature sense of himself as he stated that patience and determination were strengths
that have helped him be academically successful.
Patience, because I can definitely say I understand that I’m not gonna be able to become
a college graduate overnight or be able to get caught up in those two sets of classes
overnight. So, it’s definitely my patience that’s really helping me so far. Then my—I
would say my determination, because if I’m really set on something, I will be able to
finish it. Maybe not like in that second, but I’ll definitely—it will be done soon. It’s
something that I can really finish fast and I won’t really focus on anything else until I’m
done with that. So that’s a really good thing I have. I’ll definitely say the knowledge that
I can do something more.
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Adrian’s inner strength really helped him navigate his 1st year at college. Adrian showed
an inner strength of not giving up, he called it “my effort.” It kept him going, perseverance,
determination, he had something in him that kept him going forward even if it was a tough patch
or a challenge, but he had that inner strength to keep going. This is something he said that not
everyone recognized and acknowledge that he had as an academic strength.
I feel like my efforts, because I feel like not always do teachers recognize my efforts,
because it’s not like I just decided one day, “I’m not gonna be doing my assignments.”
It’s like, “Okay. Well, I did feel very bad those days. So, it was just me shutting down,
but I am putting in the effort to get caught back up.” And sometimes I feel like those
efforts aren’t really recognized.
At the individual level, pre-college experiences, preparedness, and other factors impact
the way students are set up for success. All these factors including academic success, student
identity, financial struggles, and student strengths can help Latin* College students successfully
transition to college by increasing their sense of belonging. There are also many opportunities for
universities to successfully support Latin* students through supporting collaboration,
intersectionality and coalition building throughout the institution addressing these issues.
Institutional Factors Influencing Belonging
At the institutional level, resources, programming, and other factors influenced the way
students were set up for success affected belonging. Below I discussed how university
support/lack of, TSLC support and institutional agents influenced students’ campus-community
belonging.
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University Support/Lack of
This section highlighted various institutional pieces that appeared to contribute to the
support of students’ sense of belonging or lack thereof. Data highlighted a range of influences,
from successful programs or missed opportunities from faculty, staff, programs and the
institution overall. Gio’s experiences were chosen to be highlighted in order to illustrate how
universities can foster or deter a sense of belonging. And then other students were highlighted to
demonstrate other ways that universities could foster/inhibit belonging.
As one example, Gio’s options for academic support did not include university resources.
When Gio was asked to identify peers or teachers who have supported him during his college
experience, and thus increased his sense of academic belonging, he talked about turning to his
older friends at the university for academic support, time management or help with a homework
assignment. He did not articulate a connection to university resources, programs, staff or faculty.
As he has said throughout this interview, he relied on himself, without support from faculty, staff
or administrators.
No, it would be mostly just my friends, because they’re the ones who have been in
college the most. Everybody I’ve known are either juniors or they’re about to leave
college in a bit. By the end of the semester, they’re about to leave. … I might have done
some wrong answers then, because I’m still confident, even though things are pretty bad.
Like, either way, I’m still confident. I’m like, all right, it’s not gonna be next year, it’s
not gonna be next month, but I still can sense success in myself. If I just keep trying,
maybe I can get somewhere.
When Gio was asked if anyone in college made him feel capable of success in college, he
said no. Gio basically relied on himself to navigate college. While he did make some social
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connections, mostly because of students he knew from high school and a few events he happened
to attend, it appeared that there were many missed opportunities. There were not too many
intentional opportunities to outreach and build community with him and his response to a
question about others at the university was himself. Gio’s experience was indicative of what
some students go through who are not connected to the university via programs and/or directly
outreached from the university to help them feel included, not alone and that they belong.
Well, not really much in my head, because the majority of my college experience was
mostly just me self-motivating myself, like come on, dude, let’s do this. It’d be pretty
cool to be working with a government agency that sends rockets and ships and all that
jazz. It was mostly me throughout that entirety to be self-motivating myself. It’s mostly
me who’s been doing that.
In an example of how students find out about campus resources, Gio discussed how he
found out about a student club fair/event.
Mostly by a—I would say, like, a flyer that was across some of the buildings and the
departments, mostly, since everybody, all staff and students like to encourage people to
join these events. I saw it and I was like, why not? It may be interesting.
Gio explained that he found out about this potentially important community belonging event by
a flyer he happened to see on a building or department, meaning it seemed by chance and was
not high touch or personal. He did not mention faculty or any university administrator and again,
it ultimately came down to him deciding to attend, but what if he had chosen differently.
Gio talked about making friends and connections with three different groups. Gio spoke
about making friends and connections from high school who came to the university, as well as
meeting others at an organization club fair in Mid-September including a fraternity, he had
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discussed prior, and identified a cafe called the Student Union. These three groups were
important to Gio’s social belonging, potential support group and connections at the university.
None of these sound like they were related to any program such as TSLC or TRIO. They did not
sound directly connected to the University, but they sounded like student clubs/orgs, which are
important for community and belonging, but again-not the University.
Some I had since high school, from Kearny high school. We all graduated and made it to
the same school. Some of them went out to different schools, but a lot of them went to the
same university as I have. Others, I met at an organization club fair which happened
probably around September, mid-September, which is where I met the fraternity group
and others along the way. And the third factor, I would say, would be around this cafe
called the Student Union.
Gio discussed having a lack of enthusiasm or interest in teachers. This was not ideal for a
student to have a low sense of social belonging with teachers/professors at their university. It
appeared Gio was not a TSLC or TRIO student, potentially resulting in missed opportunities and
having a lower overall sense of belonging at the university. “With teachers, I have quite a meh
type of relationship, on and off-balance with some of the teachers. Two of them, not so much,”
said Gio.
Gio seemed to be set up for failure. Gio needed help and intervention. On top of all his
challenges, when he tried to reach out for help, he ran again into the financial stress situation
with the Fraternity he had connected with. But due to lack of finances, he could not continue
with them. This lack of finances in his 1st year, right in the beginning of his college career does
not sound like it would turn out well unfortunately. At this point it seemed clear that he was not
in TLSC or TRIO Programs and the University was not working with him to help figure this
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“messiness” out, like he called it. Unfortunately, it is beyond messy, and all the responsibility
should not have fallen on only him to figure it out.
I would normally say—hm, most of the time it would be nobody, because it’s just me.
I’m more of a lone person. I’m like, yeah, I need to figure this out, because I don’t trust
anybody helping me out. But sometimes, if it’s the case, I would go to my friends and be
like, “Hey, guys, you wanna help me a little? Help me out with this math problem or that
stuff.” Because I used to be in a fraternity group, and I left the group, of course, because
it was expensive, but they’re still my friends. So, every once in a while, I’ll ask them out.
They’ll be there to support me, because they’re pretty good friends, and I really do
appreciate having them.
Gio talked about his home life, including taking care of younger siblings and additional
stressors. Again, the fact that Gio had an off-campus job and on top of that was needing to take
care of young siblings at home was not a good formula for success. He needed folks intervening
from the University, not sure if this was going to happen or not?
And the fact that I have to take care of my little siblings, two of them who are very little,
of course. I won’t say their age. And then I have family who I need to take care of, and
then me, myself, in the end, along with school. So, you can see it’s a little messy, but I’m
still figuring it out. It should—and it’s not too bad.
Gio had a job that was taking a lot of his time and adding stress to his life. The fact that
Gio had a job, and it was taking a lot of his time and causing him stress, was not a good sign.
Let’s see, I’m kind of struggling—let’s see, for the part that’d be messy is I have a job,
which takes a lot of time, especially since this week, I’ve already been working 16 hours,
which is a little more than—16 hours a week for a college student.
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In juxtaposition to Gio, Whitney explained how she received some institutional support
along with benefitting from peer support. Whitney had various support groups and was also
missing other ones. Her support group included TSLC, friends at home and her roommate, there
was also the connection made with a professor/dean, but so far there had not been any mention of
anything else institutional wise at the university.
I feel like just hearing people’s stories make me feel like I can do it too, if they did it as
well because I think it was the dean. He was talking to us about how he was a first gen
student and I’m like I never knew that. That makes me feel confident in myself, ’cause he
has succeeded in his career.
Whitney spoke more about her relationship with TSLC and others at the university. When
asked directly if she felt like she belonged the same or differently from TSLC and outside/rest of
university, Whitney said it was the same. However, she went on to explain that the professor she
asked to resubmit her assignment for a better grade was within TSLC and the friend who helped
her to figure out what the feedback given by professor meant and how to improve paper was her
roommate. This seemed not to be people outside TSLC so I wondered if for them right now there
seemed to not be a difference even though there definitely was a difference. At face value it
seemed like everyone was doing their part, but again it seemed more like TSLC, roommate and
Whitney who initiated a request for resubmission once she received email from professor were
involved and not others in the university. When asked whether they felt different about how
much they felt like they mattered to others with TSLC versus the broader campus or was it about
the same, this was her response. “Yeah. I feel like it’s about the same,” said Whitney.
Adrian spoke about other staff and not academics impacting his belonging. Adrian
identified other staff who were not affiliated with TSLC/TRIO that helped him feel he belonged
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and that his academics were a priority. However, he did not identify any other academics who he
felt helped him belong.
Not academically, but I do work on campus. So, the people where I work, which is at the
human resource office here in campus, I can tell that they do also care about me ‘cause
they tell me to take as much time I need off if I need to catch up in school, if I need to
study for a test and just let them know and I don’t have to come in that day. ‘Cause I can
tell that they really do put my academics first before work.
TSLC Support
The TSLC program was an important institutional commitment to Latin* students’
success by providing the tools, resources, and connections needed to increase their sense of
belonging. Laura was highlighted because she talked about what she learned from TSLC to help
her be a good student. Additionally, she spoke about a professor in TSLC who made her feel
capable of succeeding and lastly, discussed what TSLC did early on to help her feel connected to
campus.
Laura discussed what she learned from TSLC when addressing what it meant to be a
good student. She specifically talked about different techniques that the TSLC provided her and
other students to help them be good students. One of those techniques was holding students
accountable, knowing this will foster them getting things done instead of procrastinating and
eventually learning to continue to do this on their own. Laura spoke about knowing there was
going to be harder classes and grading scales, so it was helpful to have adaptation skills.
Yeah, there is a—it’s not like a time tracker but we have a thing with TSLC where you
have to study—you’re supposed to study I think 9 hours out of a week, but for TSLC
specifically you have to do 3 hours a week and so they’re required at the end of every
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week so once you go and swipe in you’ll be able to tell how much time you have left. So,
I think when students remember to do that it really helps, because when they know that
they have this deadline, like every single week it kind of gets them on the right track. It
got me on the right track to doing what I needed to do instead of procrastinating till the
last minute, like I would do in high school and stuff like that, so that was a really big
thing. But I think just being a good student means obviously time management but being
able to adapt to the new kind of college environment anyway. I mean there’s going to be
harder course classes, harder grading scales and all that, and it’s going to differ from
every professor to every class, so it’s just good to have those types of adaptation skills.
Laura was asked to talk about an experience where somebody made her feel capable of
succeeding. Laura talked about a professor in one of her assigned and required TSLC classes
(English Composition I) and how she forgot about an assignment that was due and asked for an
extension. The professor granted it but said to her, “You know you are that type of student that I
know will get the work done,” and Laura said, “and I was like okay, that was my motivation
maybe I will go get this done after work so it was good to know that she knew I could do it and I
did.” The professor could have approached this in many ways including one where Laura felt
demeaned, not understood and feeling disempowered. Instead, the professor empowered her, and
she knew it and got it done. This added to Laura is academic belonging and it was experiences
like this that have helped her continue to grow and move forward.
Yeah, I mean a lot of my professors have kind of pushed that view towards me and all of
their students. There was—couple of weeks ago I had asked for an extension on an
assignment that I forgot about. I had worked that night and I didn’t think I was going to
be able to get it done, because I got off at 9:00 and it was due at like 11:59 and so I had
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gone to her after class and asked for the extension and she was like, “You know you are
that type of student that I know will get the work done,” and I was like okay, that was my
motivation maybe I will go get this done after work, so it was good to know that she
knew I could do it and I did.
Laura discussed a summer program she participated in through TSLC, when asked to talk
about an experience she felt cared for. She was asked to talk about an experience where
somebody made her feel capable of succeeding. Laura goes on to describe that at the summer
program put on by TSLC, they put on several activities where you could play sports with a few
of the new friends she had met. She goes on to explain that her TSLC mentor (who is a third-year
student) and a TSLC specialist/advisor and how they had helped her go to the hospital when she
hurt her finger. Having these opportunities to build relationships with both staff of TSLC and
fellow students prior and during college definitely gave students like Laura an additional
advantage from my standpoint-helping her feel cared for and that these folks want her to
succeed. This in turn helped her belonging overall and, in this case, community belonging that
leads into social and academic.
Yeah, so this was before the semester, but during the [summer program] event that I was
talking about. There were activities where you could play sports or something and I was
playing volleyball with a few of the new friends that I had met and it’s kinda funny. So, I
was on 1 side of the court and my ex was actually on the other side of the court. Yeah,
who happens to be TSLC too so anyways, very awkward, but long-story short I almost
broke my finger. He had set it over and I hit it wrong and my TSLC mentor, she is a
third-year student, so she’ll be graduating pretty soon and my TSLC—not my specialist,
but she’s 1 of the specialists or advisors there, Miss Jay actually, she—they had switched
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off and they took me to the hospital when my parents were both at work. Yeah, they were
there when I got everything looked at and checked out to make sure I was good and yeah,
they definitely made me feel very—it was really heart-warming to know that they would
go out of their way to do something like that.
Laura talked about what TSLC did early on to help her feel connected to campus. Laura
talked about that before the semester even began, they had a few events from July to August. She
said there were movie nights where you got to connect with other TSLC students, they also had a
summer program that kind of let you learn about all of the TSLC staff members and what they
did and how they were going to provide for you. She said, “So, events like that really helped me
kind of gather my surroundings and be more comfortable while walking in on the first day of
school.” This was a great quote and spoke to the help these students received in their transition to
college and the connections they made to feel comfortable on their first day of college!
Well before the semester even started, we had a few events, which was like I want to say
from July to August we had a couple of events. There was like movie nights where you
got to connect with other TSLC students, we had a [summer program] that kind of let you
learn about all of the TSLC staff members and what they did and how they were going to
provide for you and stuff like that. So, events like that really helped me kind of gather my
surroundings and be more comfortable while walking in on the first day of school.
Adrian consistently met with TSLC staff led to trust, caring and belonging. Adrian
discussed the difference between high school and college specifically with TSLC staff. He stated
the difference being their outreach to meet consistently to check-in and follow up.
Well, I would definitely start with the fact—I would say whereas in high school where it
was like if you wanted to meet—if someone wanted to see you, they would—you would
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need to go and figure out a time that you can go see them, whereas here they immediately
told me that—they immediately scheduled me to be able to meet with me and get to know
me, not just my mentor, but the staff for TSLC. They took time out of their day to just get
to know me and that really made me be more trusting towards them, and feel like they
really do care, because they constantly let me know, hey, you’re getting a little behind
school. Whereas in high school it was really just not much of a caring feeling.
Institutional Agents
Adrian’s journey during his first month in college was significantly impacted by
institutional agents. Adrian described their journey in the first month, as easy to hard and then
finally finding a good place again. First thing I had thought about was the mentors and
coordinator in Adrian’s life and the significance of these institutional agents when things got
hard for the student.
Well, I would say my mentor, he’s really always like every time that we meet, he’s
constantly finding ways for me to get out of situations. If I explain to him that I’m really
doing bad in this class, he’ll give me things that I can try to try to get caught up. Then for
the coordinator, she tries to meet with me, she can ’cause I really do open up a lot to her
about stuff. So, she really helps me get through a lot and they’re big reasons that I’m still
here at the university.
Whitney spoke about the importance of their professor calling them by their name. The
significance of students being called by their name has come up a few times. Whitney definitely
made a connection with her professor, and I thought it was an act of building trust. This was in
response to Whitney being asked if there were other experiences where she felt they belonged at
the broader university.
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Then now that I know how the professors are and even them like I said earlier, my
professor even knowing my name as well, it made me feel more comfortable being here
and knowing that—it made me feel I guess connected.
Whitney expanded on connection with their professor. Whitney had made a connection
with the professor and stated that they had been through it and understood what she was going
through. Whitney’s quote was powerful highlighting the connection that ultimately results in a
stronger sense of belonging. In this case academic belonging, but it also lends its powers to
Whitney’s social and community belonging. It isn’t so black and white, but the distinction is
noted and important. It seems more circular, like a cycle where belonging in one area could help
in another, however, there are still something that need to happen in the others areas for it to
fully be accomplished.
I feel like just hearing people’s stories make me feel like I can do it too, if they did it as
well, because I think it was the dean. He was talking to us how he was a first gen student
and I’m like I never knew that. That makes me feel confident in myself ’cause he has
succeeded in his career.
Whitney discussed connecting with the Dean and it was clear how significant it was to
her. This experience was really salient for Whitney, as she connected with the Dean of Business
who identified themselves as First-Gen. Whitney said the Dean being high up in the food chain
meant that if they made it, they could too! There is a strong connection, identification made
inspiring Whitney, but also increasing her sense of belonging at the university. Whitney could
envision herself now succeeding because of the shared commonality of being a first-generation
student that she found in this role model.
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I feel like he’s higher up, in the I guess chain. So, it’s like he came from being I guess
maybe as clueless as I felt, when I first came to someone being the dean of the college of
business here at the university. So, I was like maybe I can be like that someday, be
successful as well.
At the institutional level, resources, programming, and other factors influenced the way
students have been set up for success, affecting belonging. There are opportunities for
institutions to better support their Latin* students’ sense of belonging by understanding the
impact that the university has on them, and through engagement programs and tools such as the
tslc program and institutional agents. Leveraging these areas can make a tremendous difference
in bettering the experiences of Latin* College students at institutions.
Community Factors Influencing Belonging
Nunn (2021) asserted that belonging was in fact a three-pronged process and one of them
was social belonging. Social belonging pertains to students’ networks of family and friends that
help them socially connect with various groups on campus. One of the key components for
Latin* students were the significant role their families played in their overall sense of belonging.
Family Support
Jude spoke about their dad encouraging them to succeed by talking about where they
came from and folks looking up to them. This was a great example of the power that
parents/guardians make for their first-generation students in addition to the support they received
from staff and faculty at their university. Family was a key source for Jude’s sense of belonging
to increase, it helped them to continue to move forward, find motivation, be encouraged and
ultimately succeed at an institution of higher learning.
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Maybe not anyone here, but it was just a talk that I had with my dad over the phone when
I was nervous, I’d reach out to people, and I try to pursue my education and I was having
second thoughts of staying here and just dropping out. And he talked to me about my past
and where I come from and who looks up to me. And that helped encourage me to do it.
It’s a bit scary and nerve-racking, but over time, my nerves have calmed down after that
talk.
Laura talked about how her grandfather and cousin who worked at the university made a
difference for her. Role modeling and having folks who were where you are made a difference
for students. Just having these additional support systems was a big advantage for Laura, even
though she had struggled at times and had to grow and learn throughout her first semester.
Definitely, not only with him being a former teacher, I have a cousin who works at the
university I’m pretty sure. I don’t know if she’s like a student teacher or student affairs,
I’m not sure, but just having—just with all of my family members being around school
systems like that and college campuses it just—I think it made it more comfortable for
me kind of knowing that if they can do it, then I can do it, even if I’m not doing what
they’re doing. It’s just that they’re there and they’ve seen what I’m seeing, so it definitely
helps.
Laura again referenced her grandfather when asked what she had learned from her family
to academically succeed. Laura talked about her grandfather being a teacher and having someone
in her life that understood students and what they needed to hear to be motivated and get back on
track. She again spoke about how important family was for her. The impact of family in
students’ lives was a strength for most of them.
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Well, my grandfather is—he used to be a teacher at South Omaha or Omaha South so
having that type of not really like authority figure, but someone who knows exactly what
goes on with students’ minds, having that type of person really helped, because he knew
what to say to push me further and get me back on track to where I needed to be. But yeah,
I’d still say family is probably my biggest motivator throughout this whole semester and
just stuff that they told me on and off, the time of the semester or the period of the
semester, it really helped, like helping me focus.
Laura talked about her family as an external support that had helped her figure out how to
approach college. She went on to talk about her family being more on the tough love type of
family, so when she was struggling, they were not going to be oh it’s okay and instead were clear
on what she did need to do. Laura said having that push helped her. Family might not always
know exactly the answer as far as the university goes, but they can make a big impact, usually
positively sometimes negatively, but generally speaking they are a good foundation for students
in addition to all the other agents and pieces in college.
We’re very kind of a tough love type of family and so obviously when I was struggling,
they weren’t going to be like, “Oh, it’s okay.” They were going to be like, “No, this is
what you need to do, and you know you need to do that,” so it kind of helped having that
push there. I mean even if I didn’t, like it in the moment, it was for a good reason.
Cecilia said her parents’ sacrifice made her want to go to college. Cecilia spoke about her
parents’ sacrifice and various jobs were the reason she wanted to go to college. They served as a
source of motivation and inspiration to Cecilia. The parents in many ways were role models too,
they might not have gone to college, but their drive and sacrificing over all their lives to give
Cecilia a chance at college served her well in seeking this opportunity.
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I think that it’s kind of—I guess, the way I see it kind of makes me want to – that I should
be in college. ‘Cause my parents sacrificed all they did over their lives. I know they
wanted me to do better and go to school ‘cause it opens way more opportunities. So, I
think that’s what really made me want to go to college in the first place.
Cecilia spoke about her parents and role modeling, responsibility and perseverance.
Cecilia discussed what she has learned from her parents’ experience as immigrants, hard work,
being limited but not giving up and moving forward. She talked about it being part of her
mentality and it seemed to show with her approach that she described earlier to academic success
and navigating the first semester of college. She definitely had strengths based on what she had
seen at home, learned and been a part of directly.
Oh, I live with my parents, and they were immigrants. So, they really try hard. So, they
really can’t get a lot of jobs, because of their status. So, they kind of just work any job
that they can. So that kind of helped me see that. We have a house. We’re living there. So
that’s really all that should matter. So, I guess that’s kind of my mentality.
Mabel discussed her final thoughts on her dad as a strength for herself. Mabel said she
had thoughts about dropping out for a really long time now, and she reflected about her dad and
the strength she had received from him to keep going. Mabel’s dad had provided her with an
inner strength and maybe was the reason she had not given up yet-because Mabel did not have
many outreach efforts that other students in her position had because she received a certain
scholarship and was in a program such as TSLC. She was a member of FGS, but thus far it did
not sound on the same level as these others.
Yeah. So, I’ve had this thought about dropping out for a really long time now, but I
always think I have this opportunity, not a lot of people have this opportunity and just
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because it gets hard, it doesn’t mean you need to give up or you should give up. So yeah.
Yes, I do think about him and that.
Mabel thought about her dad as she reflected on her skills set and strengths that had
helped navigate her transition process. Mabel highlighted her dad, said he was hard working, and
she felt him being Hispanic and an immigrant, changed her perspective on how important
education was. She talked about wanting to receive an education for herself, but also for her
father since he did not have the opportunity. Mabel had come to the university with a strong set
of strengths from her family, in this case her dad, that helped her get here and will help her
navigate college and be part of her success.
Yeah. I think just with my dad specifically with him being just him, I guess he is just hard
working and stuff, and I feel because of his identity with being Hispanic and an
immigrant, it kind of changed my perspective on how important education is. Yeah, I just
feel he played a big role in me. Just trying my best to be almost like him, I guess you can
say I wanted to receive an education obviously for myself, but for him, because he never
had that opportunity.
Jude’s parents were helpful to a certain extent. Jude said their parents were economically
supportive and would say they would pay for it. They would ask them what they wanted to
pursue but that was it. So, it sounded like there could have been much more support and help, but
for numerous possible reasons, their parents were not able to do more.
No. They were always working and all they’d say was oh, yeah, if you decide to go, they
would help me pay for it. But that’s about it. Oh, yeah. Is this what you want to pursue or
anything like that? Like if I wanted to, I can. If I don’t, it’s okay.
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The advice Guadalupe received from parents was invaluable, in lieu of the experiences she
encountered in high school. It definitely helped in her 1st-year transition to college.
I actually don’t have a job, because my parents told me, “You worked all of high school
and we saw how bad that was.” Like, my grades were going bad really fast, because I
wanted to be working and I wanted to make my money and I wanted to be able to have
my phone and have everything that I had. But I would go to school stressed and I would
do all my homework in first period, because I didn’t have time to do my homework. And
my mom was like, “I don’t want that to happen to you, so we want you to focus on your
academics.” She’s like, “Use what you get for a refund and then if you run out, you can
always ask us.”
Guadalupe said as for learning success strategies from parents, she did not know what to
expect. I think this was an important reflection on the following question: Were there things that
you learned about being successful in college from your parents or home or community that you
felt like you had not been able to apply as much as you would have liked during college? “And
as far as it goes from home, I don’t think so, just because, for the most part, we had no idea what
to expect until I got here,” said Guadalupe.
Adrian’s grandma had a huge influence in his life, giving him motivation and a goal—to
be the 1st in the family to attend and graduate from college. And the quote at the end was
powerful.
Before she passed [Grandma], she really said that she wants me to move forward. She
wants me to be able to go to college, since none of them were able to, not my
grandparents or my parents. They weren’t able to do any of that. My dad, the furthest he
got in school was the eighth grade. After that he just dropped out back in Cuba and then
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my mom, she graduated high school, but that was as far as she got. So currently I’m the
one going the furthest. So, I just feel like that really helps me not just make myself happy
about it, but it helps me remember, that I’m doing my family justice.
Whitney’s sister attended the university too. First time I had seen one of the students say
they had a sibling attending the school too. From my student participants, it was a handful of
them that had siblings in college. “So, something that also contributed to my decision of coming
here was also because [it was close to home]. My sister comes here too as well. So, she’s always
talked about it. She feels good here,” said Whitney. The families of these Latin* students
provided support, motivation, goals and inspiration for them to not give up, keep persevering,
and reach their full potential by graduating from an institution of higher education. These
students were ready to actively participate in an institution of higher learning, it was up to these
colleges and universities to commit to breaking down barriers and fully supporting their sense of
belonging and ultimate success.
Family Challenges
Cecilia talked more about her family responsibility and feeling a lot of pressure at home.
She talked about feeling way too much pressure at home because she was with family and having
to take care of them. She expanded that family at home did not fully understand because they
never went to school. Cecilia was coming to college with a lot of responsibility and pressure, but
in some ways this I think had helped her with challenges she had faced in college, and she
seemed strong in her maturity. However, at the same time, she missed out on experiences as a
college student not living on-campus and in many ways had additional challenges to her journey-
even though she seemed to be successfully managing them thus far.
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Interviewer: Now that you’re in college, are you still living with family? Or are you
kind of living somewhere different and commuting?
Interviewee: I’m living with family.
Interviewer: Okay. Are you still kind of helping take care of siblings and other folks at
home?
Interviewee: Oh, yes.
Interviewer: Yeah. How does that affect your college experience, if at all, do you
think?
Interviewee: Oh, I feel like I would probably have, socially, probably a better college
experience if I move out. I feel like sometimes I just have way too much
pressure at home just being with the family and taking care of them.
Interviewer: Yeah. Do folks seem to understand what you’re doing?
Interviewee: Sometimes. But since they never went to school, it’s kind of hard to
connect with them about school.
Jude as a first-generation student did not receive a lot of guidance. Jude explained that no
one in their family except for a cousin (who dropped out) was able to help. Although Jude did
not have much guidance, they seemed to have had a strong sense of purpose, to help others. And
to achieve those goals, they needed to succeed and seemed to have an inner drive, and self-drive
that had led them here.
Oh. No, I didn’t really have a sense of direction from anyone, considering no one in my
family has really gone to college or pursued higher education. And the only one that did
was a cousin, but he dropped out after the 1st year, so he wasn’t as helpful. And yeah, I
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just didn’t have much people who would help me so it’s kind of just winged and gone
into the dark, but managed to find a way here somehow, surprisingly.
At the community level, the importance of family support and challenges is seen through
Latin* College students experiences. Institutions of higher education can recognize the value
Latin* students’ families have on their student’s overall sense of belonging, and ultimately their
success at the university. Latin* college students’ families are tied to them reaching the
university and can be an asset to their overall sense of belonging on campus.
Discussion
Individual Level
On an individual level, belonging appears to be either fostered or hindered via students’
academic success, student identity, financial struggles, and student strengths. Students described
how various initial challenges ultimately fostered their academic success. Laura speaks about
how she grew a lot academically and personally with the help of strong professors and the TSLC
program. She speaks about being challenged to dig deep within herself to move from
procrastinating to finding her academic success with the support of TSLC and non-staff and
professors providing a very positive-caring and supportive environment for her right from the
beginning. This ties in with Nunn’s (2021) assertion that in order for students to feel like they
belong, institutions and communities need to cultivate an environment where individuals
experience belonging. In Laura’s case, she experienced a strong sense of academic belonging,
one of the three forms of belonging described in Nunn’s (2021) framework.
Another student, Cecilia, discussed how much she appreciated engaging with other
classmates and how their professor did more talking than writing. She added that her professor
would always post what they did in class that day which helped her to catch up if they were
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following behind. Cecilia spoke about how professors being engaging and how they presented
themselves made a difference in feeling like people cared about her and that she mattered during
the first weeks of college. She noted that professors reached out and she really liked that. Again,
this is another example of a student having a strong sense of academic belonging, resulting in
increased engagement and a more fulfilling academic experience.
Finally, another student, Mabel, spoke about having a class with FGS and stating they
genuinely cared about her and that they were the only faculty and staff that cared about her
success, explaining this was a one-year class based on a scholarship program. Mabel further
mentioned that other faculty just taught, raising the question, what are the expectations of the
university on what faculty should do with respect to building community besides teaching? This
again speaks to Nunn’s assertions that institutions need to be intentional and proactive in offering
opportunities for students to develop a sense of belonging, specifically requiring administrators,
faculty, and practitioners to consider how they are or are not fostering belonging in classrooms,
programs, and throughout campus (Nunn, 2021).
Students also spoke about their identity and personality, indicating that the essence of
who they are is another important piece of how they navigate belonging at colleges and
universities. Laura spoke about how she was a quick learner, which she was proud of because
she knows it helps her be successful both professionally and academically. Mabel discussed how
her Hispanic identity is connected to her overall sense of low-belonging, explaining that she felt
embarrassed because she did not know a lot about her identity including not being able to speak
Spanish. Not supporting Mabel’s identity as a Latin* student was a missed opportunity from the
institution, in this case both faculty and practitioners should be trained and already have practices
and or programs in place addressing various issues that Latin* students face their 1st year. An
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opportunity exists for both faculty and staff to build more relationships with students, hear where
they are coming from and be an additional voice for inclusivity, affirmation and acceptance.
Ultimately Mabel did speak about an event during Heritage Month and how she felt welcomed
overall because she is half Hispanic. Additionally, another student, Jude, spoke about feeling
uncomfortable because a student they had befriended made fun of another student using
pronouns. Jude distanced themselves from the student and hid their sexuality and beliefs from
them. Laura demonstrated strengths students bring to their 1st-year experience while Mabel and
Jude represent opportunities for institutions and their institutional agents to meet students
halfway through challenging and very fluid diversity, equity and inclusion issues. In Mabel's
case, a program was created that made her feel welcome, however was this program directly
developed from staff and without collaboration and connections with faculty and the academic
community? And with respect to Jude, what are faculty, staff and students learning about with
respects to the LGBTQ community? What is and is not appropriate with respects to various
identity labels, use of pronouns, and why it is important in a college and university to foster
inclusivity, specifically connecting it to the mission of the institution and the goal of higher
education. In Mabel and Jude’s sense of belonging with respects to identity, more community-
level responsibility and leadership from universities is needed (Nunn, 2021), including a strategic
and intentional plan for increasing sense of belonging for Latin* students on a variety of areas of
their experiences with institutions of higher education.
Another issue discussed by students was how financial struggles hindered overall student
belonging. Laura spoke about how her family had financial challenges initially and now were at
a better place, but nowhere near wealthy families. This is an important distinction because
although they are better off financially, there are still financial needs that can impact her sense of
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belonging. Another student, Gio, says he was lucky to have not taken out any loans, saying even
if it kills him. Gio has a good sense of financial literacy, but it is clear that they needed guidance
from advisors and staff and there needed to be better understanding of this student’s financial
needs and how it is impacting their sense of belonging. They are a commuter student who has
been struggling financially and their connection to campus was not what it could be. Another
student Mabel also does not live on campus, knows they are not receiving the full college
experience because she did not receive the Buffet scholarship. Mabel also spoke about not
applying to her dream school NYU, because she could not afford it and wanted to avoid debt.
This speaks to how much a difference could have been made possibly with more counseling and
financial opportunities for her to have a different experience. There were many opportunities
here for the institution and again institutional agents to be more directly involved with Gio and
Mabel. Nunn (2021) stated students will seek opportunities to belong, particularly traditionally
marginalized students. However, colleges and universities need to be intentional and proactive in
offering opportunities for students to develop a sense of belonging (Nunn, 2021). How could
counselors and advisors have been more involved and strategic with both Gio and Mabel prior to
them attending their institution and more directly helping them navigate the additional challenges
they faced which impacted their sense of belonging.
Lastly, students talked about their personal strengths. Cecilia spoke about feeling a sense
of empowerment knowing many other students at the university were her similar social class, so
she does not feel alone. However, Cecilia is not in any program such as TSLC, TRIO or FGS and
calling into question why is she not in a program or something more tailored to her that could
provide her with a smaller-more intimate and intentional community? Is there a lack of
resources, financial support, are only a certain number able to attend these institutions with
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additional intentional programs? And if that is the case, are institutions knowingly allowing these
different statuses to occur and how does that fit or not fit into the school’s mission statement and
vision? In Cecilia’s example, she was empowered by seeing others like herself at the university,
this helped her sense of belonging, however, what more can universities and colleges do for
students like her who are not afforded a tailored program such as TSLC, TRIO or FGS? Nunn
(2021) spoke about it not being the responsibility of students to develop a sense of belonging,
instead institutions needed to proactively and intentionally create holistic opportunities to
increase their sense of belonging through an intentional strategic plan which took into account all
pieces of a university experience for what Latin* students’ needs are.
Institutional Level
The second major finding that emerged pertained to institutional support students
received from institutional agents, such as mentors, staff, faculty, and administrators. Gio, for
example, was very resourceful and talked about his academic support on campus being older
friends, but he had little connection to university resources, programs, staff or faculty. When
asked if anyone in college made him feel capable of success, he simply stated no, illustrating a
lack of accountability from the institution. Nunn (2021) discussed that marginalized students
tend to seek out opportunities to belong. However, colleges and universities need to be
intentional and proactive in offering opportunities that foster belonging (Nunn, 2021). Data in
this study show that some students are receiving these opportunities, but others are not. The
question is why is there this discrepancy and inconsistency, and how can it be corrected? Are
there other programs, centers or support services that can help students like Gio? Are there other
one on one personal touch point opportunities in place to proactively address the additional needs
these students will potentially face, providing not just safety guards but true intentional thought-
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out structural plans and strategies that do not demean students, but instead as Nunn (2021) stated,
it was not the responsibility of students to develop a sense of belonging, institutions must
proactively and intentionally create new holistic opportunities for them.
Another student, Whitney, talked about various support groups including TSLC, friends
at home and her roommate, but one that clearly stood out are the connections she made with a
professor/dean. What stood out for Whitney was hearing the professor’s story and learning that
she was also a first gen student. Whitney said it made her feel confident about herself, because
the faculty member had succeeded in her career so that meant she could too. This was powerful
and I think the institution has been making a difference in not just Whitney’s 1st year, but I am
sure in other students as well. However, there were not many examples such as this highlighted
by the Latin* students in this study’s sample and I wonder how strategic and intentional was this
opportunity to hear this type of speaker? Is this part of a monthly or bi-weekly speaker series, are
there other programs planned and if so, are faculty involved in the collaboration, meaning many
facets of the institutions are working together including faculty providing extra credit for
students attending these additional growth opportunities? Again, institutional accountability are
key, colleges and universities needed to be intentionally leading these effort of proactively
creating a holistic experience that increased Latin* students belonging (Nunn, 2021).
Laura and Adrian spoke about the many benefits the TSLC program, staff and mentors
have provided them, through different events, intentional one on ones, checking in and following
up with them, the summer program helped build community among students as well as the staff
helping them feel connected early on to the campus. They described how important it was to
them that the program got to know them as an individual, intentionally met with them,
encouraging them and letting them know if they were following behind. All these personal
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practices led to them feeling cared for and trust towards them. The TSLC program overall sounds
to be a successful institutional program committed to proactively helping Latin* and
marginalized students navigate integration into the university. This leads me to ask how can the
TSLC program be expanded and/or for students not able to be accepted into this and similar
programs, what is the strategic intentional plan from institutions to meet these student’s specific
needs proactively and intentionally? This is directly linked to Nunn’s (2021) work the leadership
and overall plan needs to come from the institutions, showing institutional investment and
commitment.
Lastly, the importance of institutional agents for these Latin* students are clear. Adrian
highlights the importance of mentors and coordinators in his life especially when the first few
months of college had its ups and downs, and he was facing academic challenges. Additionally,
Whitney spoke about the importance of her professor calling her by their name. The significance
of students being called by their name surfaced a few times. Whitney made a connection with her
professor and believed that her professor understood what she was going through and explained
everything that it would take to finally graduate. Their connection ultimately resulted in a
stronger sense of academic belonging and community belonging for Whitney.
Community Level
The third major finding of this study highlighted assets students derived from their
community and family prior to their arrival and during their time on campus that supported how
they navigated campus life and developing feelings of belonging.
The importance of community and family for Latin* students were clear. Jude spoke
about their dad encouraging them to succeed by talking about where they came from. This was a
great example of the power that parents/guardians have on their first-generation students in
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conjunction with other key folks at the university. Family was a source of strength for Jude to
continue to move forward, find motivation, be encouraged and succeed. Nunn (2021) spoke
about the importance of social belonging, and in this case, family was an important source for
Latin* students to gain strength from as they navigated an institution that was foreign to them.
Again, institutions need to be aware of this and proactively implement outreach and
programming to not just Latin* students, but also to their families to increase everyone is
knowledge of resources at the university as well as building a stronger sense of belonging.
Laura talked about how her grandfather and cousin who worked at the university made a
difference for her. Role modeling appeared to make a difference for students. Having these
additional support systems has been a big advantage for Laura, even though she had struggled at
times and had to grow and learn throughout her first semester. Laura again referenced her
grandfather when asked what she had learned from her family to academically succeed. Laura
talked about her grandfather being a teacher and having someone in her life that understood
students and what they needed to hear to be motivated and get back on track. She again spoke
about how important family was for her. The impact of family in students’ lives has been a
strength for most of them. Laura talked about her family as an external support that had helped
her figure out how to approach college. She talked about her family being more on the tough
love type of family, so when she was struggling, they were not going to be, “oh it’s okay” and
instead were clear on what she did need to do. Laura said having that push helped her. In many
ways, family support does not simply occur prior to students enrolling in college, but during the
college going process as well. They tend to serve on many levels including counselor and advisor
who has a longer standing relationship with their student and on many levels that can be a
positive, because they have supported them for so long. Family might not always know exactly
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the answer as far as the university procedures go, but they appear to exert an impact, usually
positively sometimes negatively. An opportunity exists for colleges and universities to do a
better job of including families into the process of supporting FGS students attending higher
education as they already serve as a key reason for their success. In partnership with the
institution, family has the potential to foster stronger overall campus-community belonging and
relatedly, ensure student success.
Cecilia, for example, said her parents’ sacrifice made her want to go to college. Cecilia
spoke about her parents’ sacrifice and various jobs are the reason she wanted to go to college.
They served as a source of motivation and inspiration to Cecilia. The parents in many ways were
role models too, they might not have gone to college, but their drive and sacrifices over all their
lives to give Cecilia a chance at college served her well in seeking this opportunity. Cecilia
discussed what she had learned from her parents’ experience as immigrants, hardworking, being
limited but not giving up and moving forward. She talked about it being part of her mentality and
it seemed to show with her approach that she described earlier to academic success and
navigating the first semester of college. She has strengths based on what she has seen at home,
learned and been a part of directly. These strengths resonated with Nunn’s (2021) sense of social
belonging, speaking to the importance of family as a strength for students and their ultimate
success in higher education.
Mabel discussed her final thoughts on her dad as a strength for herself. Mabel said she
had thoughts about dropping out for a long time now, and she reflected about her dad and the
strength she had received from him to keep going. Mabel’s dad had provided her with an inner
strength and maybe was the reason she has not given up yet-because Mabel does not have many
outreach efforts that other students in her position have because they received a certain
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scholarship and are in a program such as TSLC. She was a member of FGS, but it did not appear
to be on the same level as these others. Mabel was thinking about her dad as she reflected on her
skills set and strengths that have helped navigate her transition process. Mabel highlighted her
dad, said he was hard working, and she felt him being Hispanic and an immigrant, it changed her
perspective on how important education was. She talked about wanting to receive an education
for herself, but also for her father since he did not have this opportunity. Mabel had come to the
university with a strong set of strengths from her family, in this case her dad, who helped her get
here and has helped her navigate college and be part of her success. Mabel’s example has spoken
to the value that family provided Latin* students in increasing their sense of belonging, however
not being in a program that has a more holistic approach to her success has been limiting. From
an organizations stand point, institutions need to reassess the gap that their Latin* students are
experiencing by them all not receiving a fully holistic program such as TSLC, instead some are
in other programs that do not appear to be achieving the same success in strengthening their
sense of belonging and others are left to fend for themselves by not being in one of these
comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs). Nunn (2021) said that colleges and
universities needed to be proactive in creating these holistic programs, but that also meant that
they needed to be available to all Latin* students to truly begin to achieve the type of academic
and personal success these community deserve.
In addition to community and family being a source of strength and support, Latin*
students also have shared family challenges they have faced. Cecilia talked more about her
family responsibility and feeling a lot of pressure at home. She talked about feeling way too
much pressure at home because she was with family and having to take care of them. She
expanded that family at home did not fully understand because they never had gone to school.
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Cecilia was coming to college with a lot of responsibility and pressure, but in some ways this I
think has helped her with challenges she had faced in college, and she seemed strong in her
maturity. However, at the same time, from my perspective she was missing out on experiences as
a college student not living on-campus and in many ways had additional challenges to her
journey-even though she seemed to be successfully managing them thus far.
The findings demonstrated that Latin* college students experienced a sense of belonging
in complex and fluid ways that were influenced positively and negatively by individual factors,
programmatic factors, institutional factors, and community factors. Overall Latin* students
demonstrated many experiences and opportunities where institutions of higher learning could
address many areas that Latin* College students needed additional support or having a better
understanding of this community’s experiences, strengths, attributes, and diversity could enable
more effective university action plans geared towards increasing Latin* College students’ sense
of belonging. Additionally, although students demonstrated many strengths, Nunn (2021) put the
focus on institutions and asked what they were doing to help this community belong, she called
for them to provide holistic proactive opportunities. The onus was clearly put on universities and
colleges. In addition, students were strengthened by assets derived from their community and
family prior to their arrival on campus and of course a wide variety of individual characteristics
and experiences that supported how they navigated campus life. Chapter Five follows with a
deeper discussion about study findings and offers related to recommendations.
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Chapter Five: Discussion
This study was designed to examine how Latin* students experience academic, social and
campus-community belonging at three universities in the Midwest—a metropolitan university, a
rural regional campus, and a research institution. Data were collected through interviews with
students who identified as Latin*. Data were collected from students across three different
campuses, some of whom participated in comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs).
This particular study relied on qualitative interviews with 10 students conducted during the
2021–2022 academic school year. The data collected aimed to capture the experiences of these
students during their 1st year in college. In particular, the study aimed to capture the specific
needs that Latin* students have and what additional mechanisms can be established to increase
their sense of belonging. The study was designed to examine how Latin* students experience
academic, social and campus-community belonging in postsecondary institutions in the United
States. The purpose of Chapter Five is to discuss the findings presented in Chapter Four, as well
as present implications for future practice and research, and recommendations for further
research.
With regard to implications, this study’s findings support institutions providing more
high touch one on one programs that create smaller communities in within larger institutions
such as TSLC, TRIO, FGS, and other similar programs. It would be interesting to know if all
universities and colleges across the country are expected to provide such a program on their
campus. In addition, this study highlighted how important institutional empowering agents are to
the success of Latin* college students especially during their 1st year in college. The success of
these institutional empowering agents was based on their thorough training and their
intentionality to reach out to Latin* students as an informed empowering agent who is socially
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conscious and looking to provide all the resources available at colleges and universities to create
connections and long-standing relationships with various faculty, staff and other entities and
resources at the institution. This is an important piece for universities and colleges to consider
when successfully supporting Latin* college students in increasing their overall sense of
belonging. Additionally, I would recommend as Nunn (2021) puts the onus on institutions to
proactively and intentionally create these opportunities, that all universities and colleges have
this high touch one on one initiative included in their strategic plan with the expectation that they
have been institutionalized to succeed and established to proactively serve Latin* college
students and other underrepresented groups.
For Latin* students in this study affiliated with the TSLC program, they appeared to have
developed a strong sense of belonging which was fostered by their participation in the TSLC
program. One of Nunn’s key findings was supplemental programs like a cultural center led to
social belonging, but it did not actually lead to campus-community belonging. Study findings
suggest that TSLC was leading Latin* students to campus-community belonging because it
appeared that the program had more funding, resources, staff, training to support students from
diverse backgrounds. Furthermore, students were held accountable for their participation in
program activities, unlike students who participated in cultural centers who are not required to
attend and meet a variety of expectations, as well as short- and long-term goals. Additionally,
students were constantly being affirmed specially from TSLC staff and faculty. As an example,
remembering students’ names meant that there was trust formed. Also, these Latin* students saw
individuals who looked like them succeeding, such in the example of the dean of business. They
were able to translate and see themselves as I can belong on this campus and successfully grow
and graduate eventually. It is likely that Latin* students who participated in the TSLC program
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built a stronger sense of belonging, as they were consistently growing and developing through an
intentional program providing them the necessary skills, resources, and connection needed to
succeed at the university. Having a check and balances system along with a well-trained staff
who was invested in these Latin* students’ success could be a difference maker for future
institutional efforts from other universities and colleges. The social connections developed
within the context of this comprehensive CCTP appeared to facilitate campus-community
belonging.
Nunn’s (2021) study focused on mainly White college students. In this study, the focus
was Latin* students. This group was racially minoritized, unlike the group of students Nunn’s
study focused on. In this study, Latin* students drew from their familial community resources,
leaning on the value and importance of community and family and not an individualistic
perspective solely. The data indicated the importance of family and culture to them prior to
attending the university and once enrolled, both served as an additional resource of strength that
the Latin* students had access to. This group was an additional resource of support, advice,
guidance, strength and motivation, leading to the notion that familial and cultural resources
helped facilitate belonging. This was a keyway this research expanded on Nunn’s framework.
With respects to individual factors influencing belonging for Latin* students the
following themes emerged for academic success, including Laura speaking about help she had
received from pre-college to 1st year from faculty and TSLC. Cecilia also discussed the impact
that dual-enrollment in high school had on her transition and preparation for her 1st year in
college. Mabel identified her class with FGS genuinely caring for her, stating no one else cared
for her on campus. This FGS class was a one-year class for her scholarship program, which
included faculty and staff mentors. Lastly Jude provided an example of how their psychology
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professor fostered academic belonging by supporting them, checking in, and working with them
to be more organized – illustrating intentional outreach efforts by this faculty member.
The following themes emerged for student identity; Mabel felt welcomed but struggled
with her identity too at a cultural event. Mabel explained she was half-Hispanic, she did not
know a lot about her culture and identity, and it was challenging, but the event also made her feel
welcomed. Identity programs and events were an important opportunity to building sense of
belonging in Latin* students across universities. Guadalupe reflected on the differences her
social class made compared to White and more affluent students. She elaborated White students
tended to see college as work or a chore they needed to do, while she dreamt about this
opportunity and being able to be somebody. In a very predominantly white neighborhood, you
feel like you’re not enough, but Guadalupe said that’s why there’s communities like the TSLC
and ODI Scholars, who are wonderful and everybody’s there to support you. These groups are a
model for how institutions can continue to expand the reach they have on Latin* and
marginalized college students, ultimately increasing their sense of campus-community
belonging, leading to a student body being more fully connected to the institution and
flourishing.
As for the theme of financial struggles, Gio thought he was lucky to not have taken any
loans, but he lived at home which negatively impacted his experience in college and decreased
his sense of belonging. Another student, Mabel did not live on campus due to financial reasons,
and this had a large impact on her experience in college too. She spoke about not receiving the
college experience she could have because she did not land the Buffet scholarship. She added she
felt she should have lived on campus for full college experience and to have had the opportunity
to be away from family. Mabel’s sense of belonging was also impacted but could be changed if
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the university would be able to increase their financial support of students and overall plan for
how to support these students who are accepted to the university but might need additional
support and guidance.
Lastly with respect to student strengths, Cecilia shared there was strength in numbers and
others like herself that shared a similar social class. It made her feel not alone and she
appreciated knowing others were going through similar experiences she added. She also
mentioned having a good mental state because of family and raising siblings, another strength
because she grew up with responsibility, meaning her maturity level was strong. Both of these
factors spoke to Cecilia’s strong sense of belonging. Additionally, Adrian spoke about his
patience and determination helping him achieve academically and helping him navigate his 1st
year at college. He added not everyone recognized and acknowledged that he had an academic
strength within himself. Adrian is strength had led to increasing his sense of belonging, but how
stronger could it had been if the university knew about it earlier on and acknowledged it.
With respects to institutional factors influencing belonging for Latin* students the
following themes emerged for university support/lack of, including Gio experiencing a shortage
of support from the university, instead turning to older student friends for support and assistance.
On the other hand, Whitney had various support groups including TSLC, friends at home and her
roommate, as well as a connection made with a professor/dean at the college. Additionally,
Laura identified a professor in one of her assigned and required TSLC classes as someone who
made her feel capable of succeeding, pointing out this department as an important institutional
factor positively impacting her belonging. Adrian added that institutional agents, specifically
mentors and coordinators had positively impacted his college transition. Adding that his mentor
always provided solutions to student challenges, while his coordinator would try to meet with
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him and he stated I really do open-up to her a lot, they are both big reasons that I’m still at the
university. Lastly, she identified the importance of a professor calling her by her name and the
importance of meeting a dean who was first generation. The first scenario led to building trust
with her, an important relationship forming moment and the later increased her sense of
belonging at the university, because she could envision herself now succeeding.
Finally, as far as campus-community factors influencing belonging for Latin* students
the following themes emerged for family support, including Jude who identified their family as a
key source to increasing their sense of belonging. They helped them to continue to move
forward, find motivation, be encouraged and ultimately succeed at an institution of higher
learning. Cecilia also identified her parents as motivation and inspiration to go to college.
Specifically talking about how her parents’ sacrifice and various jobs were the reasons she
wanted to go to college. Laura also talked about the importance of her parents and how they
pushed her with their tough love. Laura added having that push helped her. Lastly, Guadalupe
discussed how her parents’ advice helped her 1st year of college, and Adrian identified his
grandma as a big influence on him to graduate from college. As for the other side, family
challenges were experienced by Cecilia whose family did not fully understand as they had never
gone to school, and she felt a lot of pressure at home because she needed to take care of them.
Jude explained as a first-generation student they did not receive a lot of guidance at home, they
did have a strong sense of purpose to help others.
Relationship of Findings to Prior Research
The findings from this study have several relationships to prior research. The findings are
mostly similar and consistent with prior current research on belonging as described by Nunn
(2021), as well as Stanton-Salazar (2011) research on institutional empowerment agents,
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concepts of latin diaspora (Hamann & Harklau, 2010; Murillo & Villenas, 1997), and individual
versus Latin* values, cultural congruity and familismo, which all helped shape my understanding
of the research question (Dueñas & Gloria, 2020).
Prior current research on belonging, namely an updated understanding of this concept by
Nunn (2021), examined whether students were finding their place at college and universities, and
how these institutions were fostering and supporting belonging among these students or not. The
experiences of Latin* students highlighted in this study resonated with Nunn’s (2021) discussion
of social belonging, campus-community belonging, and academic belonging. The ways that
Latin* students found ways for themselves to belong without much support from institutions was
consistent with Nunn’s findings. Additionally, there were students who benefited from direct
proactive programming, such as comprehensive college transition programs (CCTPs) including
TSLC, TRIO, and FGS suggesting that these programs were beneficial for Latin* and other
marginalized students.
Additionally, the prior research on institutional empowerment agents and their significant
impact on increasing Latin* students belonging also matched with the findings of this study. The
literature described institutional agents who occupied hierarchical positions and act to directly
transmit highly valued resources to adolescents (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). In addition, the research
described well-trained staff known as institutional empowerment agents, who can help Latin*
students effectively navigate the institution culture and climate (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). The
findings from this study revealed how Latin* students faced many challenges to developing their
sense of belonging. Findings also illustrated how institutional empowerment agents such as
faculty, staff who worked directly with this population, impacted their sense of belonging.
Various examples highlighted mentors, staff members from the TSLC program, as well as FGS
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and TRIO programs who supported students, built relationships with them that translated in
students’ increased sense of belonging and ultimate success. Additionally, students spoke about
faculty who checked in on them, provided opportunities to catch up on their work, shared their
own pathway through college, and also created environments that fostered sense of belonging.
Implications for Practice and Research
This study was significant in its contribution to belonging, specifically Latin* college
students attending postsecondary institutions in the United States and using Nunn’s three-
pronged system of belonging to better understand and improve the experience of Latin* at-
promise students. Specifically, Nunn’s (2021) framework challenged us to use a three-pronged
approach that allowed us to examine how the institution, faculty, practitioners, and students were
creating proactive, intentional opportunities for Latin* students to increase their sense of
belonging via their social belonging, campus-community belonging, and academic belonging
This has been an important contribution to the literature, however, most of Nunn’s work was
primarily focused on White students, 1st year, and first generation college students. This study
focused on racially minoritized students, specifically Latin* students, which was not Nunn’s
focus. In addition, I show in this study how my findings aligned with parts of Nunn’s literature
on sense of belonging, but my approach, specifically focusing on Latin* College students
deepening the literature and adding dimensions that allow practitioners to do more to close the
gap of how to increase this important communities belonging. Leading to their success at the
institution and creating more leaders for the vast challenges facing our society and nation
currently.
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Implications for Practice
There were several implications for practice that higher education leaders, administrators,
faculty, and staff can utilize from the findings of this study. In the final analysis, these findings
and their implications could be helpful for those interested in increasing belonging of Latin*
students to improve their overall growth and connection with their institution and various
communities to improve their ultimate academic and personal student success.
Implications of Individual Factors That Influence Belonging for Academic Success
Individual factors that influenced belonging for Latin* students included providing
support for students before entering college, such as with dual enrollment program partnerships.
These types of partnerships could be explored by other universities for their Latin* student body
to see if it could help close a gap and better help the successful transition to the university.
Latin* students in this study also discussed the positive impact that small one-on-one programs
had on their successful transition to the university. Institutions need to make this a priority,
providing the needed resources and support institutionalizing these effective and proven
programs. And finally, the importance of faculty providing more personalized support was
highlighted, illustrating that intentional outreach efforts could facilitate belonging of Latin*
students. Accordingly, a more concerted effort with an action plan to implement and train these
institutional agents of change could be helpful.
Implications of Individual Factors That Influence Belonging for Student Identity
A second key implication for practice are institutions understanding and appreciating
Latin* college students’ diversity by providing support for them belonging through cultural
programming. Practitioners, staff, faculty and administration need to be aware of the diaspora of
the Latin* student community. Academic affairs along with student affairs could work more
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intentionally and collaboratively to help foster a stronger sense of belonging for this community.
Specifically, these two important institutional houses could collaboratively and strategically
work on programs like Hispanic Heritage Month or programs to increase Latin* College
Students sense of belonging throughout the year through a speaker series as an example. This
would enable the intentionality of highlighting various faculty, staff and administrators who are
Latin* throughout the university. It would provide Latin* students and the greater student body
opportunities to interact and learn from this speaker series, while also providing a more public
way to expand the increase of Latin* faculty, staff and administrators at the university.
Implications of Individual Factors That Influence Belonging for Student Strengths
A third key implication for practice are institutions understanding and appreciating
Latin* college students’ strengths that they bring with them to the university, acknowledging and
fostering it in partnership with them. This gives institutions an opportunity to acknowledge that
Latin* students are coming with a wealth of strengths and being aware of institutional agents
such as faculty, staff and administrators who can make better decisions when fostering their
belonging. For example, students in my study expressed the positive impact it had on them when
they knew that other students at their university shared a similar social class as them. One
student said it made them feel not alone and she appreciated that others were going through
similar experiences. Another student spoke about the importance of the university
acknowledging that challenges they had gone through were in fact strengths and not a deficit.
Students spoke about having a good mental state because of family responsibilities and raising
siblings, meaning their maturation level was strong and again a strength as a 1st-year college
student. Another student identified his patience and determination as helping him achieve
academically and strengthening his academic belonging. In order for institutions to better serve
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the Latin* student community they need to find opportunities to build a strong relationship with
them, find ways to discover who they are, what they bring with them, and develop partnerships
that will lead them to their sense of belonging at the institution and overall growth and success.
Implications of Institutional Factors That Influence Belonging for University Support
A fourth key implication for practice was institutions providing support for Latin*
college students through institutional agents. Students identified various support groups, namely
TSLC, their classes, professors, mentors and staff. Students identified a professor in one of her
assigned and required TSLC classes as someone who made her feel capable of succeeding.
Additionally, a student identified the importance of seeing themselves being able to succeed
because a dean at the university was also first generation and successful. Lastly, another student
identified the importance of a professor calling her by her name. The first increased her sense of
belonging at the university because she could envision herself now succeeding, and the latter
leading to building trust with her, an important relationship forming moment. The implications
for practice were the importance of university settings hiring and effectively training faculty,
staff, and administrators who represented the diversity of the students they served, in this case
Latin* and first-generation students to be empowering institutional agents. In addition,
practitioners need to make every effort to get to know students by name and begin building a
relationship where students can connect, feel supported, be empowered and trust those working
in positions of authority at universities.
Implications of Campus-Community Factors That Influence Belonging for Family Support
A fifth key implication for practice was institutions providing support for Latin* college
students through family support and increasing family knowledge on how to better support their
student. Latin* students identified their families as a key source to increasing their sense of
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belonging. Their families helped them to continue to move forward, find motivation, be
encouraged and ultimately succeed at an institution of higher learning. Students spoke about their
parents and one student identified how his grandma was a big influence on him to graduate from
college. Conversely, family challenges were experienced by students whose family members had
never gone to college, students added many did not receive any guidance while others felt
pressure at home. There are many reasons to build a relationship with family that can ultimately
benefit institutions Latin* students.
It is highly important that institutions and practitioners be aware and respect how
important Latin* college students’ capital wealth is via their family and culture, and how it
strengthens their overall sense of belonging. Implications for practice include, institutions need
to be establishing a relationship with Latin* college students’ families and support networks,
opportunities abound, including inviting them to campus with students prior to applying to
college, and afterwards to various key university parent events throughout the year. Additionally,
universities and colleges need to build a relationship with the families, particularly the parents
and guardians as this acknowledges the entire student and provides an opportunity to be aware of
the strengths, they bring with them and areas where additional support might be needed. This
means investing in students’ families must be intentional, with additional institutional financial
commitment and to have potentially more staff and programs. In addition, creating opportunities
for workshops and webinars both in English, Spanish and other languages as well as dialects to
again welcome these students and their families, while also increasing knowledge and resources
meant to ultimately support the success of their student is needed.
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Implications for Research
Due to time constraints data analysis only focused on the 1st-year experiences of 10
Latin* students. This was very helpful for gaining insight into how students experienced
academic, social and campus-community belonging at three universities in the midwestern
United States. However, future studies could examine how Latin* students experienced their
following years leading up to graduation. This could lead to exploring other processes, resources
and factors that supported and or hindered their progress throughout their following academic
year(s) and lead to institutional changes that keep university and colleges at the forefront of
increasing Latin* students belonging and ultimate success. Institutions need to take the lead and
be held accountable for proactively and intentionally creating holistic opportunities for the
success of their Latin* students, as described by Nunn (2021). Additionally, there is a need for
more studies of communities not in the west or east coast, as more work needs to be done to be
aware of how Latin* student populations are experiencing universities and colleges during their
1st year. Lastly, there is a rich opportunity and a need to do more research in the Midwest as well
as other rural and more isolated communities across the United States for marginalized student
populations.
Conclusion
The intersection of individual, programmatic, institutional, community, and family
factors significantly influenced the sense of belonging for Latin* college students. Through a
deeper understanding of each of these factors, including how they interacted with one another,
and the differences that more institutional support could have on Latin* college students’
success, this study aimed to better equip institutions, practitioners, and researchers to more
effectively support Latin* students’ 1st year in college and ultimate success. It is also highly
109
important to state that as a practitioner with 25 years of experience in higher education,
universities and colleges need to embrace and commit to serving all students to the best of their
abilities with their strategic plans, resources, and institutional diversity, equity and inclusion
mission statements and goals. Programs and initiatives committed to increasing diversity on
campus as well as institutional commitments to CCTPs, cultural resource centers, diversity and
inclusion officers need to be reclaimed and grown by universities and colleges across the nation.
Institutions of higher education must be leaders both at their campuses, as well as in the
community and across the country and globally. There should be no students falling through the
cracks, who have to figure out on their own how to effectively navigate and succeed at a college
or university when institutions have the knowledge, resources and obligation to foster their
belonging and help all students reach their full potential and goals.
110
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Appendix A: Cohort 1 Student Protocol, November 2021
Focus of the interview: The overarching goal of the student interviews is to understand
how the psychosocial and academic success outcomes of at-promise students change over time
and relate to their program engagement and other student experiences. The goal of this particular
interview is to explore three psychosocial constructs during students ’ transition to college and
two qualitative paper ideas around academic self efficacy and community cultural wealth.
These
interviews will last 1-hour.
Section 1: Introductions and Rapport Building (10-Minutes)
1. Tell me about your decision to attend [campus].
2. Tell me a little more about who you are and your identity. So, said another way, if
your best friend were describing you, what would they say?
3. If you could use one song to sum up your life since coming to college, what would it
be and why?
Section 2. Psychosocial Constructs During College Transition (20-Minutes)
Three constructs of focus: (a) belonging, (b) validation, and (c) mattering. These
questions were measured on the survey and are provided in the participant Excel spreadsheet.
Bear in mind the scores on these constructs (where available) when asking the interview
questions. A primary goal of these questions is to gather data to help explain factors that shape
the development of these constructs during students’ transition to college.
Thank you for your responses on the recent survey we conducted. I am going to ask you a
few follow-up questions about your transition to college and how you are adjusting to college
life.
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1. Thinking about your adjustment to college the first few weeks, how strongly did you
feel a sense of belonging and connection to others here at [campus]?** Why? How
has your sense of belonging changed since the beginning of the semester, if at all?
Describe an experience that affected your sense of belonging during your transition to
college and why.
2. During the first few weeks of college, to what extent did you feel cared about
personally and like your success mattered to others at [campus]?** Why? How has
that feeling changed since the beginning of the semester, if at all? Describe an
experience that affected your feelings about how much you and your success mattered
to others and why.
3. Can you describe an experience you’ve had since coming to college where someone
did or said something that made you feel like you are capable of succeeding in
college? Describe the experience and explain why it had that effect. Can you describe
an experience where someone made you feel like you personally have what it takes to
succeed in college?
**Check the participant Excel sheet first to see if the student has already reported how
strongly they felt a sense of belonging or mattering in college on the survey. Not all participants
will have a score. If the student already has a score, we already have information about how
strongly they felt belonging and/or the extent to which they felt like they mattered and don’t need
to ask again. In those cases, say:
• [For belonging] “Thank you for sharing information on the survey you took recently
about your connections with others on campus. I wanted to follow up about how
strongly you felt a sense of belonging during your transition to college and what
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affected your sense of belonging.” Then proceed with the rest of the line of
questioning noted above.
• [For mattering] “You shared information on the survey about the extent to which you
felt cared about by others on campus and like your success mattered to others. I
wanted to follow up on that to learn more about what affected your sense that others
cared about your success.” Then proceed with the rest of the line of questioning noted
above.
• [For validation] Ask the question noted above as is.
Section 3. Qualitative Paper Ideas (30-Minutes)
Academic Self-efficacy (15-minutes). Goal is to answer the following research questions.
How do low-income students define academic success? How do they understand and experience
academic self-efficacy (i.e., their belief in their capabilities to succeed academically)? What
experiences shape their academic self-efficacy?
1. What does it mean to be a good student in college? How did you come to that
understanding?
2. For you personally, what does it mean to be academically successful in college? Tell
me a little more about how you came to that understanding?
3. How confident do you feel about your ability to achieve your definition of academic
success during college? Why? Has your confidence changed over the semester?
[Probe for specific experiences during college that have affected their confidence in
their ability to achieve academic success.]
127
4. What strengths do you have that you believe will help you achieve your academic
goals in college? Do you have strengths that help you succeed academically that you
feel aren’t recognized by others?
5. What have you learned from your home, community, and past experiences about
being academically successful? How confident are you that you can use what you’ve
learned to help you achieve your definition of academic success in college?
Community cultural wealth/understanding low-income students experiences and
strengths. (15-minutes). Goal is to answer the following research question. Community cultural
wealth is designed with racially minoritized students in mind. What would a similar model look
like that centers low-income students?
6. One of the things that we are interested in this study is understanding how social class
shapes the experiences of students coming into college. When I say the term “social
class,” what comes to mind for you? If the student is uncertain, we might say
something like “social class is defined in a lot of different ways, I’m going to put a
list of different social class categorizations in the chat window. “
7. Can you please read through them and tell me which one most closely matches your
background?”
• lower-class
• working-class
• lower middle-class
• middle-class
• upper middle-class
• upper class
128
8. Prompt: Could you tell me a little more about why you believe that is your social
class background?
9. Social class is often defined through factors such as parents’ or primary caregivers’
income, education, and occupation. Thinking about your own social class
background, can you share how each of those might apply for you
• How would you describe your parents’ or primary caregivers’ income?
• How would you describe your parents’ or primary caregivers’ education?
• How would you describe your parents’ or primary caregivers’ occupation/job?
10. How do you think your social class has impacted your experience getting to college?
Your transition to [institution] over the past few months? What are other personal
experiences or identities that you hold that have been impactful for you as you
transitioned to [institution]?
11. When you think about coming to [institution] and transitioning in, can you think of a
skill set, strengths, or experiences related to your social class that has helped you
navigate that process? What was it? How did it impact your experiences?
Wrap Up
Thank you for participating in this interview. Can you confirm your email with me? Then
we will get your $40 gift card sent to you.
There may be opportunities to participate in future interviews. Would you be willing to
share with me your phone number in the event we wish to contact you for a future interview?
Note to interviewer: Document the phone number, if they provide permission, in the
excel spreadsheet. Document alternative email (if necessary) in the appropriate column in the
excel sheet for incentives. Preference is to use email we have on file.
129
Appendix B: Cohort 1 Student Protocol March/April 2022 (60-Minutes)
Introduction: Skim fall semester transcript for something significant they shared to follow
up on with the student.
1. What’s the best thing that has happened to you this semester?
2. What’s something that’s been really hard to navigate this semester?
3. Where on campus have you felt supported this semester?
4. Tell me something big or small you experienced this semester that made you feel
valued, understood, and respected? Like you’re capable of success in college?
• Be attentive to things they personally experienced, things they witnessed
happen to others, or things they saw or encountered (e.g., poster, email
message, sign).
• These may be big things or small things (like being noticed in class,
someone remembering their name, being invited to sit at a lunch table, etc.).
5. Walk me through your day yesterday [during regular school week] from the time you
got up until you went to bed. (Take notes about the highlights and then ask for more
information about each aspect to create a narrative about their day.)
• Was that a typical day? If not, how was this different from a typical day?
• Be attentive to technology and social media use.
6. How has this semester been similar to last semester? How has it been different from
last semester?
7. Are you exploring majors currently or have you declared a major?
• [If exploring] Can you talk me through how you are going about choosing a
major? How confident do you feel about finding a major that is a good fit for
130
you? Are you connecting with any supports or individuals to guide you in
exploring and choosing a major?
• [If decided] When did you decide? How confident do you feel in your choice
of major? Are you connecting with any supports or individuals to guide you in
your plans for your major?
8. How does [knowing/exploring] your major influence your experiences in
college? Specifically consider academic confidence, wellbeing, and validation. The
quantitative data suggests that students with a declared major have higher levels of all
three as compared to undeclared/exploring students.
9. [If there’s time, but prioritize question 10 and 11] How prepared did you feel to
manage your finances coming to [campus]? What have your experiences been like
managing your finances so far?
10. What are your plans for this summer? Is there anything I didn’t ask about in today’s
interview that you think it is important for me to know?
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
This exploratory qualitative interview study examines how Latin* students experience academic, social and campus-community belonging in three postsecondary institutions in the Midwestern United States. The findings demonstrate that Latin* college students experienced a sense of belonging in complex and fluid ways that were influenced positively and negatively by individual factors, programmatic factors, institutional factors, and community factors. Overall Latin* students showed a strong sense of persevering; however, some were more effective than others, because of additional institutional support they received. In addition to student’s perseverance, students were strengthened by assets derived from their community and family prior to their arrival on campus and a wide variety of individual characteristics and experiences that support how they navigate campus life. Through a deeper understanding of each of these factors, including how they interact with one another, and the difference that more institutional support can have on Latin* college students' success, this study aims to better equip institutions, practitioners, and researchers to more effectively support Latin* students during their 1st year in college and ultimately in achieving success.
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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Vela, William Noe "Billy"
(author)
Core Title
A new lens to examine and increase sense of belonging of Latin* students from postsecondary institutions in the midwestern United States
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Educational Leadership
Degree Conferral Date
2023-08
Publication Date
08/30/2023
Defense Date
07/07/2023
Publisher
Los Angeles, California
(original),
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
1st year in college,academic belonging,at-promise students,campus-community belonging,first-generation college students,institutional agents,institutional support,institutions,Latin* students,midwestern united states,OAI-PMH Harvest,Perseverance,postsecondary institutions,practitioners,predominantly White institutions,pwis,qualitative study,researchers,sense of belonging,social belonging
Format
theses
(aat)
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Corwin, Zoë (
committee chair
), Hallett, Ronald (
committee member
), Samkian, Artineh (
committee member
)
Creator Email
wnv1@yahoo.com,wnvela@usc.edu
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC113302448
Unique identifier
UC113302448
Identifier
etd-VelaWillia-12289.pdf (filename)
Legacy Identifier
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Document Type
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Format
theses (aat)
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Vela, William Noe "Billy"
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application/pdf
Type
texts
Source
20230830-usctheses-batch-1088
(batch),
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
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Repository Location
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Repository Email
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Tags
1st year in college
academic belonging
at-promise students
campus-community belonging
first-generation college students
institutional agents
institutional support
Latin* students
midwestern united states
postsecondary institutions
practitioners
predominantly White institutions
pwis
qualitative study
researchers
sense of belonging
social belonging