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The role of student affairs professionals: serving the needs of undocumented college students

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Content Running head: THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS 1

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS OF
UNDOCUMENTED COLLEGE STUDENTS

by

Dina Mouris

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2018

Copyright 2018 Dina Mouris
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 2

DEDICATION
This accomplishment is dedicated to my mother, Amal. I am who I am because of you.
Thank you for devoting your life and sacrificing many of your dreams by always making me
your first priority. Je t’aime.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I will forever be grateful and indebted to those who have supported me during this
journey. This achievement would not have been possible without a strong network of supportive
individuals who believed in me and cheered me on to the finish line. I would like to sincerely
thank as follows:
My parents, for being the most supportive individuals in my world. I cannot thank you
enough for all of the support and time you have dedicated for me to write this dissertation and
complete this degree. From babysitting on the weekends to taking the girls out to different events
so that I can write, to preparing weekly meals for my family so that I can devote more time for
graduate school, to canceling your personal plans just to make sure that I can finish. I am blessed
to have you.
My husband, Joseph, my high school sweetheart. Thank you for showing me the way, for
always being there for me. Thank you for loving me.
My children, Roselynn and Katelynn. You are my inspiration, my gift from God.
To my extended family and friends, thank you for being there, for encouraging me, and
occasionally having to hear me vent about graduate school. Thank you for understanding my
lack of presence during family gatherings and social events.
My dissertation chair, Dr. Julie Slayton, who patiently supported me and was committed
to guiding me through the entire dissertation process. For the past few years, Dr. Slayton
challenged me in ways that gave me the opportunity to discover and develop skills that I did not
know I was capable of. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work closely with Dr.
Slayton during the dissertation process. Dr. Slayton, thank you for guiding me to the end.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 4

Dr. Monique Datta for serving on my dissertation committee. Dr. Datta was one of the
first professors I had a course with when I first started graduate school. She immediately had a
positive impact on me. She was supportive and encouraging during times where I felt that I did
not have what it takes to be a doctoral student. Dr. Datta, thank you for being you.
Next, I would like to thank Dr. Tracy Poon Tambascia for serving on my dissertation
committee. I am grateful for Dr. Tambascia’s scholarly work and expertise in student affairs as
she was able to support me with thoughtful comments, suggestions and valuable feedback. Dr.
Tambascia, thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Lastly, I would like to thank my USC colleagues for the memories we made and the
friendship that will last a lifetime. FIGHT ON!

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION................................................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................................................3
LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................................................8
LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................9
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................11
Organizational Context and Mission .................................................................................13
Organizational Performance Goal ......................................................................................14
Undocumented Students Historical Background ...............................................................14
Importance of the Study .....................................................................................................18
Stakeholders’ Performance Goals ......................................................................................18
Stakeholder Group for the Study .......................................................................................19
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ...................................................................20
Methodological Framework ...............................................................................................20
Organization of the Study ..................................................................................................21
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................22
Persistence Literature .........................................................................................................23
Tinto’s Theory of Student Integration ...............................................................................24
Astin’s Theory of Student Involvement .............................................................................27
Student Affairs Professionals’ Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences ...28
Knowledge and Skills ........................................................................................................29
Motivation Influences ........................................................................................................34
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 6

Organization Influences .....................................................................................................38
Culture................................................................................................................................38
Conceptual Framework ......................................................................................................40
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………. 46
Participating Stakeholders .................................................................................................46
Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale .....................................................................47
Interview Sampling Recruitment Strategy and Rationale ..................................................47
Data Collection and Instrumentation .................................................................................49
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................50
Credibility and Trustworthiness .........................................................................................52
Ethics..................................................................................................................................53
Limitations and Delimitations ............................................................................................55
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................56
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS ..................................................................................................58
Study Participants……………………………………………………………………......58
Overview of Study Findings……………………………………………………………..61
Finding One: Absence of Organizational Structure, Guidance, and Support for Student
Affairs Professionals ..........................................................................................................62
Theme One: Standardized Training and Onboarding Processes for Student Affairs
Professionals .....................................................................................................................63
Theme Two: Absence of Organizational Support for Student Affairs Professionals to
Serve Undocumented Students ..........................................................................................67
Theme Three: University Services for Undocumented Students .......................................71
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 7

Theme Four: Lack of Data Access to Recognize Undocumented Students ......................75
Finding Two: Knowledge and Accountability Gaps .........................................................78
Theme One: Student Affairs Professionals and Knowledge and Skill Gaps .....................79
Theme Two: Accountability ..............................................................................................82
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................85
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .........87
Summary of Findings .........................................................................................................88
Implications and Recommendations for Practice, Policy, and Research ...........................90
Implications and Recommendations for Practice ..............................................................90
Implications and Recommendations for Policy .................................................................94
Implications and Recommendations for Research .............................................................97
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................98
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................102
APPENDIX A: Interview Protocol ..............................................................................................112
APPENDIX B: Informed Consent/Information Sheet .................................................................116
APPENDIX C: Recruitment Letter ..............................................................................................120

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 8

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Participant Profile………………………………………………………………………59

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 9

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure A. Conceptual Framework prior to Study……………………………………………......42
Figure B. Conceptual Framework after Study…………………………………………………...44

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 10

ABSTRACT
Research suggests that student affairs professionals play an important role in student
persistence. This qualitative study sought to examine student affairs professionals’ perceptions of
the ways that they serve and meet the needs of undocumented students at a public 4-year
research university in the Western United States. The purpose of this qualitative study was to
gain insight and understand how student affairs professionals perceived their abilities,
knowledge, and skills to support the needs of undocumented students at a 4-year public research
university in the Western United States. Furthermore, the study examined the university’s actions
in support or hindrance of student affairs professionals’ abilities to serve undocumented students.
The following eight departments were represented in the study: The Student Outreach and
Retention Center, The Student Life and Leadership Center, The Transfer Student Center and
Student Support Services, The Learning and Academic Resource Center, The Cross-Cultural
Center, The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, The Career Services Center and Housing
Services. 12 student affairs professionals who had been employed at the university between 1½
years to over 14 years were selected to participate in this study. The findings revealed that the
university did not position student affairs professionals to serve and meet the needs of
undocumented students and that there were knowledge and accountability gaps on the part of
student affairs professionals.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 11

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
The undocumented immigrant population has significantly grown in the past few
decades. In 1980, approximately 1 million undocumented immigrants were living the United
States (Teranishi, Suárez-Orozco, & Suárez-Orozco, 2014). 10 years later, by 1990, the
undocumented immigrant population increased to 3.5 million (Passel & Cohn, 2015). As of
2014, an estimated 11.3 million undocumented immigrants were residing in the U.S. (Passel &
Cohn, 2015). Undocumented immigrants account for approximately 5.4 to 5.7% of the U.S. labor
force (Passel & Cohn, 2015). The most substantial number of undocumented immigrants and
their families live in the state of California (2.6 million), which represents 6.8% of all California
residents and 25% of the entire undocumented population in the U.S. (Kim & Chambers, 2015).
Undocumented immigrants are defined as those who live in the U.S. without legal
documentation and permission from the federal government (Abrego, 2008; Drachman, 2006).
These are individuals, adults, families, and often parents with children whom came to the U.S.
legally as a result of work or tourist visas and did not return to their respective home countries
after their visas expired. Others entered the U.S. illegally, without work or tourist visas
(Oliverez, Chavez, Soriano, & Tierney, 2006). Therefore, this population has been labeled as
“undocumented,” which is one of the terms used to identify illegal immigrants and their children
(Abrego, 2008). Of these undocumented individuals, one group is undocumented young adults,
who face specific barriers because of their status. Many of these undocumented young adults,
who have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives, do not recognize that they are considered as
undocumented until they reach high school when they learn the barriers associated with their
immigration status (Gonzales & Chavez, 2012; Perez, 2014). As a result of their legal status,
undocumented students face financial, legal, career, and academic barriers before and during
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 12

their time in higher education, which can then impact their persistence (Abrego, 2008; Teranishi
et al., 2014). Additionally, their lack of authorized legal status creates limited access and
eligibility to seek career opportunities (Gindling & Poggio, 2008).
As of 2015, there were approximately 200,000-225,000 undocumented college students
in the public higher education system in the U.S. These students represent an estimate of 2% of
all college students (Suárez-Orozco et al., 2015). Undocumented college students tend to come
from low socio-economic backgrounds. Approximately 40% of undocumented college students
lived below the national poverty level, compared to 17% of legal, documented immigrant college
students (Abrego, 2008). Undocumented college students also tend to be first-generation and
from historically minoritized and marginalized groups (Arriola & Murphy, 2010).
Undocumented college students rely on several support outlets to navigate the higher education
system. They tend to rely on their peers, friends, and social networks to find information and
resources that are particular to their needs and legal status (Suárez-Orozco et al., 2015). In
addition to the support of their peers, undocumented college students also depend on the support
they receive from institutional agents to provide them with resources on critical educational
elements such as financial aid, academic advising, and career services (Contreras, 2009; Muñoz
& Maldonado, 2012; Perez, Muñoz, Alcantar, & Guarneros, 2011). It is important to examine the
support systems provided by public universities to undocumented students because they are
afforded entrance into institutions of higher education and then they struggle to persist. One of
the resources that has potential to assist with their persistence is student affairs professionals,
who are considered to be a stakeholder group that supports all college students during their
higher education journey. Thus, this study focused on the ways in which student affairs
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 13

professionals were positioned to provide undocumented students with the support that they
needed in order to persist in one 4-year public research university.
In the remainder of this chapter, the organizational context, and mission of this public 4-
year research university are discussed. The related literature on undocumented students, the
importance of the study and stakeholder group, the methodological framework, definitions, and
organization of this dissertation are presented.
Organizational Context and Mission
The specific university that was the focus of this study was located in a larger university
system. The University of ABC system was comprised of 10 public 4-year research campuses
located in the Western United States. Each campus operated under the University ABC
headquarter system (The University of ABC, Office of the President, 2016). The University of
ABC system was founded in 1869 and at the time of the study, had 238,000 students, 190,000
faculty and staff, and 1.7 million alumni (The University of ABC, Office of the President, 2016).
The system offered 150 academic disciplines and 600 graduate degree programs across its
campuses (The University of ABC, Office of the President, 2016). The mission of the University
of ABC system was to provide world-class research, education and public service (The
University of ABC, Office of the President, 2016). One of the 10 campuses were selected for this
study. The University of ABC, Fresh Springs campus, which was founded in the mid- 1960s
(The University of ABC, Regents, 2016). The University of ABC, Fresh Springs had 30,000
students across 192 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, 1,100 faculty members, and
9,700 staff (The University of ABC, Regents, 2016).
According to the University of ABC (2016), approximately 3,045 undocumented students
were attending one of the 10 University of ABC campuses. As of 2015, The University of ABC,
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 14

Fresh Springs campus had 434 undocumented students enrolled (The University of ABC, Office
of the President, 2016). According to the University of ABC, Office of the President (2016) there
was not an appropriate method to identify the documentation status of every student in the
system. Undocumented students attending one of the campuses were identified as “potentially
undocumented” when they appeared in the system data with no identifiable documentation status
(The University of ABC, Office of the President, 2016). To evaluate how student affairs
professionals served and supported the needs of undocumented students, they must have access
to information that appropriately and accurately identified students’ status.
Organizational Performance Goal
The goal of the University of ABC system is to ensure that undocumented students who
attend one of the 10 campuses have the resources and support needed to help them succeed (The
University of ABC, Office of the President, 2016). To achieve this goal, the system established a
3-year commitment plan that extended until 2019 and allocated $8.4 million in funding that was
shared between the 10 campuses to target three areas of support for undocumented students. The
funding was divided as follows: $5 million supported a loan program that helped undocumented
students without access to financial aid gain access to loans, $900,000 per year supported the
legal services center, and $2.5 million was allocated to student services staff support as well as
undergraduate and graduate fellowships (The University of ABC, Office of the President, 2016).
In the next section of this chapter, an overview and historical background of undocumented
students, a discussion of relevant laws and regulations followed by college tuition rules and
financial aid eligibility by U.S. state are discussed.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 15

Undocumented Students Historical Background
Plyler v. Doe (1982), was is one of the most significant U.S. Supreme Court cases on
undocumented students’ access to public education. Under the court ruling, undocumented
children were granted the legal right to attend U.S. primary and secondary public schools free of
charge and without proof of legal residency. However, after completing high school, the court
ruling did not extend undocumented students the same educational privileges to attend higher
education institutions in the U.S. (Gonzales, 2009; Nguyen & Serna, 2014). After K-12,
undocumented students were not protected by any immigration reforms to have the same
educational privileges to continue to higher education institutions without taking into
consideration their legal status. Laws and rules concerning higher education for undocumented
students varied depending on where the student resided.
Respectively each U.S. state had different tuition policies and admissions regulations for
undocumented students. According to the National Immigration Law Center (2014), out of the
50 states, 17 permitted undocumented individuals who graduated from high school and lived in
the U.S. to qualify to pay in-state tuition fees. However, undocumented students in the following
states were not eligible for federal financial aid: California, Florida Colorado, Connecticut,
Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma,
Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington (NILC, 2014). Three states banned undocumented
students’ admission to higher education institutions due to their immigration status, Alabama,
Georgia, and South Carolina (Conger & Chellman, 2013; NILC, 2014). The remaining 36 states
considered undocumented students as non-residents or international students and charged them
out-of-state tuition fees, which was approximately seven times higher than legal or permanent
residents (Flores, 2010; Gonzales, 2009).
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 16

For this study, immigration policies and regulations that are relevant to undocumented
students in the state of California are examined. First, Assembly Bill 540 (AB 540) indicated that
eligible undocumented students who did not meet the requirements were excluded from paying
non-resident tuition to attend a higher education institution (The California Student Aid
Commission, 2016). Under AB 540, qualified undocumented students had to meet the following
eligibility: They must have attended and earned academic credits from a California high school
or elementary school for more than 3 years, have lived in California for more than 3 years, be
registered or enrolled in an accredited university or institution in California, must file an affidavit
indicating that they intended to apply for legal residency, and did not hold a non-immigrant visa
(The California Student Aid Commission, 2016). Students in California who did not qualify to
file for AB 540, were required to pay out-of-state tuition fees to attend higher education
institutions.
Second, The California Dream Act, a combination of two state bills, Assembly Bill 130
(AB 130) and Assembly Bill 131 (AB 131), was passed by the legislature and signed by the
governor. Under AB 130, higher education institutions in California were permitted, at their
discretion, to award scholarships for undocumented students who were qualified and eligible for
AB 540 (The California Student Aid Commission, 2016). Under AB 131, undocumented
students who were eligible for AB 540 bill were able to apply for state financial aid, such as
California State University grants, University of California grants, in-state tuition, governor’s fee
waiver, and private university loans (The California Student Aid Commission, 2016).
The third regulation is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Undocumented students who entered the U.S. illegally with their parents might be deported back
to their home countries at any given time. Under DACA, undocumented students who met the
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 17

criteria had the opportunity to apply for a 2-year authorization that permitted them to defer their
removal or be deported from the U.S. without notice and also apply for a work authorization
(The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2016). To qualify for DACA,
undocumented students had to have graduated from a U.S. high school, entered the country
before to their 16
th
birthday, and submitted proof that they were a current student (The United
States Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2016). However, DACA was merely an extension
to stay in the U.S. and was not an authorization to lawful immigration (The United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2016). DACA did not offer any guarantee that allowed
undocumented students to renew a temporary 2-year work authorization or delayed deportation
(Gonzales, Terriquez, & Ruszczyk, 2014; Passel & Lopez, 2012). DACA was vital information
for student affairs professionals to know, especially those who provided career counseling to
undocumented college students and counseled them on methods to find a part-time job or
internship off-campus that required them to have legal permission to work in the U.S.
As of September 5, 2017, the White House Administration, under Donald Trump
announced the ending of the DACA program for undocumented individuals living in the United
States (The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2017). Those who had DACA
prior to the ruling, would be able to utilize their DACA permits. However, once the permit
expired, undocumented individuals would no longer be able to renew their permit or apply for
the DACA program.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 18

Importance of the Study
It is significant to examine how student affairs professionals serve and support the needs
of undocumented students at the University of ABC, Fresh Springs for several reasons. As
previously mentioned, the undocumented student population continues to grow across higher
education institutions in the U.S. and colleges and universities must be prepared to address
growth in their student population to ensure persistence. As mentioned earlier, in various U.S.
states across the country, undocumented students are legally allowed to attend higher education
institutions under several immigration policies that allow them to earn a college degree. Student
affairs professionals are believed to be an essential stakeholder group when it comes to student
persistence. They provide undocumented college students with guidance on how to choose a
major, classes and prerequisites, how to apply for financial aid, loans, or work-study, and how to
find an internship or part-time job (Teranishi et al., 2014). The access to social and economic
mobility increasingly develops with a college degree. According to Pascarella and Terenzini
(2005), college persistence is crucial for marginalized students, because it provides them with the
ability to gain human capital and have social and economic mobility as they complete a college
education. In other words, if undocumented students persist and graduate from college, they will
contribute to the economy.
Stakeholders’ Performance Goals
At the University of ABC, Fresh Springs, student affairs professionals, students, and
faculty directly contribute to the achievement of the organization’s goal. Student affairs
professionals across the university who hold roles in academic advising, career services, student
services, financial aid, student life, housing services and many more provide campus services to
student populations such as, undocumented, minorities, first-generation, transfer students, non-
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 19

traditional and LGBT. Faculty members provide the knowledge foundation to educational
disciplines that support learning. The students contribute to the university by making up its
population, culture, diversity, and student create a continuous life of a university campus. These
stakeholders collectively contributed to the organization’s performance goal as they provided
supporting learning environments for all students on campus.
Stakeholder Group for the Study
For this study, the stakeholder group consisted of student affairs professionals at the
University of ABC, Fresh Springs. Student affairs professionals is the general term used to
identify employees across campus university departments who work directly with students to
support their needs. Student affairs professionals who held positions in areas of student support
services roles, academic advisors, career counselors, and financial aid advisors made up the
stakeholder group for the study as they directly interacted with and contributed to undocumented
students’ experiences during their time at the university. Academic advisors provided assistance
and guidance related to the students’ academic studies that were related to the completion of a
degree program. Career counselors likely provided guidance on career-related resources based on
the students’ major and future career aspirations. Financial aid officers were expected to deliver
guidance and continuous information on financing and paying for higher education. Academic
support, career counseling, and financial aid were the three areas that undocumented students
need the most information about to better navigate the higher education system (Contreras, 2009;
Teranishi et al., 2014). Student affairs professionals were chosen as the stakeholder group
because they were identified as professionals who had the power to negatively or positively
impact the persistence of marginalized students as they interacted with undocumented students
and helped them navigate the higher education system.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 20

Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this study was to evaluate how student affairs professionals at the
University of ABC, Fresh Springs served and supported marginalized students on campus,
specifically students who identified as undocumented. A qualitative research methodology was
employed to gather the data. Student affairs professionals were the stakeholder group for this
study. The following research questions guided this evaluation research study to address the
knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational elements concerning student affairs
professionals:
1. How do student affairs professionals interact with the organization in ways that support
or impede their ability to serve undocumented students?
2. What are student affairs professionals’ perceptions about their ability to meet the needs of
undocumented students?
Methodological Framework
This study employed a qualitative research methodology using snowball sampling to
recruit participants who held positions at the university as student affairs professionals. To
ensure a diverse sample of participants, eight departments and 12 student affairs professionals
who had been employed at the university between 1½ years to over 14 years were selected to
participate. The following departments were represented in the study: The Student Outreach and
Retention Center, The Student Life and Leadership Center, The Transfer Student Center and
Student Support Services, The Learning and Academic Resource Center, The Cross-Cultural
Center, The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, The Career Services Center and Housing
Services. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews lasting between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30
minutes were conducted in-person with the 12 student affairs professionals.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 21

Organization of the Study
Five chapters are used to organize this dissertation. This chapter provided the reader with
the fundamental concepts, terminology, and background of undocumented immigrants in the
U.S. The organization’s mission, goals, stakeholders, as well as the importance of this study was
also introduced. Chapter Two provides a review of the literature surrounding this study. An
examination of persistence literature using Tinto’s (1975, 1993) theory of student integration and
Astin’s (1984) theory of student involvement will be presented to understand how students
persist in college. Additionally, Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis framework to review the
literature that addresses the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences of student
affairs professionals. Chapter Three details the knowledge, motivation and organizational
elements examined as well as the methodology for participant selection, data collection, and
analysis. Chapter Four provides an analysis of the data collected and presents two significant
findings. Lastly, Chapter Five provides a summary of the study, the implications, and research-
based recommendations.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 22

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
This study sought to understand how student affairs professionals perceived their
abilities, knowledge and skills to support the needs of undocumented students at a 4-year public
research university in the Western United States. Furthermore, the study examined the
university’s actions in support or hindrance of student affairs professionals’ abilities to serve
undocumented students. The research questions that guided this study were:
1. How do student affairs professionals interact with the organization in ways that support
or impede their ability to serve undocumented students?
2. What are student affairs professionals’ perceptions about their ability to meet the needs
of undocumented students?
Student affairs professionals in the study were professionals who held positions in student
support services departments such as The Student Outreach and Retention Center, The Student
Life and Leadership Center, The Transfer Student Center and Student Support Services, The
Learning and Academic Resource Center, The Cross-Cultural Center, The Office of Financial
Aid and Scholarships, The Career Services Center and Housing Services. The following bodies
of literature were employed: persistence in higher education, knowledge and skills, the
motivation of student affairs professionals, and organizational influences. In this chapter, I
review two central theories present in the persistence literature: Tinto’s (1975, 1993) theory of
student integration and Astin’s (1984) theory of student involvement. The persistence literature
provides a general understanding of the factors that influence student persistence in higher
education. In combination with persistence literature, Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis
framework was utilized to examine the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 23

concerning student affairs professionals’ abilities or hindrance to support the needs of
undocumented students.
Persistence Literature
There is an extensive body of literature on student persistence (cf., Astin, 1977, 1984,
1999; Bean & Metzner, 1985; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Spady, 1971; Tinto, 1975, 1993,
1997, 2012). The body of literature on persistence reveals that students’ background
characteristic, pre-college experiences, academic preparedness, institutional factors, external
environment, family, and the interaction that occurs between the student and his/her higher
education institution have an influence on persistence (Astin, 1984; Bean & Metzner, 1985;
Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Tinto, 1975, 1993). To answer the research questions, the
following theories were selected as the foundation of persistence literature: Tinto’s (1975, 1993)
theory of student integration and Astin’s (1984) theory of student involvement. Tinto’s (1975,
1993) theory of student integration presents an understanding of why students withdraw from
higher education institutions. Further, Tinto’s theory also describes the importance of academic
and social integration and the impact they have on student persistence? Astin’s (1984) theory of
student involvement offers insight into the importance of student engagement in college and the
impact it has on persistence. These theories helped gain insight into the experiences of
historically marginalized students and the correlation to persistence. There was not a significant
amount of literature that explicitly addressed how undocumented students persisted in college.
For this reason, a general review of persistence was utilized to understand the experiences of
undocumented students.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 24

Tinto’s Theory of Student Integration
One of the first theories that emphasized the interaction between higher education
institutions and the influence it had on student persistence was Tinto’s (1975, 1993) theory of
student integration. Tinto’s (1975) theory of student integration suggested that persistence was a
longitudinal process between the student and the institution. The theory of student integration
took into consideration students from low-income backgrounds and minorities; however, it was
specific to college students as a population. Tinto’s (1975) article “Dropout from higher
education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research,” described the process of integration
between students and institutions as one of the key factors that caused students to withdraw from
college voluntarily. Tinto (1975) defined “drop-out” as those individuals who were enrolled in a
higher education institution and failed to complete a college degree within a particular period of
time. He identified two different types of drop out from higher education: 1) voluntary
withdrawal, and 2) academic failure (Tinto 1975). Tinto’s research focused on voluntary
withdraw. Tinto argued that it was critical to differentiate between the two types of drop out
behavior as each provided different insights that could be used to inform institutions regarding
how they could address institutional policies as well as identify target student populations that
required different kinds of services (Tinto, 1975).
Tinto’s (1975) theory of student integration was developed based on Durkheim’s (1961)
theory of suicide, which was founded on a social psychology phenomenon. The theory was
grounded on frameworks from the economics of education. Durkheim’s (1961) theory of suicide
stated that individuals were more likely to commit suicide when they did not adequately integrate
into society. According to Durkheim (1961), there were two types of integration: 1) moral, also
known as value, and 2) collective affiliation. Suicide increased when moral value and collective
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 25

affiliation integration were lacking (Durkheim, 1961). When individuals’ values and beliefs were
different from those values and beliefs that society held, it resulted in a lack of interaction
between the individual and society, resulting in inadequate collectivity. In the context of college
students, Tinto (1975) found that social environments that resulted in college dropouts were
similar to the concept that forced an individual to withdraw from society by committing suicide
as they both were a result of the lack of interactions with others within a particular system.
Tinto argued that higher education institutions had academic and social systems that
represented the broader collectivity of institutions (1975). Academic systems were students’
grade point average, and educational and intellectual growth and social systems were the peers,
group, and faculty interactions (Tinto, 1975). Students entered higher education institutions with
a variety of pre-college characteristics. Students’ background characteristics (e.g., social status,
sex, race, ethnicity, gender), family background (socioeconomic status), pre-college experiences
(e.g., academic preparedness and social attainment), motivational attributes (i.e., career,
educational expectations, and academic motivation) shaped the way students perceived their
institution, which then influenced how they integrated within the academic and social system
(Tinto, 1975). When students in a college environment failed to integrate within the social
system or the academic system of that institution, it led to low commitment and therefore
increased the likelihood that they would leave the institution (Tinto, 1975). In other words,
students could be integrated into one of the systems, academic or social, without being integrated
into both systems, which would lead them to drop out of the institution. Furthermore, Tinto’s
theory suggested that institutional goal commitment, which referred to the individual’s
expectations in achieving a goal (e.g., 2- or 4-year degree). According to Tinto (1975),
institutional goal commitment was an important predictor of how students interacted with their
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 26

higher education institution to achieve their educational goal, which was a factor in persistence.
Also, individual institutional commitment referred to the commitment students made to attend a
particular institution, such as financial and time commitment (Tinto, 1975). Therefore, Tinto’s
theory suggested that for students to persist, they had to have positive perceptions of their
institution, have an individual and institutional commitment, and have high academic and social
integration.
Two key attributes were linked to departure from higher education institutions.
According to Tinto (1993), intentions and commitment were the two attributes that were the root
of student departure from higher education. Intentions were one’s goals and plan to complete
his/her educational goal. Commitment was a person’s motivation, drive, or effort using this/her
time, energy and often his/her resources to attain his/her goals, such as completing a college
degree. Commitment was one of the critical components of persistence (Tinto, 1993). At the
institutional level, four different experiences took place once students entered higher education
that could affect his or her departure, which included: adjustment, difficulty, incongruence, and
isolation (Tinto, 1993). These experiences included to all student populations, without taking
into consideration any precise variables. The first experience that students experienced once they
entered higher education institutions was adjusting to a college environment, socially as well as
intellectually (Tinto, 1993). Adjustment was one of the fundamental indicators of persistence
(Tinto, 1993). Second, students might have experienced difficulty adjusting to college, usually as
a result of the transition of separation. For example, separation from family, peers, social groups,
as well as difficulty adjusting to varying social and intellectual demands (Tinto, 1993).
Adjustment was a process that all students might have experienced at any given time. Third,
incongruence occurred when the student’s interests, social values, behavior styles, needs, and
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 27

preferences mismatched those of the institution (Tinto, 1993). Incongruence occurred through
formal and informal interactions with staff, faculty, and students. Lastly, isolation transpired
when students and members of their institution failed to interact with one another. The absence
of interaction and contact led to social and academic isolation from their institution (Tinto,
1993).
Astin’s Theory of Student Involvement
Astin’s (1984) theory of student involvement was the amount of physical and
psychological energy that college students committed to their social and academic development.
The term involvement is similar to motivation; however, Astin preferred to use the term
involvement in the education field (Astin, 1984). Time and effort were the primary factors of
involvement (Astin, 1984). For example, Astin (1984) referred to involvement as the amount of
time students dedicated to studying, how much time they spent on their college campus, their
participation in student organizations, and how much they interacted with their peers and faculty
members (Astin, 1984). On the other hand, students who were not involved dedicated less time
focusing on their academics had limited participation in student organizations on campus and
had fewer interactions with other students and their professors (Astin, 1984). Astin’s belief about
involvement was similar to the Freudian concept of cathexis, which is the idea that individuals
dedicated mental energy to other individuals, such as their friends or family or on matters such as
work and school rather than investing in themselves (Astin, 1984). The term involvement was
concerned with the behavior of the individual, how he/she acted and what he/she did rather than
how he/she felt or thought about a particular task (Astin, 1984).
According to Astin (1984), student involvement theory had five primary hypotheses. A
student’s involvement could be general or specific depending on the physical or psychological
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 28

energy of the student (Astin, 1984). An example of a general involvement could be the student’s
experience with a particular activity, such as joining an honors program. An example of a highly
specific involvement could be the investment a student dedicated to studying for a particular
exam. The second hypothesis was that involvement occurred on a continuum and that students
could be involved in various degrees in the activity (Astin, 1984). The third hypothesis was that a
student’s involvement could be measured using qualitative and quantitative methods (Astin,
1984). It emphasized the amount of time as well the quality students invested into the activity or
task. The fourth hypothesis indicated that students’ involvement in an educational program was
also associated with the quality and quantity of their learning and personal development (Astin,
1984). In other words, students who were involved were more likely to experience increased
learning as well as grow personally. The fifth and last hypothesis indicated that when an
educational policy was beneficial, it was directly associated with increased student involvement
(Astin, 1984). Therefore, institutional policies that sought to increase student involvement on
campus contributed to increasing student persistence.
Student Affairs Professionals’ Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
In the subsequent section of this chapter, the literature on knowledge and skills that are
specific to student affairs professionals is presented. Then, a discussion of the motivation
theories followed by motivational factors that are found to influence student affairs professionals
is addressed. I then present pertinent literature on organizational influences that support or
impede student affairs professionals and their abilities to support undocumented students. Lastly,
I present the conceptual framework that guided the sampling, data collection, and analysis I
undertook for the study.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 29

Knowledge and Skills
General theory. Knowledge and skills serve as fundamental resources for individuals to
determine how to achieve performance goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). Clark and Estes (2008)
found that individuals were often unaware that they lacked knowledge or skills to achieve
organizational goals. The gap analysis framework provided guidance on how individuals can
assess the how, when, what, where, and who to reach organizational performance goals (Clark &
Estes, 2008). The next section of the chapter highlighted assumed knowledge and skill influences
of student affairs professionals that might cause barriers and persistence barriers to supporting
and serving undocumented students.
Knowledge Types. Four different knowledge categories describe an individual’s level of
knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive (Krathwohl, 2002). Factual
knowledge is specific and basic. It allows individuals to understand general information
accurately. Knowing the meaning of a particular term or the simple understanding of details that
are relevant to the task performed is an example of factual knowledge (Krathwohl, 2002).
Conceptual knowledge is more complicated and consists of understanding the relationship of
how tasks work. For example, Krathwohl (2002), described conceptual knowledge as one’s
knowledge of principles, theories, models, and structures. Procedural knowledge is how
individuals perform tasks. For instance, using elaborate techniques to solve a particular problem
related to completing a task is an example of having procedural knowledge (Krathwohl, 2002).
Lastly, metacognitive knowledge is the awareness of oneself and cognition. In other words,
metacognitive knowledge is being aware of one’s beliefs and feelings (Krathwohl, 2002).
Stakeholder knowledge influences. To understand the extent to which student affairs
professionals served undocumented students in higher education, an analysis of the knowledge
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 30

they needed to be supportive of undocumented students is presented. Declarative, procedural,
and metacognitive knowledge were explored to understand how each might be important to
undocumented students’ persistence.
Declarative knowledge influences. Student affairs professionals need to know that there
are several status terms related to students who identify as being undocumented in higher
education. Understanding the difference between a documented, international, illegal immigrant,
and an undocumented student is vital as these terms are likely to be associated with additional
student status categories, such as being a minority and first-generation (Abrego, 2008). These
terms are essential to distinguish as they might indicate additional ways in which undocumented
students require assistance. Valenzuela, Perez, Perez, Montiel, and Chaparro (2015) found that
student affairs professionals often lacked the knowledge to recognize between the different
statuses. They also found that student affairs professionals, specifically in admissions,
recruitment and financial aid, lacked the knowledge needed to inform undocumented students
how to appropriately fill out financial aid applications, particularly in the sections about a
student’s legal status. Also, Valenzuela et al. (2015) argued that due to student affairs
professionals’ lack of knowledge, they often advised students to choose inaccurate status options
such as international, which is a wrong classification.
Student affairs professionals need to know that underserved populations enter the college
environment with unique background characteristics and attributes. Students of all statuses enter
higher education with diverse characteristics that are a direct influence on their persistence
(Pascarella, & Terenzini, 2005; Tinto, 1975; 1982). Tinto (1975) suggested that students entered
the higher education system with a diverse set of attributes (i.e., race, gender, sex), academic pre-
college experiences (i.e., grades, GPA), family backgrounds (i.e., socioeconomic status, values)
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 31

that influenced their higher education experience. Bensimon (2007) found that higher education
professionals often lacked specialized knowledge as they did not always understand that it was
necessary for them to adjust their advising or counseling techniques (depending on which
department they work in) when serving underserved student populations, specifically minority
students. These background characteristics and attributes are essential for student affairs
professionals to understand for them to provide undocumented students with the level of service
needed.
Tinto’s theory of student integration would argue that students’ interaction with the
university (e.g., peers, staff, administrators, and faculty) had a direct impact on the students’
institutional commitment (Tinto, 1975). Tinto (1975) suggested that students’ academic and
social systems within the university influenced the students’ educational experiences. Therefore,
underrepresented student groups’ interaction with student affairs professionals played a key role
in whether a student chose to persist or drop out of college (Tinto, 1975). In the context of
undocumented students, student affairs professionals need to know the relationship between
students’ background characteristics and precollege attributes and how these background
characteristics might translate into the kinds of needs and support services for their persistence
(Gildersleeve & Ranero, 2010; Tinto, 1975).
Procedural knowledge influences. Student affairs professionals need to know how to
provide support to undocumented students. Academic advisors, career counselors, and financial
aid advisors need to know how serving undocumented students might demand a diversified set of
knowledge and skills due to the immigration and legal policies that impacted how they access
and experience the higher education system (Gildersleeve, Rumann, & Mondragon, 2010). As
the literature suggests, undocumented students are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 32

higher education as they face financial, social, legal, and educational limitations due to their
immigration status (Kaushal, 2008). Tinto (1975) suggested that external factors outside of the
institutional setting could impact a student’s persistence or drop out decision. The immigration
laws and legal policies regarding access to higher education for undocumented students are
continuously changing at the federal and state levels, which in turns impacts the various methods
student affairs professionals utilize to serve undocumented students (Gildersleeve & Ranero,
2010). Burkhardt et al. (2011) found that 17% of student affairs professionals in financial aid
departments did not know if their college campus had changes in financial aid laws concerning
undocumented students. The national study also found that 10% of student affairs professionals
in the admissions and registrar departments were also unsure about admissions policies or were
informed of new practices that the university had adopted that specifically targeted to meet the
needs of undocumented students (Burkhardt et al., 2011). Nearly 50% of the student affairs
professionals who participated in the national study indicated that they were unaware if their
respective universities had clear guidelines for staff on how to appropriately serve undocumented
students (Burkhardt et al., 2011).
Gildersleeve et al. (2010) suggested that student affairs professionals must have the
knowledge to understand how political and immigration policies create barriers for
undocumented students and how this influences their persistence in higher education. The more
knowledge student affairs acquire about the external factors that impact persistence, the better
they will be able to serve undocumented students (Gildersleeve et al., 2010). Consequently,
when student affairs professionals are knowledgeable about external barriers, they will be able to
build trust with undocumented students and learn more about how to serve them given their
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 33

specific barriers (Gildersleeve et al., 2010), which in turn increases student engagement with the
institution (Tinto, 1975).
Metacognitive knowledge influences. Student affairs professionals need to recognize
their strengths and weaknesses in serving undocumented students. Baker (2006) defined
metacognition as an individuals’ “thinking about thinking” (p. 1). Student affairs professionals
need to reflect on how they serve undocumented students and how their counseling and advising
methods directly impact the persistence of underrepresented students in general. For example,
counseling and advising techniques can be utilized with students who are not undocumented but
identify as first-generation or minorities, which is a population that faces barriers in higher
education. There is a gap in the literature on the metacognitive knowledge of student affairs
professionals who serve marginalized student groups in higher education. However, there is an
existing body of literature that addresses how college students learn in the classroom and how
their academic experiences impact their engagement with the university (Anderson, 2002;
Kramarski & Michalsky, 2009). Although not directly related to student affairs professionals,
Prytula (2012) evaluated the metacognition of teachers in a professional learning community and
its relationship to their work in the classroom. One distinct finding from the study was that the
teachers’ environment was the first place where metacognition could be developed (Prytula,
2012). Prytula (2012) found that when teachers were able to recognize their own strengths and
weaknesses, they were capable of influencing and empowering students to be engaged in the
learning process.
Baker (2006) found that when individuals were in control, they approached difficult
tasks, evaluated progress, and used complex strategies to solve problems. According to Mayer
(2011) individuals who are self-regulated utilized the information they learned and appropriately
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 34

implemented it accordingly. Student affairs professionals’ ability to identify their limitations and
challenges will allow them to take control of how to counsel and advise serving undocumented
and underrepresented student populations (Mayer, 2011).
Motivation Influences
General theory. This section presents possible motivational influences that impacted
how and to what extent student affairs professionals serve undocumented students in higher
education. Mayer (2011) stated that “motivation is an internal state that initiates and maintains
goal-directed behavior” (p. 39). Schunk, Pintrich, and Meece (2009) described motivation as “the
process, whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained” (p. 4). Establishing a goal
must first be identified and then defined for the motivation influence to occur. An individual’s
motivation is influenced by internal (cognitive and affective) and external factors (cultural and
social forces) (Schunk et al., 2009).
Schunk et al., (2009) found that an individual’s motivation is related to three factors,
active choice, persistence, and effort. Each of these motivation factors may suggest how student
affairs professionals approached and served undocumented students. Active choice determines if
an individual chooses to pursue one task over another (Rueda, 2015). Persistence determines if
an individual chooses to continue performing the task, and effort determines the amount of
mental effort an individual must invest in the task (Rueda, 2015). In the next section of this
chapter, two motivational theories are discussed, expectancy-value, and self-efficacy in order to
examine how student affairs professionals interacted with undocumented students in higher
education.
Self-efficacy theory. One of the motivational theories derived from social cognitive
theory is self-efficacy theory. According to Pajares (2006), self-efficacy is the foundation of
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 35

motivation. Bandura (2000) stated that self-efficacy beliefs are the judgments and perceptions
that individuals have about their capabilities to perform specific tasks. One’s self-efficacy can
have an impact on how he/she established goals and performed tasks (Bandura, 2000).
Furthermore, Bandura (2000) argued that self-efficacy beliefs impact the amount of effort
individuals invested in persisting to reach their goals. Pajares (2006) described self-efficacy as
the process in which the individual chooses to be motivated to produce outcomes to complete a
goal.
Student affairs professionals’ self-efficacy. Student affairs professionals need to feel
efficacious in serving undocumented students in higher education. The literature presents
limitations on how the self-efficacy of student affairs professionals is directly related to the
persistence of undocumented students. Bensimon (2007) suggested that there was a gap in the
literature that focused on how the knowledge, beliefs, experiences, and self-efficacy of educators
and professionals in higher education directly impacted how students experienced education.
Due to the limited literature on student affairs professionals’ self-efficacy, an examination of the
persistence literature explained the importance of self-efficacy for student affairs professionals in
helping underserved students persist in college. According to Tinto (2012), underserved students
in higher education were more likely to persist if they received social support from the faculty
and staff at their institution. Marginalized students who received mentoring and counseling from
faculty and staff were more likely to persist in college (Lidy & Kahn, 2006; Salinitri, 2005;
Sorrentino, 2007). These findings suggested that the self-efficacy beliefs of student affairs
professionals had a fundamental impact on the persistence of underserved students. Student
affairs professionals have a different set of beliefs and biases about how they should serve
undocumented students due to the federal, state, and immigration policies that have impacted the
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 36

reputation of undocumented students. For example, Abrego (2011) argued that the federal, state
and immigration policies regarding undocumented immigrants have a powerful impact on how
the media socially constructed and portrayed this population into categories, such as being
illegal. These social constructs shaped by society could impact the biases of student affairs
professionals, which they bring with them into the university culture. According to Bensimon
(2007), higher education professionals develop their theories about why students succeed or fail
in college, which are created by their own experiences and interaction with a particular student
population. Bensimon (2007) referred to this process as “implicit theories” where their sense-
making shapes the professionals’ experiences. When student affairs professionals believed that
they had the capabilities to serve the needs of students, they were more likely to spend the time
necessary to support and serve undocumented students persist in higher education.
Expectancy-value motivational theory. Two motivation questions are associated with
expectancy-value theory. According to Eccles (2009), the first question measures an individual’s
expectancy “can I do the task?” and the second question measures his/her value to perform the
task “Do I want to do the task?” These two motivation questions help predict if the individual
wants to perform the task and perceived value in completing the task. Four different concepts
determine the value that the individual perceives in performing a task (Eccles, 2009). The first
concept is intrinsic value, which refers to the individual’s level of enjoyment and interest when
performing the task (Eccles, 2009). If an individual enjoys the task, he/she is likely to complete
the task. The second concept is attainment value, which refers to the individual’s self-identity
and preferences relevant to the task (Eccles, 2009). If an individual finds a relationship between
his/her identity, personality, and interests in relation to the task, he/she places a higher value on
the task (Eccles, 2009). The third concept is utility value, which refers to how the task correlates
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 37

with the individual’s short and long-term goals and the fulfillment of his/her needs (Eccles,
2009). The fourth concept is perceived cost, which refers to the amount of time, effort, energy,
emotions that the individual places to participate in the task (Eccles, 2009). In other words,
perceived costs are the product of pros and cons that an individual considered to engage in the
task.
Student affairs professionals and expectancy value. Student affairs professionals need
to find value in supporting the distinct needs of undocumented students. There is a gap in the
literature between the expectancy value of student affairs professionals and the relationship to
serving undocumented students. Despite, there is a body of literature that examined students’
values and academic experiences to their persistence. According to Astin (1984), the theory of
student involvement refers to “the physical and physiological energy that a student dedicated to
the academic experience” (p. 1). Astin (1984) argued that the theory of student involvement
informed higher education professionals about how students developed during their time at the
institution and the impact it had on their persistence. In other words, the engagement that
occurred between the student and his/her institutional environment had a direct impact on his/her
persistence. Moreover, the persistence literature indicated that when students felt valued by their
institution, they were more likely to persist (Tinto, 1975). If student affairs professionals find
value in serving the needs of undocumented students, they will impact their persistence to remain
in college, regardless of the barriers faced by undocumented students. Bensimon (2007) found
that underserved, minority students who received support and guidance from a student affairs
professional or a faculty member experienced higher levels of confidence to succeed in their
academic journey. These findings suggested that when student affairs professionals found value
in investing time, energy, and effort to serve the needs of marginalized student groups, they can
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 38

have a direct impact on their persistence. Organizational influences are presented in the next
section of this chapter.
Organization Influences
General theory. The third factor of the performance gap analysis is organizational
barriers (Clark & Estes, 2008). According to Clark and Estes (2008), organizational barriers are
the “lack of necessary equipment and missing or inadequate work processes” (p. 103).
Organizational barriers are identified by examining which work processes are not aligned with
the organizational goals and structure (Clark & Estes, 2008).
According to Clark and Estes (2008), individuals may have higher motivation and
knowledge skills, however, if the work process contains flaws, it can prevent the organization
from reaching its performance goals. For organizations to adequately examine their work
processes, culture must be taken into consideration as it is present in every organization (Clark &
Estes, 2008). Clark and Estes (2008) stated that “culture is the most important work process in all
organizations” (p.107). Culture is described as the values, goals, beliefs, and feelings that
individuals within the organization experience (Clark & Estes, 2008). Gallimore and
Goldernberg (2001) explained that within a culture, there are two categories or concepts; cultural
models, and cultural settings.
Culture
Cultural models. In the education setting, Rueda (2011) noted within a school setting
cultural models determine policies, structures, and practices. Similarly, Schein (2004) defined
culture as “constantly reenacted and created by our interactions with others and shaped by our
own behavior” (p. 3). Cultural models are present in every organization but are not readily
visible to notice (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). According to Gallimore and Goldernberg
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 39

(2001) cultural models are the “shared mental schema or normative understandings of how the
world works, or ought to work” (p.47). Cultural models within organizations help professionals
understand what is valued and what should be avoided. Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001)
referred to them as the “rules of interactions, and the purpose of interaction” (p. 47). Similarly,
Cole (1985) referred to cultural models as the shared ways in which individuals think and
perceive when responding to changes and challenges in their respective environments.
Cultural models and student affairs professionals. Cultural models are embedded in
the organization’s structure and processes and are exercised by the members of the organization
by their shared beliefs and assumptions (Schein, 2004). Tanaka (2002) argued that higher
education institutions often assumed that students from all populations naturally adapted to the
culture of the university, which may be challenging for marginalized students. Dowd and Korn
(2005) found that higher education institutions tended to adopt the middle-class culture, which
assumed that students would naturally be engaged and integrated with the university culture.
Additionally, Dowd and Korn (2005) found that institutions often did not recognize the fact that
marginalized students struggled with being undocumented, having work responsibilities in
addition to their academic studies, being concerned about the lack of financial aid or being
deported from the country. Higher education institutions often not recognize the “cultural effort”
required from marginalized students in order to fit in with the university’s culture (Dowd &
Korn, 2005). These cultural models might be hard to easily detect as they are embedded into the
university’s culture.
Cultural settings. The second cultural component, cultural settings, is interconnected with
cultural models. Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) defined cultural settings as “occasions where
people come together to carry out a joint activity that accomplishes something they value”
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 40

(p. 48). Unlike cultural models, which are transparent, cultural settings are readily visible to
individuals within the organization (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001).
Cultural settings and student affairs professionals. The interaction between student
affairs professionals and the organization is embedded in the institutions’ culture. For example,
Tull (2006) found that organizational culture in higher education institutions had an impact on
the attrition and retention of student affairs professionals, especially those who were new in the
field of higher education. For example, Barnhardt, Ramos, and Reyes (2013) found that higher
education institutions provided little direction to student affairs professionals on how to serve
undocumented students across several areas of their educational experience (academic advising,
financial aid, career counseling). The lack of institutional guidance and clarity associated with
legal and immigration policies caused student affairs professionals to avoid undocumented
students as a population, which merely indicated a lack of organizational guidance and clear
direction (Barnhardt et al., 2013). Furthermore, the study suggested that student affairs
professionals needed to be prepared to implement institutional policies that met the needs of
undocumented students in an equitable method (Barnhardt et al., 2013). The lack of awareness
within higher education institutions caused undocumented students to want to keep their
presence invisible. For instance, several research studies indicated that undocumented students
were afraid to disclose their immigration status for anxiety of being deported (Abrego, 2008;
Perez, 2010; Valenzuela et al., 2015).
Conceptual Framework
The purpose of a conceptual framework is to provide a structure for the study (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016). The structure consists of the relevant theories, concepts, and thoughts that will
guide the study (Maxwell, 2013). The research questions that guided this study were:
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 41

1. How do student affairs professionals interact with the organization in ways that support
or impede their ability to serve undocumented students?
2. What are student affairs professionals’ perceptions about their ability to meet the needs
of undocumented students?
Undocumented students at The University of ABC, Fresh Springs interacted with student affairs
professionals in several departments on campus during their undergraduate education. For the
purpose of this study, student affairs professionals were identified as those individuals who
served and supported students and held student affairs roles at the university. In order to address
the research questions, I analyzed student affairs professionals’ knowledge and motivation and
the organizational influences affecting them. The knowledge and skills were essential to examine
to gain insight if student affairs professionals had adequate knowledge and skills to serve
undocumented students. The motivation element was utilized to address the self-efficacy and
expectancy value of student affairs professionals. Lastly, the organizational component served as
a roadmap to identifying cultural barriers within the university’s practices that impacted the ways
in which student affairs professionals serve undocumented students. Although each of the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences presented earlier in this chapter were
discussed independently, these influences are interrelated with one another. Persistence theory
was utilized to gain insight into how students in higher education interact with the institution and
if it was connected to student persistence.
Figure A represents the conceptual framework for this study prior to entering the field. I
drew upon the body of literature on undocumented students and the barriers they faced in higher
education. Persistence literature served as a foundation to gain insight on the importance of
interaction between higher education institutions and college students in general. Lastly, I
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 42

proposed to analyze the knowledge (procedural, declarative, and metacognition), motivation
(expectancy value and self-efficacy), and organizational factors (cultural models and cultural
settings) that influenced how student affairs professionals serve undocumented students.

Figure A. Conceptual Framework prior to Study.
The knowledge and skills component included procedural and declarative knowledge and
metacognition. I expected for student affairs professionals to serve their students, their
knowledge of the fundamental status terms related to students who identified as undocumented
as well as first-generation and minorities would be important to the way they served and
supported them. I asserted that student affairs professionals’ counseling and advising methods
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 43

were related to the persistence of marginalized students, specifically those who identified as
being undocumented in higher education. I suggested that student affairs professionals’
knowledge and skills about the legal and immigration policies in the United States were essential
components to supporting undocumented students accordingly.
I further argued that there might be motivational barriers to serving undocumented
students. I asserted that student affairs professionals needed to find value in supporting the
distinct needs of undocumented students. To evaluate the motivational component, I expected to
use expectancy-value theory. Additionally, I suggested that student affairs professionals’ self-
efficacy would play a role in the way that they supported the specialized needs of undocumented
students.
Lastly, I suggested that organizational cultural barriers within the university’s practices
would play a role in the way that student affairs professionals served and supported
undocumented students. I asserted that the university might not understand the struggles and
barriers faced by undocumented students and therefore might assume that they would integrate
into the university’s culture. Additionally, I argued that student affairs professionals likely lacked
direction from the university on how to support the needs of undocumented students. After
exiting the field and analyzing the data, I found that my original conceptual framework did not
adequately capture the relationship between student affairs professionals, the organization, and
their ability to meet the needs of undocumented students. Figure B illustrated below is the
revised conceptual framework.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 44

Figure B. Revised conceptual framework.
In Figure B, student affairs component remains the same as the study sought to
understand student affairs professionals’ perceptions of the way that they serve and meet the
needs of undocumented students. The knowledge component, which examined their perceived
abilities and skills to support the needs of undocumented students, also remained the same. In
other words, the knowledge that student affairs professionals have or do not have plays a
significant role in their ability to serve undocumented students. The components that changed
were the motivation and the organization influencers. Bensimon (2007) suggests that there is a
gap in the literature that focuses on how the knowledge, beliefs, experiences, and self-efficacy of
educators and professionals in higher education directly impacts how students experience
education. However, after analyzing the data, I now believe that the value student affairs
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 45

professionals place on serving students and their level of self-efficacy are not barriers to their
ability to support and serve the needs of undocumented students. In fact, the role of the
organization is illustrated differently in the revised framework. Now I propose that the
organization impedes student affairs professionals’ ability to serve and support undocumented
students when the organization lacks structure and standardized processes as well clear guidance
and support for student affairs professionals who serve undocumented students. Thus, student
affairs professionals will not have the knowledge and skills or access to data that will help them
support undocumented students. In addition, student affairs professionals will not have the
knowledge and skills necessary in relation to the immigration policies and laws surrounding
undocumented students. Furthermore, they will not know how to utilize or transfer the
information they acquire from any training offered by their institution. Consistent with the
literature, Bensimon (2007) found that higher education professionals often lacked specialized
knowledge as they did not generally understand that it was necessary for them to adjust their
advising or counseling techniques when serving underserved and minority students.
Additionally, the new framework reflects an added component, accountability, as it emerged
from the findings as an important element related to whether student affairs professionals obtain
the skills and knowledge they need to serve undocumented students. If the organization does not
hold student affairs professionals accountable to ensure that they have the skills necessary to
better support undocumented students, there is a high likelihood that they will not acquire them
on their own. My theory is consistent with the literature, Barnhardt, Ramos, and Reyes (2013)
found that higher education institutions provided little direction to student affairs professionals
on how to support undocumented students.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
In Chapter Three, I present the research design and methods for data collection and
analysis that I used to study student affairs professionals’ perceptions of the way that they served
and met the needs of undocumented students at a public 4-year research university in the
Western United States. A qualitative research approach was utilized to gather and analyze the
data. A qualitative approach was appropriate for this study because it was fundamental to collect
data in a natural setting, where the researcher could gather data from the participants (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). The following research questions guided this study:
1. How do student affairs professionals interact with the organization in ways that support
or impede their ability to serve undocumented students?
2. What are student affairs professionals’ perceptions about their ability to meet the needs of
undocumented students?
Participating Stakeholders
The purpose of this study was to investigate how student affairs professionals in a public
4-year research university were positioned to support the needs of undocumented students. More
specifically, this stakeholder group was chosen because they held positions in areas that were
critical for the persistence of a population of marginalized college students. For example,
academic advisors support students and provide guidance on which classes to take, course
prerequisites, and help guide students choosing a college major. Career counselors provide
counseling and coaching on career-related matters, such as how to find a part-time job, internship
or professional development opportunities. Financial aid advisors provide guidance on how to
pay for higher education, using resources such as financial aid (state and federal) as well as
eligibility for scholarships.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 47

Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale
To ensure a diverse sample of participants, eight departments and 12 student affairs
professionals who had been employed at the university for 1½ years to over 14 years were
selected to participate. The departments represented in the study included the following: The
Student Outreach and Retention Center, The Student Life and Leadership Center, The Transfer
Student Center and Student Support Services, The Learning and Academic Resource Center, The
Cross-Cultural Center, The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, The Career Services
Center and Housing Services. The following criteria guided the purposeful selection process:
Criterion 1. Roles. Student affairs professionals who held positions in academic
advising, career counseling, financial aid, and student services departments at the university.
Criterion 2. Years of work experience. Student affairs professionals had to have been
employed for at the University of ABC, Fresh Springs for a minimum of 6 months. The reason
for this criterion was to ensure that participants had passed their probationary employment period
with the institution and could provide insight into life as a university employee.
Criterion 3. Nature of roles. Student affairs professionals invited to participate had to
have roles that were considered to be student-facing, meaning that the nature of their job required
regular interaction with students.
Interview Sampling Recruitment Strategy and Rationale
This study employed a qualitative research methodology using snowball sampling to
recruit participants who held positions at the university as student affairs professionals. Snowball
sampling occurs when participants refer the researcher to other possible participants for the study
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Snowball sampling is a common type of purposeful sampling as it
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 48

allows the researcher to identify key participants who meet the criteria established and can
answer the research questions addressed (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Participants were initially invited via email, followed by a telephone call to participate in
this study. Participants were selected by the criteria presented above as well as referrals that
emerged during the interviews. Participants referred other student affairs professionals as
potential stakeholders who could provide valuable information needed for this study. Once
participants responded to the email, they were provided with an overview of the study and its
purpose and were advised that participation in the study was voluntary and that they had the right
to withdraw at any time during the study. Participants were also given an opportunity to
participate in the interview by selecting a location of their choice, on or off-campus. All 12
participants elected to meet on-campus. The goal was to recruit 10-12 student affairs
professionals to provide insight for this study. Out of 24 invitations sent via email to student
affairs professionals, 12 responded to the study invitation. Out of the 12 participants, only four
participants responded from the first invitation and three were sent multiple reminders to respond
with their intent to participate and five were referred by another participant. The only department
that did not respond to the study invitation via email or return telephone calls or referral emails
was the undergraduate, undeclared academic advising department, which was initially included
as a target department for data collection. In this particular department, the academic counselors
and management were contacted by telephone and email but failed to return any communication.
The 12 student affairs professionals’ participants varied in the years of experience as
professionals as well as employment with the university. The shortest time employed at the
university was 1½ years with the longest employed participant having over 14 years of service at
the institution. One hundred percent of the participants stated that they had worked in the field of
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 49

education, which included K-12, prior to joining the university as student affairs professionals.
One hundred percent of the participants had earned a Bachelor’s degree and 84% had a Master’s
degree. Race, age, and other demographic data was not taken into consideration for this study.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
For this qualitative study, I used one-on-one interviews to gather insight on student
affairs professionals’ perceived abilities and the organizational barriers that impeded or
supported their abilities to support undocumented students. According to Patton (2002),
interviewing is a key method of data collection for studies in qualitative research when the
researcher wants to interpret behaviors and feelings to enter into the participant’s world. I used
semi-structured interviews with student affairs professionals as the primary tool for data
collection. This method of interviewing was appropriate because it allowed for probing on the
organizational elements, knowledge and skills, and motivation as represented in the conceptual
framework for this study.
A total of 12 student affairs professional across eight different departments participated in
this study. The departments include the following: The Student Outreach and Retention Center,
The Student Life and Leadership Center, The Transfer Student Center and Student Support
Services, The Learning and Academic Resource Center, The Cross-Cultural Center, The Office
of Financial Aid and Scholarships, The Career Services Center and Housing Services. In-person
interviews lasting between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes and were recorded with
permission from participants. Due to the political sensitively surrounding the topic of this study,
it was left to the discretion of the participant to choose a location of their choice to conduct the
interview. One hundred percent of the participants chose to meet on-campus. Eighty-three
percent of the participants met in their offices with the door closed. Seventeen percent of
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 50

participants had the door open with student workers and staff inside their office during the
interview. Prior to starting each interview, participants were informed that the audio recordings
would be sent to a third-party company for professional transcription and stored in a secure
location with limited access to the data. Audio recording interviews is the most common way to
ensure that all the verbal information shared by the participants is accurately recorded and
preserved for analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
The interview protocol consisted of 25 questions that aimed to understand students affairs
professionals’ knowledge (factual, procedural, and metacognitive) motivation (self-efficacy and
expectancy-value) and organization influences (cultural models and cultural settings) and how
these factors impeded or supported their abilities to serve undocumented students, more
specifically taking into consideration persistence theories, Tinto (1975) theory of student
integration and Astin’s (1984) theory of student involvement. Participants were provided with a
copy of the interview questions that guided their interview. Additional questions were aimed to
gain insight into the way the university prepared and supported student affairs professionals to
perform their jobs. Due to the political and sensitive nature of the study, the last question in the
interview protocol permitted student affairs professionals the chance to comment on any
additional comments or thoughts that they may not have discussed during the semi-structured
interview.
Data Analysis
Data analysis began during data collection. During each interview, handwritten notes
recorded observations such as the physical environment and facial expressions made by
participants as well as clarifying questions. Additionally, handwritten notes helped me to take
into consideration emotions, and thoughts and keep my biases in check. After the conclusion of
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 51

each interview, I wrote reflective notes, first by hand and then typed them up in a Word
document. The reflective notes recorded my thoughts, concerns, and initial conclusions about the
data in relation to the conceptual framework and research questions.
After I left the field, the audio-recorded interviews were professionally transcribed by a
third-party company. Prior to coding, I reviewed each transcript multiple times and listened to
the audio-recordings as I reviewed the hand-written notes from each interview. Corrections were
made to the transcriptions to note any errors that were not included. In the first phase of analysis,
I utilized Corbin and Strauss’s (2014) analytic tools to uncover comparisons, language, and
structure of the transcripts to gain a deeper understanding of the data. In the first phase, I looked
for empirical codes that emerged from the data and applied a priori codes from my conceptual
framework. During the second phase of analysis, empirical and a priori codes were aggregated
into analytic/axial codes. In the third phase of data analysis, pattern codes and themes were
identified as they emerged in the data and in relation to the conceptual framework and study
questions. At this point in the process, I created codes and assigned each code a “topic” into a
codebook to compare emergent patterns and themes for all 12 participants. Based on the patterns
found, I was able to create themes and sub-themes, which I then utilized to generate the findings
for this study. I returned to reviewing each analytic memo and transcripts for all 12 participants
to capture the data in relation to my research questions. I used the data I analyzed from the
interview transcripts to support my assertions. I cross-referenced the data and supported each
theme in relation to the research questions, which helped me identify the two main findings of
the study.

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Credibility and Trustworthiness
In qualitative studies, credibility and trustworthiness are essential to establish because the
data is grounded in the voices and opinions of the participant’s assumptions and beliefs in
relation to the “real world” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In qualitative research, there are a variety
of methods to establish credibility and trustworthiness such as triangulation, member checks, and
reflexivity (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The process of triangulation allows the researcher to use
various types of data collection and then cross-check the credibility of the data (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). The next method, member checks, also known as respondent validation (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016), allows the researcher to gather feedback from the participants to ensure that the
findings from the data collected are accurate. Member checks are of the most important methods
that aid researchers to eliminate the possibility of any misunderstandings (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016) and provide researchers the opportunity to identify any biases and misinterpretations
during the data collection process (Maxwell, 2013). Lastly, reflexivity, a process that permits the
researcher to self-reflect on biases and assumptions, which can affect the outcome and findings
of the study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
In this study, I exercised reflexivity (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) and collected meaningful
rich data (Maxwell, 2013) to establish credibility and trustworthiness. I reflected on the data
immediately after each interview by writing reflective notes to document my thoughts, feelings,
and reactions regarding the insight shared by the participants and how the information related to
the research questions in this study. Reflective notes were initially hand-written in a notebook,
which I securely kept in a safe location during the data collection and analysis process. As the
primary researcher for this study, I recognized that due to my affiliation as a student affairs
professional in another university location within the system, alumni, a first-generation and
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 53

minority, I am cognizant that I have biases towards the study and the reality of the findings. I
collected and analyzed the data in this study by accounting for my biases, and I focused on the
meaning of the findings and how it answered the research question in this study. Furthermore, I
spent many months reviewing and analyzing the data and discussing potential interpretations of
the findings while taking into consideration my biases with my dissertation chair.
Additionally, I collected significant rich data (Maxwell, 2013) during in-person one-on-
one, semi-structured interviews with each participant, which lasted between 45 minutes to 1 hour
and 30 minutes. Interviews were audio-recorded and professionally transcribed by a third-party
company. I reviewed each interview transcript multiple times and listened to the audio-
recordings at the same time to ensure the credibility and accuracy of the data. I incorporated
additional hand-written notes taken during the interviews and took into consideration the
reflective notes to capture any relevant data points.
Lastly, I used triangulation of sources by interviewing 12 participants to cross-check the
data by comparing and contrasting responses from all 12 participants to identify patterns and
themes relevant to the research questions. Triangulation is a vigorous method to increase
credibility due to the multiple uses of different data collection outlets (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016). In this study, I triangulated the findings by creating a table with repetitive data
points by participants’ answers to each of the 25 questions asked during the interviews and
compared it to the codebook.
Ethics
As a qualitative researcher, ethical considerations must be taken into account when
engaging in research because the insight shared by participants is collected via meaningful
conversations (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I understand the importance of protecting human
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 54

subjects in the study by adhering to the IRB regulations. Per the guidelines established to protect
and respect participants during a research study, I submitted this study to the University of
Southern California Institutional Review Board (IRB) and abided by their regulations and
guidelines regarding the protection of the rights and privacy of the participants in this study. Part
of the IRB protocol, I provided participants with information regarding their rights and
confidentiality (Glesne, 2011). Prior to entering the field to collect data, informed consent forms
were supplied to all 12 participants which included information on the purpose of the study, their
role, the researcher’s role, compensation, voluntary withdraw, and their right to accept or decline
to answer specific questions during the interview. I took the time to carefully explain to each
participant that their participation in the study was confidential, entirely voluntary and that they
had the right to withdraw from the study without any penalty during anytime of the study.
Additionally, participants were informed that the data collected would be kept confidential and
their identity will remain anonymous for their protection. I gave each participant sufficient time
to read the consent form and ask any relevant questions prior to signing the form. Prior to the
start of each interview, I obtained permission from participants to audio-record using a mobile
device as well as a backup recording device. I informed them that the information they shared
during the study will be stored and secured on a computer that is password protected. At the
conclusion of the interview, I provided participants with a $10.00 gift card. A few days after
each interview, I sent participants a thank you email to demonstrate my appreciation for their
time and insight.

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Limitations and Delimitations
There were three limitations and delimitations of this study. One of the limitations of this
study was the accuracy and truthfulness of the information provided by the participants as it was
based on self-reported responses. One hundred percent of the participants in this study self-
reported their personal interpretations and opinions about how they perceived the organization’s
support to student affairs professionals in relation to supporting undocumented students. Their
responses were solely based on their professional and personal experiences with the organization
which may or may not have been precise. The reason this is a limitation is that I had to count on
their willingness to be truthful with me and recognize that I am unable to determine if each of
their responses was truthful. There were two specific reasons why they might not have believed
they could be completely truthful with me. These two reasons were the political climate and their
fear that their jobs might have been at risk if they were truthful.
With respect to the political climate, at the time of data collection, the university was
experiencing political tension and protests in relation to the new White House Administration.
Participants might have shared information that was “politically correct.” They might have
believed that they had to remain neutral to the topic of undocumented individuals.
With respect to their fear and job security, as a result of national debates regarding access
to state services for undocumented individuals, participants might have withheld information in
fear that they might jeopardize their jobs. In other words, by disclosing their support for
undocumented students, participants might have felt scared to openly share their views on
supporting them, in fear that the researcher would identify their political preferences.
The second limitation was recruiting participants from the undergraduate/undeclared
advising department on-campus, which were initially included as a vital department to interview.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 56

Throughout the entire duration of the study, multiple attempts were made to include the
academic advisors, via telephone, emails and in-person. However, no response was returned, and
therefore I was unable to include academic advisors as a representative sample for this study.
The last limitation is my position as a university employee of the same university-wide
system as the participants in this study. Although not employed at the same university location as
the participants, this may have influenced their responses to the interview questions.
The first delimitation of this study is that it focused exclusively on student affairs
professionals and no other stakeholder group that served undocumented students at the university
was included. The data was analyzed used the lens of those student affairs professionals who
served undocumented students. The voices of undocumented students or any other marginalized
student population was not considered.
The second delimitation is that as a novice researcher, I developed the interview protocol
that contained weaknesses that shaped the data I captured. The interview protocol was created in
a way that did not provide sufficient information needed to answer the research questions. Third,
I missed opportunities to probe further and ask follow-up questions during the interviews. I
discovered this during the data analysis phase as I reviewed the transcripts multiple times and
realized I missed opportunities to probe further to gain more insight to help me answer the
research questions. I have failed to recognize critical elements in the data that would have
contributed to the findings.
Conclusion
The qualitative study sought to examine student affairs professionals’ perceptions of the
ways they served and supported undocumented students at a public 4-year research university in
the Western United States. The study examined student affairs professionals’ perceived
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 57

knowledge and skills to support the needs of undocumented students. Furthermore, the study
examined how student affairs professionals perceived the university’s actions in support or
hindrance of their capabilities to serve undocumented students. This chapter presented the study
design, participants, sampling criteria, recruitment strategy and methodology for conducting the
study. Additionally, credibility and trustworthiness were explained in detail. Lastly, this chapter
included the study’s limitations and delimitations. The next chapter presents the findings of the
study.

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CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
The purpose of the study was to understand student affairs professionals’ perceptions of
the way that they serve and meet the needs of undocumented students at a public 4-year research
university in the Western United States. The study examined how student affairs professionals
perceived their abilities and skills to support the needs of undocumented students. Additionally,
the study sought to gain insight into how the student affairs professionals perceived the
university’s actions in support or hindrance of their abilities to serve undocumented students.
The study was guided by the following research questions:
1. What are student affairs professionals’ perceptions about their ability to meet the needs of
undocumented students?
2. How do student affairs professionals interact with the organization in ways that support
or impede their ability to serve undocumented students?
Study Participants
Interviews were conducted with 12 student affairs professionals across eight different
departments at the university. The departments represented in the study included the following:
The Student Outreach and Retention Center, The Student Life and Leadership Center, The
Transfer Student Center and Student Support Services, The Learning and Academic Resource
Center, The Cross-Cultural Center, The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, The Career
Services Center and Housing Services. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews lasting between
45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes were conducted in-person with the 12 student affairs
professionals who made up the participant pool for this study. The 12 student affairs
professionals were given the choice to interview at the location of their choice. All 12 student
affairs professionals chose to be interviewed on-campus at the university. Table 1 provides
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 59

information on the participants of the study, their departments, occupation level, highest
education level achieved at the time of the study and the years employed at the university.
Table 1
Participant Profile
Pseudonym Occupation Department Highest Education
Level
Total Years
Employed at
the University
Angela Director The Student
Outreach and
Retention Center
Doctor of Philosophy,
Education
6 years
Brenda Dreamers
Coordinator
The Student
Outreach and
Retention Center
Bachelor of Arts,
Psychology
2 ½ years
Ariel Director The Cross-Cultural
Center
Master of Public
Administration
1 ½ years
Joseph Assistant
Director
The Cross-Cultural
Center
Master of Education,
Student Affairs
9 years
Molly Associate
Dean
Student Life &
Leadership

Master of Arts,
Educational
Leadership
3 ½ years
Martin Associate
Director
Housing Services Master of Arts,
Leadership Studies &
Higher Education
5 years
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 60

Bella Internship
Coordinator
The Career Services
Center
Bachelor of Arts,
Communication
14 years
Ivonne Financial Aid
Counselor
The Office of
Financial Aid and
Scholarships
Bachelor of Science,
Business
Administration
1 year
George Financial Aid
Counselor
The Office of
Financial Aid and
Scholarships
Master of Business
Administration,
Finance
10 years
Rose Director The Career Services
Center
Master of Arts,
Higher Education
3 ½ years
Charlie Director

Transfer Student
Center & Student
Support Services

Master of Education,
Educational
Leadership
9 years
Kate Director The Learning and
Academic Resource
Center
N/A N/A

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 61

Overview of Study Findings
Two findings emerged from the data analysis process. The first finding showed that the
university did not have a standardized process established to help guide and direct student affairs
professionals on how to support and serve the needs of undocumented students. Four themes
emerged from finding one. The themes revealed that 1) the absence of structure extended to the
lack of standardized training and onboarding processes for new student affairs professionals as
well as ongoing training support 2) there was a lack of organizational support for student affairs
professionals to serve undocumented students 3) there was a lack of consistency in department-
specific services to meet undocumented students’ needs 4) student affairs professionals lacked
access to data to help identify undocumented students. The first finding is consistent with the
student persistence literature that showed that students who have more interaction with their
institution of higher education are likely to persist than students who have fewer interactions
with their higher education institutions. More specifically, Tinto, in his theory of student
integration, argued that students’ interaction with the university (e.g., peers, staff, administrators,
and faculty) had a direct impact on the students’ institutional commitment (Tinto, 1975). He
suggested that students’ academic and social systems within the university influenced students’
educational experience. Therefore, underrepresented student groups’ interaction with student
affairs professionals play an important role in whether a student persists or drops out of the
higher education institution.
The second finding that emerged from the data showed that there were knowledge and
accountability gaps on the part of student affairs professionals. Specifically, student affairs
professionals believed that they did not have sufficient knowledge in respect to the immigration
policies and laws associated with undocumented individuals, which impacted their abilities to
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 62

serve and meet the distinct needs of undocumented students. This finding is consistent with the
literature that demonstrates, that higher education professionals often lacked specialized
knowledge as they did not generally understand that it was necessary for them to adjust their
advising or counseling techniques when serving underserved and minority students
(Bensimon, 2007). Two themes emerged from the second finding, revealing that 1) student
affairs professionals did not have the knowledge and skills to support the needs of undocumented
students and 2) the university did not hold student affairs professionals accountable to ensure that
they supported undocumented students. I will tackle each of the findings and themes in the next
section of this study.
Finding One: Absence of Organizational Structure, Guidance, and Support for
Student Affairs Professionals
The interviews provided rich data from the 12 student affairs professionals who were
tasked with roles that served all college students attending the university. The interviews
revealed that student affairs professionals believed that the university did not have an approach
or system in place that provided them with direction on how they should support the needs of
undocumented students. Student affairs professionals believed that the university provided
general supportive statements regarding serving students regardless of their immigration or
citizenship status. However, student affairs professionals were not provided with consistent
directives on how, in their respective roles and departments, they should serve undocumented
students. There was variation with respect in the ways in which the 12 student affairs
professionals understood the services their departments could provide in order to support the
needs of undocumented students. This finding is consistent with Barnhardt, Ramos, and Reyes’s
(2013) study in which they found that higher education institutions provided little direction to
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 63

student affairs professionals on how to serve and support undocumented students with their
educational experiences in various areas of support such as academic advising, financial aid and
career counseling. In the next section of this chapter, I will tackle the four themes that emerged
from the first finding:1) the absence of structure extended to the lack of standardized training and
onboarding processes for new student affairs professionals as well as ongoing training
support, and 2) there was a lack of organizational support for student affairs professionals to
serve undocumented students, and 3) there was a lack of consistency in department-specific
services to meet undocumented students’ needs, and 4) student affairs professionals lacked
access to data to help identify undocumented students.
Theme One: Standardized Training and Onboarding Processes for Student Affairs
Professionals.
The first theme revealed that at the time of hire by the university, student affairs
professionals did not go through a formalized onboarding and training process. This was not only
with respect to serving undocumented students but overall, student affairs professionals did not
experience an official onboarding process in order to perform their jobs. New hires learned on-
the-job and learning was self-initiated. Most of the knowledge, skills and experience they had
coming into their jobs were acquired from their previous roles.
More specifically, 75% of student affairs professionals who participated in this study
stated that they did not have a formal onboarding and training process when they were first hired
by the university. Furthermore, 83% of student affairs professionals stated that they learned how
to perform their jobs from past employment experiences as well as self-initiated training
activities prior to joining the university. For example, Angela shared the following statement
regarding her own training and onboarding when she was hired at the university:
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 64

You asked me how I was trained, I wasn’t. A lot, a lot of student affairs professionals I
think come to these jobs with our heart in our hand. I now always, when people say I
want your job, I say go get a Master’s in student affairs, because I don’t have a Master’s
in student affairs and I feel at a loss about understanding student development and
understanding different ways of working with college students right. That’s one end. But
even we serve undocumented students right, aside from the [Undocu]Ally training that
Brenda does and has been doing it was all self-taught, self-learned. So, I think training
and support is important. You know. Right before you get into the field and as you are in
field. So that’s all... because things are shifting and changing all the time.
Angela’s first assertion that “you asked me how I was trained, I wasn’t” indicates that as a new
student affairs hire at the university, she did not receive any training or go through a structured
onboarding process in respect to her job. Angela’s statement reflected the fact that the university
did not have a formalized training and onboarding process for new hires who were tasked at
serving student populations. Angela overtly stated that student affairs were a group of
professionals who were passionate about being in the field of education and wanted to help
students develop and succeed “a lot, a lot of student affairs professionals I think come to these
jobs with our heart in our hand.” However, Angela believed that passion was important, but not a
sufficient driver that prepared student affairs professionals for their jobs. Angela believed that
student affairs professionals did not come into their roles with in-depth knowledge, which
created a gap in their preparation to meet the needs of the students they served.
Furthermore, Angela indicated that her inability to fully comprehend the stages of student
development and work with college students as they grew and changed during their time at the
university was also partially due to the fact that she did not have a Master’s degree in higher
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 65

education. She did not believe that she came into her role with the right skill set and therefore
she did not anticipate the challenges and implications for her job. Angela stated that having the
knowledge and relevant educational background would have been more effective to perform her
role at the university and that she believed that that the university did not provide her with the
strategy and tools as a new professional in the field. She was not given a strategy to meet the
needs of college students, she learned on-the-job, using a trial and error approach.
Additionally, not only that the lack of training and onboarding was absent from the
university’s hiring process, Angela also acknowledged that the university did not provide
ongoing training and support after they were hired and student affairs professionals initiated their
own learning. Angela’s declaration, with respect to supporting undocumented students directly,
shows that student affairs professionals acquired their knowledge independently in order to equip
themselves with the proper skills needed to support them. Aside from the UndocuAlly training,
Angela stated that she did not have the support to meet the specific needs of undocumented
students. Angela’s response indicates the absence of structured training and onboarding
processes as well as continued on-the-job support for student affairs professionals.
Consistent with Angela’s responses, Brenda, the Dreamers Coordinator described her
own training and onboarding as a new student affairs professional at the university:
No, no there was no training assigned to do this job. That’s a tough one because you
know we are seen as the experts on this issue. So, there’s not much training for us. I can
tell you I have received training on how to process you know the paperwork [laugh] Oh
my gosh… that’s the only training I have received. I didn’t receive any training but
because this is so new across the nation, serving undocumented students right. In student
affairs or in higher education. So, I didn’t receive any training, but it was more of the
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experience that I had working with undocumented individuals before coming into this
position that prepared me to be in this position.
Brenda’s statement is consistent with the overall finding that student affairs professionals,
regardless of expertise or knowledge for a particular student population, did not experience a
structured training and onboarding process. By indicating, “no, no there was no training assigned
to do this job.” Brenda demonstrated that she was not formally trained and did not go through an
onboarding and training process as part of her hiring process for university employees. Brenda
believed that the university did not provide training as she was already identified as someone
who did not need the training because she was seen as the expert with respect to serving
undocumented students. Brenda believed she was identified as the expert due to her own
previous knowledge and expertise working with undocumented students. Brenda stated, “so I
didn’t receive any training but it was more of the experience that I had working with
undocumented individuals before coming into this position that prepared me to be in this
position.” She acknowledged that her knowledge and experience acquired prior to working at the
university contributed to her ability to be successful in her current role as the Dreamers
Coordinator as she felt that she had more insight with respect to undocumented students than
those hiring her. Additionally, Brenda believed that the lack of training and onboarding in
relation to her particular role was due to the uniqueness of undocumented individuals, stating
that because this population was somewhat new to higher education, that proper training had not
yet been identified by the university. Brenda perceived that she was and continued to be the
solution to the problem of how to properly serve undocumented college students.
Similarly, Ariel expressed a similar experience regarding her training and onboarding
when she was hired in her position as the Director of the Cross-Cultural Center:
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So, to perform my job here, since I’ve been here, I did basic mediation training. And
these are all kind of self-imposed. Yea, I mean you know encouraged by my supervisor
but not like part of my onboarding process necessarily.
Ariel’s response “I did basic mediation training” indicates that the university’s training and
onboarding process was not consistent across the board. Some student affairs professionals were
not assigned any training when they were hired, such as Angela, who was also a Director, while
others such as Ariel were provided with a choice to receive basic mediation training. Ariel stated,
“These are all kind of self-imposed,” which shows that student affairs professionals did not
experience a structured training and onboarding process. As Ariel indicated, “Not like part of my
onboarding process necessarily” directly demonstrates the absence of a structured university
onboarding process. Instead, they primarily learned on-the-job and had the freedom to self-
initiate their own training and learning activities.
Similarly, Martin expressed how he was trained to perform his job as a student affairs
hire as: “Yes, school of life training.” Martin’s statement “Yes, school of life training,” was
offered with sarcasm, implying that he learned to do this job independently, without proper
training.
Theme Two: Absence of Organizational Support for Student Affairs Professionals to Serve
Undocumented Students.
In addition to the lack of structure and coherence for the training and onboarding of new
student affairs hires, the university did not have an approach or clear directives that helped
provide support and guidance to help student affairs professionals support the needs of
undocumented students. The interviews revealed that Ninety-two percent of student affairs
professionals expressed that the only support that they had from the university to serve
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undocumented students was the availability of the UndocuAlly training offered and facilitated by
one professional and expert on-campus, the Dreamers Coordinator. The lack of ongoing
organizational support in relation to student affairs professionals’ particular roles and serving
undocumented students is represented in the following statement made by Bella who served as
the Internship Coordinator for the Career Services department. Bella expressed:
Other than the UndocuAlly program, I’m not aware of any resources that the university
has to support undocumented students, in general or my role specific to them. So, I don’t
have any resources to help them find employment.
Bella’s statement indicated that the most significant commitment that the university made to help
her support undocumented students was the availability of the UndocuAlly training. In other
words, the investment made by the university to hire the Dreamers Coordinator, who developed
and led the UndocuAlly training was considered the only resource she had. Additionally, Bella
did not believe that any additional support directly related to serving the employment needs of
undocumented students existed for her in respect to her role as the Internship Coordinator.
Similarly, Rose stated: “What support do we receive… I mean really just the training.”
Rose clearly stated that she felt that the only support that the university had for her as a student
affairs professional to serve undocumented students was the UndocuAlly training. The word
“the” before “training” shows that student affairs professionals referred to the UndocuAlly
training as the one and only resource they had. The training signaled how isolated it was in
relation to meeting the needs of undocumented students.
Additionally, student affairs professionals lacked general direction and support as overall
university employees. This is grounded in the voices of study participants such as Charlie who
served as a Director for the Transfer Student Center and Student Support Services department
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on-campus. He stated: “You know I don’t know if there’s any direct support. I think that my boss
is very hands off. Generally, I don’t get any direction from my boss.” Charlie indicated that his
supervisor was not involved in providing supervisory direction and support that would help him
in his role within his respective department as well as any general support and guidance in
relation to serving the specific needs of undocumented students. Charlie’s statement implied that
he was independently responsible to acquire his own support and guidance. Charlie’s statement
shows a general absence of direction and leadership within the organizational structure and how
student affairs professionals lacked the support in their respective roles but also to support
student populations who might require additional assistance, such as those who were
undocumented.
Similarly, the absence of direction is evident in Rose’s testimonial: “Nobody has the
answer… Right but nobody knows what to do. My colleagues and career services staff don’t
know what it is… well we don’t know what to do especially with our new U.S. administration.”
Rose’s statement showed the absence of direction and clear guidance for student affairs
professionals that helped address the needs of undocumented students. Rose’s statement that
“Nobody has the answer” suggests that the university did not have the mechanisms and processes
to better support its professionals to serve undocumented students. By saying “we,” she referred
to all student affairs professionals and indicated that she believed that they did not have control
over the problem and therefore felt helpless. In addition, Rose believed that the challenges faced
by student affairs professionals, as well as the university as a system, were the result of the
changes in the leadership in the White House. Rose expressed that the legal and immigration
implications as well as the newly elected U.S. president created a new uncertainty that
contributed to the absence of organizational direction with regard to serving undocumented
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students. The university system that was in place was responding to the previous White House
administration’s policy, which favored undocumented students. As a result of these changes, the
political landscape had shifted and caused an uncertainty on what the federal approach would be
in relation to undocumented individuals.
Similarly, Ariel expressed her concerns regarding the lack of direction from the
university: “Even like the statement that the University President put out after the election or
after the ban, it wasn’t necessarily like a directive.” Ariel stated that student affairs professionals
were not given any direction from the university leadership during a time of change in the
Presidency and the cabinet. The new White House administration as well as the changes in
immigration policies surrounding the future of undocumented individuals in this country created
a sense of uncertainty for this student affairs professional. She believed that the university
leadership did not provide clear direction to student affairs professionals that helped them better
understand changes that had implications for undocumented students. Ariel’s statement directly
indicated how ambiguous and unclear she believed the university leadership was even after
changes in the White House administration and once again after the new President released the
Executive Order that impacted undocumented individuals as a population in the U.S.
Similar to the other student affairs professionals who expressed their frustrations
regarding the absence of structure and organizational support, Angela stated: “I think everybody
is looking for answers…”
Angela’s statement showed that student affairs professionals did not know how to address and
effectively serve the challenging needs of undocumented students during a time of uncertainty.
Her use of “everybody” suggested she was referring to the university as a whole, not just student
affairs professionals who needed more direction. The lack of clarity is demonstrated in Angela’s
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statement when she said “looking for answers,” stating that professionals did not have proper
university direction that was necessary for them to know how to navigate the new changes that
would affect undocumented students.
Furthermore, Molly stated:
“I think we were just trying to figure out how to do it better and correctly.”
Molly’s statement indicates that student affairs professionals were actively learning and
exploring better methods that helped them navigate how they served and supported
undocumented students, suggesting that they did not know how to suitably address their needs
and challenges. The experiences of these student affairs professionals are consistent with the
literature that found that the lack of institutional guidance and clarity associated with legal and
immigration policies caused student affairs professionals to be more likely to avoid
undocumented students as a population (Barnhardt et al., 2013). Although one hundred percent
of participants in this study did not express that they avoided serving undocumented students,
participants expressed their frustrations with the lack of organizational direction and guidance in
relation to the legal and immigration policies surrounding undocumented students and how that
impacted their abilities to support them.
Theme Three: University Services for Undocumented Students.
The third theme revealed that the university did not have specific services and programs
available that supported student affairs professionals to better serve and meet the needs
undocumented students. Eighty-three percent of student affairs professionals who participated in
this study voiced that being an undocumented student did not matter when it came to university
services. The only department that offered services and programs specific to the needs of
undocumented students was the Student Outreach and Retention Center, where Brenda, the
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Dreamers Coordinator and the Director of the department, Angela worked. One hundred percent
of student affairs professionals in this study expressed that their respective departments did not
provide specific services and programs that were tailored to explicitly support the needs of
undocumented students. Furthermore, student affairs professionals stated that undocumented
students were comparable to many other marginalized student populations such as first-
generation, low-income, LGBT, and transfer students, who also had access to the same programs
and services. For example, Molly who served as an Associate Dean in the Student Life and
Leadership department expressed:
“Our mission is to serve all students. That means undergraduate, graduate students, those
from you know low-income, first-generation, disadvantaged, undocumented to Greek
life, and club leaders, and all that stuff. We don’t do programming targeted toward
undocumented students specifically… so they’re kind of a general catch all.”
Molly’s declaration shows that undocumented students were considered an ordinary student
population like any other student population who was underrepresented on a college campus.
Molly indicated “So they’re kind of a general catch all” implying that there were a one-size fits
all approach, where university services and programs be appropriate for all students.
Similarly, Martin who worked in the Housing Services department and served as an
Associate Director stated:
“Specifically, for undocumented students, we do house undocumented students within
housing. We have just like any other students, we treat them no differently… it doesn’t
make a difference if they’re undocumented or not.”
Martin directly stated that identifying as an undocumented individual was not connected to
services that the housing department provided to any particular student demographic who
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 73

attended the university. Martin’s declaration suggested that regardless of immigration status, all
students had access to those services and programs offered by the housing services department.
Therefore, Martin, did not have specific resources or services within his department that would
specifically support the needs of undocumented students.
Similarly, Ariel expressed that the Cross-Cultural Center’s services were open to all
students: “So all of our programs are open to undocumented students. We don’t have anything
specifically for undocumented students.”
Ariel’s declaration showed that there were not programs and services within the Cross-
Cultural Center that specifically supported the needs of undocumented students. Ariel’s
statement confirms the fact that she as a student affairs professional did not have specific
resources within her department that she could then provide to support undocumented students.
Consistent with Ariel and Martin’s statements, Kate who served as a Director for the Learning
and Academic Resource Center, stated:
Any kind of experience that we’re offering for students we are offering it broadly… we
don’t specifically recruit or customize anything for undocumented students. We tend to
treat them as though they belong here and are entitled to the same services as anyone else
and have the same opportunities for employment for example as everyone else.
Kate’s statement reinforces the fact that student affairs professionals did not differentiate
between the needs of undocumented students compared to other student populations who did not
have an immigration barrier and might indeed be eligible for additional opportunities that
undocumented students would not automatically qualify for such as employment opportunities.
Kate believed that her department did not need to create specific services for undocumented
students because she believed that they had the same rights as other students who accessed the
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Learning and Academic Resource Center. All students at the university were considered equal in
terms of their eligibility for programs and services. On the other hand, Rose, who worked as the
Director of the Career Services Center stated:
The services we provide to all students are available to undocumented students. And then
beyond that, right now the only specific thing we have for undocumented students are a
presentation of web resources for them… It just means like we’ve scanned the websites
and found the ones that we think could be helpful for them. But in terms of specific
resources, or programs, beyond a presentation of web resources, that’s what we’ve got
right now.
Although not a customized program that provided services specific to the needs of
undocumented students, Rose identified a particular resource that the Career Services Center
developed to help support undocumented students who were seeking opportunities that fell under
the Career Services Center ’s responsibilities and services for all student populations. Rose
voiced that as a student affairs professional, she did not have additional resources that she was
aware of that she could pass on to undocumented students.
Within the same department as Rose, Bella the Internship Coordinator, expressed her
awareness with regard to particular resources that her department offered to undocumented
students:
“None in particular… honestly I haven’t even looked at them. I think it’s about knowing
your rights and legal resources and those kinds of things.”

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 75

Theme Four: Lack of Data Access to Recognize Undocumented Students.
The fourth theme to emerge from the data was that one hundred percent of student affairs
professionals stated that they did not have access to data that provided them with the ability to
strategically identify students who were classified as undocumented. Wishon and Rome (2012)
found that access to all student data served as a foundation and infrastructure for student affairs
professionals to get information and make informed decisions (Cabellon & Junco, 2015) that
helps foster student success. Additionally, student affairs professionals need to know who
identified as undocumented in order to distinguish how they can better support their needs given
their immigration barriers. Student affairs professionals expressed concerns regarding accessing
undocumented student data on the university servers in fear that the federal government had the
ability to track and detain undocumented students. In order for student affairs professional to
know which students identified as being undocumented, students had to disclose their status to
them. Otherwise, student affairs professionals did not have access to the data. This was
consistent with the organizational context I presented earlier in this chapter. According to the
University of ABC, Office of the President (2016) there was no appropriate method or system in
place for professionals to recognize the immigration status of every student attending the
university. Undocumented students attending one of the ten universities within the system were
identified as “potentially undocumented” when they appeared in the student data system, which
had no actual identifiable documentation status (The University of ABC, Office of the President,
2016). Furthermore, the lack of access to student data made it complicated and problematic when
it came to allocating resources, funding, and staffing to plan and organize customized
programming and services that were specific to the needs of undocumented students.
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Consistent with the literature, undocumented students generally feared to disclose their
status. Studies have found that due to the lack of awareness within higher education institutions,
undocumented students preferred to not disclose their immigration status for fear of deportation
(Abrego, 2008; Cuevas & Cheung, 2015; Perez, 2009, 2010; Valenzuela et al., 2015). For
example, Molly expressed her challenges with accessing student data:
“The biggest challenge is knowing who they are… We don’t have the list of the
students.”
Molly indicated that the university did have a protocol in place that permitted student affairs
professionals the capability to retrieve information on students who were undocumented. Molly
stated “knowing who they are” emphasizing that student affairs professionals experienced a
difficult and ambiguous process in order to “know” who the undocumented students were. This
was consistent with the fact that in order for student affairs professionals to appropriately provide
services and support the needs of undocumented students, they essentially needed to have access
to their student record information to find out that they were undocumented. For example, Rose
stated that due to the lack of access, it was challenging to track which services offered by the
Career Services Center were utilized by undocumented students:
Well, our counselors definitely see undocumented students in advising sessions and they
know this because the students disclose their status to them… It’s a little bit hard to know
the extent of services provided because of the disclosure issues. But it’s yeah, we don’t
really know.
Rose believed that the Career Services Center’s only resource to identify undocumented students
was if they voluntarily disclosed their status to one of the student affairs professionals who held a
counselor role. Otherwise, if the student did not choose to share such information with the Career
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 77

Services Center, then student affairs professionals did not have a system or method in place that
allowed them to distinguish between students who identified as undocumented and those who
did not. Rose statement implied that due to the lack of data, student affairs professionals
experience difficulties when tracking which services, events and programs were attended and
utilized by undocumented students, which makes it hard to know how to appropriately support
their needs. Similarly, Angela expressed:
They were always invited to utilize our resources. We did not have a way of targeting
them. So, we would create events for them to come together... So, we were trying to
come up with different initiatives so that we can support the organization in finding
undocumented students. Because back then finding each other was even more difficult.
Angela’s statement demonstrated that the university did not have a system in place that helped
student affairs professionals identify undocumented students. Angela stated “A way of targeting
them” implying that student affairs professionals did not have access to student data. Angela’s
department created events that were specific to undocumented students without actually having
solid and accurate information. They created events in hopes to attract undocumented students to
come and attend and therefore student affairs professionals had the opportunity to collect
information on those students who attended. She used the word “creative” which implied that in
order to find undocumented students, she had to think outside the box and use different methods
of communication in order to attract undocumented students to want to attend those events.
Furthermore, Angela expressed that she had to use her creativity not just for her department’s
events but to also help the university locate students “We can support the organization in finding
undocumented students” which showed that the organization as a whole did not have the
infrastructure in place to find who the undocumented students were. Similarly, Martin expressed:
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 78

They have to disclose to somebody in the university and then in our office.
Martin’s statement overtly showed that unless the undocumented student disclosed their status,
then he did not have access to the data to have more information on how to better support and
serve undocumented students.
Finding Two: Knowledge and Accountability Gaps
The second finding that emerged from the data was that there were knowledge and
accountability gaps among student affairs professionals who participated in this study that made
it difficult for them to meet the needs of undocumented students. The interviews revealed that
92% of student affairs professionals believed that they did not have the knowledge and skills to
support undocumented students. Student affairs professionals had varying understandings with
respect to how immigration policies and laws were applied or applicable depending on the
situation at hand. This finding is consistent with Burkhardt et al. (2011), who found that 17% of
student affairs professionals who participated in their national study did not know if the financial
aid department at their respective universities had changes in financial aid regulations concerning
eligibility for undocumented students. They also found that 10% of student affairs professionals
in the admissions and registrar departments were uncertain about admissions policies or new
practices that the university had adopted that particularly targeted the specific needs of
undocumented students. Additionally, Burkhardt et al. (2011) discovered that nearly 50% of the
student affairs professionals were unaware if their respective universities had clear guidelines on
how to appropriately serve undocumented students. Two themes emerged from finding two,
which revealed that 1) student affairs professionals did not have the knowledge and skills to
support the needs of undocumented students 2) the university did not hold student affairs
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 79

professionals accountable to ensure that they supported undocumented students. I will tackle
each of the themes in the next section of this chapter.
Theme One: Student Affairs Professionals and Knowledge and Skill Gaps.
The 12 student affairs professionals who participated in this study expressed their
frustrations with their lack of knowledge and skills with respect to serving undocumented
students. Additionally, student affairs professionals felt that the UndocuAlly training provided
basic, introductory information, but they did not know how to apply that knowledge in different
situations. Furthermore, one hundred percent of student affairs professionals expressed that the
laws and immigration policies surrounding access and eligibility for undocumented students
were their biggest barrier to supporting students. This is consistent with the literature on the
relationship between student affairs professionals’ knowledge and student persistence.
Gildersleeve et al. (2010) found that student affairs professionals must have the knowledge to
understand how political and immigration policies create barriers for undocumented students and
how this influenced their persistence in higher education. For example, in this study, Brenda, the
Dreamers Coordinator who led the UndocuAlly training expressed her opinion on the level of
knowledge and skills of student affairs professional. She said, “There is a huge lack of
knowledge.”
Brenda’s statement demonstrated that she believed that a significant knowledge problem existed
with respect to student affairs professionals’ ability to serve undocumented students.
Brenda’s statement was consistent with the beliefs of student affairs professionals who expressed
their own views about not having adequate knowledge in relation to undocumented students.
For example, Ariel stated:
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I think I feel like… you know I can’t help them legally. You know like I’m definitely
limited, my own limited knowledge and expertise on legality issues… My legal
knowledge or lack thereof. Well, I’ve got really no legal knowledge and then for me in it,
I try not to like present this to students or project it in any way, but my own like
helplessness… I think just overall it relates to things like not only about their status right.
Even if it’s about what does it mean.... Like I had an issue last quarter where it was…
what does it mean if you’re undocumented? Do you still have renters’ rights? You know
what I mean like it comes up in these different ways and because of my lack of
knowledge and legal expertise, I don’t know.
Ariel explicitly expressed her frustration regarding her own lack of knowledge and skills that
were a barrier to her ability to support undocumented students. Although Ariel was one of the
participants who shared earlier that she had attended the UndocuAlly training, she still felt that
she did not have adequate and relevant knowledge in terms of supporting the needs of
undocumented students. Her statement “My own limited knowledge and expertise on legality
issues” indicated that she believed that the laws and policies were the most significant
contributor to her lack of knowledge. Ariel expressed the challenges presented by the
immigration policies as they caused her to feel that she “Can’t help them legally” and that she
experienced feeling “helpless.” Ariel stated that depending on the situation, she did not know
how to support undocumented students. For example, she stated “What does it mean if you’re
undocumented?” implying that she did not understand how being undocumented impacted access
and eligibility for any services, even outside of the university environment.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 81

Consistent with the literature, Valenzuela et al. (2015) found that due to student affairs
professionals’ lack of knowledge, they often inaccurately advised undocumented students on
matters related to eligibility for services.
Molly expressed a similar point of view with regard to the impacts of the lack of relevant
knowledge as well as her ability to transfer the knowledge acquired accordingly. Molly stated:
AB 540, undocumented dreamers, DACA all that stuff, people don’t know what that
means. The definitions of those. We have the Dreamers Coordinator who does training.
But from that training, does it stay in your mind so that when an undocumented student
approaches you know how to talk about it? No. Not necessarily, just like LGBT issues.
Molly’s statement reflected that in general “people,” the term she used to identify university
employees, did not know the “definition of those” terms to describe the status and topics related
to undocumented students. Molly believed that even if student affairs professionals attended the
UndocuAlly training, they did not necessarily learn how and when these various status terms
associated with being undocumented were applicable based on situation and circumstance. Molly
suggested that the knowledge acquired during the UndocuAlly training was basic and that the
transfer of knowledge after the training was missing. Molly made a comparison between
undocumented students and other marginalized groups, implying that it is more difficult to
remember topics related to these student populations because they represented a smaller
percentage of the student population on a college campus. Molly offered that it was more
complicated to remember information if it is not exercised on a daily basis as part of someone’s
work responsibilities.
Similar to her colleagues, Rose expressed similar concerns in relation to the laws and
policies impacting undocumented individuals:
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With the laws in place, I mean what would be the how? We can’t circumvent laws; we
can’t get students jobs that they can’t legally get. We can’t do that. But we can be warm
and welcoming. But can we connect them with jobs? No, nope.
Rose’s statement showed that she did not believe that she had the knowledge as she
explained her challenges with the “how,” suggesting her inability to support the career needs of
undocumented students. Rose’s statement implied a sense of helplessness because for her to meet
the needs of undocumented students, she was faced with employment regulations established by
the state and the federal government, over which she had no control. Rose openly stated that the
laws and immigration policies in relation to employment eligibility and internships opportunities
for undocumented students were the most significant limitation to her ability to assist
undocumented students with finding career opportunities that were legally attainable.
Theme Two: Accountability
In addition to knowledge gaps, student affairs professionals were not held accountable by
the university to ensure that they had the knowledge and skills necessary in relation to their roles
to support undocumented students. For example, the UndocuAlly training led by the Dreamers
Coordinator for all university employees to learn more about information on the history and
immigration policies as well as any changes in the laws surrounding undocumented individuals
was voluntary. Brenda, the Dreamers Coordinator, explained the UndocuAlly training as:
It’s talking about the history of context and context of immigration. It’s also discussing
policy national policies. And then at the local level as well. We go over the terminology
that students use to self-identify we talk about their challenges.
The UndocuAlly training was a 3-5-hour optional workshop for all university employees
that introduced basic information about undocumented individuals and the challenges associated
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 83

with their immigration status. However, the university did not make it required for student affairs
professionals. Therefore, the UndocuAlly training was not considered a crucial training for
student affairs professionals to attend. More specifically, 92% of student affairs professionals
who participated in this study had gone thru the UndocuAlly training at some point in time as
university employees. For example, Bella, who served as the Internship Coordinator and
interacted with students expressed:
The Career Services Center management has remained very neutral to the subject. If you
want to go through the UndocuAlly training, you can. If you don’t want to, you don’t
have to. You know as far as serving students, serve them to the best of your abilities. If
there are training or resources that you feel that you need you can submit them for
professional development.
Bella’s statement demonstrated that there was no accountability in place that assured that student
affairs professionals were obligated to have the knowledge to know how to respond to the needs
of undocumented students, even if those professionals held roles that required direct interaction
with any students. Bella expressed that attending the UndocuAlly training was not made a
requirement by the university leadership and therefore, student affairs professionals had the
freedom to choose if they wanted to acquire the knowledge and skills to better support
undocumented students. When Bella stated that “the Career Services Center management has
remained neutral to the subject,” she implied that the department did not want to be perceived as
taking a side or positioning student affairs professionals on one side or the other of the
immigration debate, requiring that they attend the training. Bella expressed “if you don’t want to,
you don’t have to,” showing the lack accountability in ensuring the proper support for
undocumented students. The university did not ensure that all departments who interacted with
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 84

and provided services to students, had the knowledge and skills that were essential for student
affairs professionals to properly respond to the needs of undocumented students. Instead, Bella’s
statement suggested that the university afforded each department’s leadership the freedom to
decide if the UndocuAlly training was necessary for their employees or not. Similarly, Joseph
expressed:
We have this ally training now that’s in place for all faculty and staff. It’s not mandatory,
so it’s not actually required for all the staff to go through that training. It is optional…
The [Undocu]Ally training it’s a pretty big commitment. I think from what I recall this
was a few years ago, I think it was 2 days and they were full days of training.
Joseph’s statement once again demonstrated that attending the training surrounding topics related
to serving undocumented students was not mandatory for any university employee. Joseph added
“it’s a pretty big commitment” suggesting that the training was time intensive and something that
one must have the aspiration and individual desire to commit to. In addition, Joseph expressed
that he had attended “a few years ago,” which showed that he had not been trained on the latest
and most updated immigration and policies relative to undocumented students. University
leadership did not make the training mandatory even after the new White House Administration
made changes to policies affecting the future of undocumented individuals in the United States.
Consistent with Joseph’s assertion, Martin explained how he volunteered to attend the
UndocuAlly training along with a few of his colleagues:
“Two or 3 years ago. We decided. It was available and we RSVP’d. We took the time.”
Martin’s statement confirmed that student affairs professionals had the personal freedom
and choice to decide whether they should take responsibility to attend the UndocuAlly training.
Learning about topics that concerned undocumented individuals was a decision placed on each
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 85

student affairs professional to commit to. The university did not make it mandatory for any of its
employees to acquire some level of knowledge and skills that supported them to better serve
undocumented students. In other words, the university failed to ensure that professionals such as
Martin, Joseph, and Bella, all of whom held positions that directly involved interaction with
students, were held accountable to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to better perform
their jobs in relation to serving undocumented students. Thus, this theme was consistent with the
first finding that the organization did not have the proper structure and direction in place in order
to help student affairs professionals serve undocumented students.
Conclusion
The study focused on understanding student affairs professionals’ perceptions of the way
that they served and met the needs of undocumented students at a public 4-year research
university in the Western United States. Additionally, this study sought to examine how student
affairs professionals perceived the university’s actions in support or hindrance of their abilities to
serve undocumented students. Based on interviews conducted with 12 student affairs
professionals, two findings emerged. The first finding revealed that the university did not have a
standardized process in place that helped guide and direct student affairs professionals on how to
support and serve the needs of undocumented students. Four themes emerged from finding one,
which revealed the absence of structure extended to the lack of standardized training and
onboarding processes for new student affairs professionals as well as ongoing training support.
The second theme revealed that there was a lack of organizational support for student affairs
professionals to serve undocumented students. The third theme showed the lack of consistency in
department-specific services to meet undocumented students’ needs. The fourth theme showed
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 86

that the university did not have a proper system in place that provided student affairs
professionals the ability to access the data to help identify undocumented students.
The second finding that emerged in this study showed that student affairs professionals
did not perceive themselves as having the knowledge and skills necessary to support the needs of
undocumented students. Additionally, the data showed that student affairs professionals were not
held accountable by the university to know any information, relevant laws or immigration
policies that potentially impacted how they served undocumented students within their respective
roles. Two themes emerged from finding two. The first theme revealed that student affairs
professionals did not have the knowledge and skills necessary that supported their abilities to
support the needs of undocumented students. The second theme revealed that the university did
not hold student affairs professionals accountable to appropriately support undocumented
students. Chapter Five will discuss implications and recommendations based on these findings.

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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The existing body of scholarly research has shown that the interaction between higher
education institutions and college students is related to persistence (Astin, 1977, 1984; Bean &
Metzner, 1985; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Spady, 1971; Tinto, 1975, 1993, 2012). The body
of literature on persistence shows that students’ background characteristic, pre-college
experiences, academic preparedness, institutional factors, external environment, family, and the
interaction that occurs between students and their higher education institution has an influence
on persistence (Astin, 1984; Bean & Metzner, 1985; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Tinto, 1975,
1993). The purpose of this study was to understand student affairs professionals’ perceived their
abilities and the ways that they positioned to serve and meet the needs of undocumented students
at a public 4-year research university in the Western United States. Additionally, the study
examined how the student affairs professionals perceived the university’s actions in support or
hindrance of their abilities to serve undocumented students. The research questions that guided
this study were:
1. How do student affairs professionals interact with the organization in ways that
support or impede their ability to serve undocumented students?
2. What are student affairs professionals’ perceptions about their ability to meet the
needs of undocumented students?
This study employed a qualitative research methodology using snowball sampling to
recruit participants who held positions at the university as student affairs professionals. To
ensure a diverse sample of participants, eight departments and 12 student affairs professionals
who had been employed at the university between 1½ years to over 14 years were selected to
participate. The following departments were represented in the study: The Student Outreach and
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 88

Retention Center, The Student Life and Leadership Center, The Transfer Student Center and
Student Support Services, The Learning and Academic Resource Center, The Cross-Cultural
Center, The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, The Career Services Center and Housing
Services. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews lasting between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30
minutes were conducted in-person with the 12 student affairs professionals. After the data was
collected, professionally transcribed and inductively analyzed and coded for patterns and themes,
two findings emerged which I will discuss in the next section.
Summary of Findings
The first finding that emerged in this study showed that the university did not have a
standardized process established to help guide and direct student affairs professionals on how to
support and serve the needs of undocumented students. The interviews revealed that student
affairs professionals believed that the university did not have an approach or system in place that
provided them with direction on how they should support the needs of undocumented students.
Student affairs professionals believed that the university provided general supportive statements
regarding serving students regardless of their immigration or citizenship status. Additionally,
student affairs professionals were not provided with cohesive directives on how, in their
respective roles and departments they should serve undocumented students. Thus, student affairs
professionals did not perceive themselves as having the abilities and skills necessary to serve the
needs of undocumented students. The first finding surfaced four themes that revealed that
1) There was an absence of structure extended to the lack of standardized training
and onboarding processes for new student affairs professionals as well as ongoing
training support.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 89

2) There was a lack of organizational support for student affairs professionals to
know how to serve undocumented students.
3) There was a lack of consistency in department-specific services to meet
undocumented students’ needs.
4) Student affairs professionals lacked access to data and information needed to
identify undocumented students to appropriately support their needs.
The second finding that emerged from the data grounded in the voices and opinions of
student affairs professionals showed that there were knowledge and accountability gaps. Student
affairs professionals believed that they did not have the knowledge in relation to the immigration
policies and laws associated with undocumented individuals, which impacted their abilities to
serve and meet the distinct needs of undocumented students. In addition to knowledge gaps,
student affairs professionals were not held accountable by the university to ensure that they had
the knowledge and skills necessary in relation to their roles to support undocumented students.
Two themes emerged from the second finding, which revealed that:
1) Student affairs professionals did not have the knowledge and skills to support the
needs of undocumented students.
2) The university did not hold accountability measures to ensure that student affairs had
the knowledge and skills necessary in relation to their roles to support undocumented
students.
The limitations of this study are that it focused exclusively on student affairs
professionals and no other stakeholder group that interacted and served undocumented students.
The data was examined using the lens of those who served undocumented students and the
voices of undocumented students or any other marginalized student population were not
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 90

considered. During the recruitment phase, multiple attempts were made to include the academic
advisors, specifically those who were in undergraduate/undeclared from several colleges on-
campus. However, no responses were returned and therefore I was unable to include them as part
of the study. This may have been a result of the sensitivity of the topic as well as changes in the
White House leadership, which may have had an impact on the campus climate. Lastly, I am a
novice researcher and I did recognize all the opportunities to probe in order to get richer data.
Implications and Recommendations for Practice, Policy, and Research
The findings that emerged from this study suggest implications and recommendations for
practice, policy and research.
For Practice
Implications emerging from this study are related to 2-year and 4-year institutions of
higher education and the ways in which they could improve the organizational structure and
guidance in relation to training, onboarding, new hire orientation, professional development,
expectations and preparedness of student affairs professionals who interact with undergraduate
and graduate students. It is important to address the implications because it can reduce the high
turnover rate and increase the career attrition of student affairs professionals. Approximately
50% to 60% of new student affairs professionals leave higher education within their first 5 years
of employment in a higher education institution (Lorden, 1998; Tull, 2006). While the data in my
study were collected from both new and experienced professionals, the findings are consistent
and related with the scholarly research which shows the importance of proper training and
onboarding (orientation), professional development, supervision and support, and the
relationship to attrition for new student affairs professionals in the field (Burns, 1982; Evans,
1988; Herdlein, 2004; Holmes, Verrier, & Chisolm, 1983; Janosik et al., 2003; Richmond &
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 91

Sherman, 1991; Saunders & Cooper, 2003). Although this study focused on student affairs
professionals’ abilities to serve and meet the needs of undocumented students, there are
implications and recommendations that extend beyond this population which could be applied to
other marginalized students in higher education.
Training and onboarding. Saunders and Cooper (2003) describe orientation, which is
referred to as training and new hire onboarding in this study, as a process that takes place rather
than an event. Training and onboarding is not only important to proactively serve students, but it
is also essential for the long-term attrition of student affairs professionals in the field of higher
education. For example, Saunders and Cooper (2003) found that new hire orientation,
supervision and professional development for new student affairs professionals were essential to
retain talented professionals in the field of higher education. In addition, research studies have
shown that student affairs professionals leave the field due to job dissatisfaction as a result many
factors such as role conflict, role orientation, stress, workload, career advancement and
professional development (Berwick, 1992; Conley, 2001). In this study, the findings presented in
Chapter Four showed that the organization did not position student affairs professionals to
efficiently perform their jobs in ways that allows them to be successful in their roles and
appropriately support and meet the needs of students. One of the implications from the finding in
this study is that student affairs professionals do not have the proper or sufficient training and
onboarding support to perform their jobs when they are initially hired at the university. The
organization does not have a formalized training and onboarding process for university hires
which causes student affairs professionals to learn how to do their jobs while doing their jobs or
by drawing on past employment experiences acquired while they held roles in other departments
at the university or outside of the university. Additionally, the findings in this study also revealed
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 92

that there was no consistency across the university when it came to training and onboarding
professionals. Each department supervisor was responsible for making those decisions in
isolation rather than a formalized process in which all new hires required to participate. This
finding is consistent with the literature. Winston, Torres, Carpenter, McIntire, and Peterson
(2001) found that supervisors in higher education did not prioritize the orientation process for
student affairs professionals and therefore did not give it the importance necessary.
Therefore, one recommendation is that student affairs professionals receive mandatory
training and onboarding when they are hired by 2-year and 4-year institutions into a new role and
continue to receive ongoing support to help them succeed and better support students they
interact and provide services to. I recommend that 2-year and 4-year institutions establish and
reinforce a standardized campus-wide training and onboarding process for student affairs
professionals. Training and onboarding should be part of the institutions structure rather than an
optional process that is decided upon in isolation by each department supervisor. In light of
structured training and onboarding for all hires, each training and onboarding should be tailored
to accommodate the learning needs of each stakeholder group.
Moreover, higher education institutions should be resourcing and providing the support to
the trainings. Sufficient infrastructure, in terms of financial allocation and staffing should be
supported by the higher education institution. In relation to marginalized student populations, the
institution should position all student affairs professionals to have the capability to serve all
student populations, in addition to allocating experts for particular populations, such as LGBT,
first-generation, low-income, transfer, veterans, and undocumented.

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Supervisory support. Another barrier found in this study is the fact that student affairs
professionals did not generally receive guidance and direction from their supervisors. Creamer
and Winston (2002a) found that one of the most significant reasons student affairs professionals
left the field of higher education was the quality of supervision that they experienced as new
professionals. It is the responsibility of the organization to have the infrastructure in place to
ensure that supervisors have the knowledge and skills necessary to support their employees (e.g.,
student affairs professionals). For example, Renn and Jessup-Anger (2008) focused on the
transfer of knowledge from master’s programs in student affairs to preparation in the workplace.
They found that new student affairs professionals did not learn how to become supervisors
because graduate programs that prepared professionals for the higher education field did not
have a practical supervision component embedded in the curriculum. Therefore, student affairs
professionals do not generally learn how to become supervisory role models, rather they learn
the process of leadership individually, and this is decided upon each individual’s point of view,
management preferences and experiences in the field (Renn & Jessup-Anger, 2008). However,
there remains a gap in the literature on how to enhance the supervision of student affairs
professionals (Renn & Jessup-Anger, 2008).
Supervisory support for student affairs professionals is essential for the overall success of
higher education institutions. Janosik and Creamer (2003) stated “supervision of people always
is important to an organization, and is a key ingredient in any staffing plan” (p. 1). Thus, the
implication of this finding is that the absence of ongoing training, direction, supervision and
support creates confusion and a lack of understanding of clear expectations. I recommend that
institutions develop and establish clear guidelines within their hiring practices that provide
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 94

department supervisors the leadership support they need as well as accountability measures that
will to help them better support and guide their employees.
For Policy
Recruitment and Hiring. As a result of the absence of organizational support,
expectations and relevant knowledge and skills, student affairs professionals in this study did not
perceive themselves to have the abilities to serve and support undocumented students. As
discussed earlier in the chapter, the findings revealed that student affairs professionals did not
experience a formalized training and onboarding process as part of their jobs and that they
learned to perform their jobs from knowledge and skills acquired from past employment
experiences. In addition, student affairs professionals lacked direction and organizational
guidance on how in their respective roles to serve undocumented students. In relation to
undocumented students, student affairs professionals believed that it was ultimately the
Dreamers Coordinator’s responsibility to serve undocumented students because she was the
expert. Consistent with the literature Barnhardt, Ramos, and Reyes (2013) found that higher
education institutions provided little direction to student affairs professionals on how to serve
undocumented students with services related to academic advising, financial aid and career
services. In order to address this implication, I recommend that a structured and coherent training
and onboarding program is developed and implemented as part of the institutions’ human
resources policies for hiring and recruiting professionals for all institutional roles. Recruitment
practices and guidelines need to be aligned to ensure that it is cohesive across the entire system
and applicable to all employees, which would include student affairs professionals, staff, faculty
and administrators. First, during the recruitment phase for a student affairs role, all candidates
should be required to take a short 30-minute quiz on their knowledge and skills related to student
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 95

populations that they will interact with in the role they are applying for. Based on the answers,
the hiring committee or supervisor could utilize a Likert-type scale to rate the knowledge and
skills of the candidate and determine which additional trainings and professional development
need this particular candidate will require being successful in their job. Training and onboarding
of student affairs professionals should not take place as part of a 1 or 2-day seminar. Rather,
training and onboarding should take place over an extended period of time, where the student
affairs professional is given adequate time and exposure to learn about the organization,
resources, the structure, processes, culture, their role and the student populations that they will be
expected to support directly and indirectly. Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller (2004) found that the
majority of student affairs professionals do not generally receive sufficient training and
professional development on how to support the unique demands of diverse student populations
in higher education.
The literature suggests that the profession of student affairs work continues to be an
ongoing debate between management, administration or counseling (National Association of
Student Personnel Administrators, 1937; 1949; 1987; 1995; 1998; 1998; 2004; 2010). In an
effort to bridge the gap in what student affairs jobs entail, I recommend that 2-year and 4-year
institutions reconsider the content on job descriptions for student affairs professions. Job
descriptions should be created and developed based on a customized fit for each department and
the services it provides to its student populations. Additionally, I suggest that 2-year and 4-year
institutions administer an online assessment where candidates can demonstrate their knowledge,
skills, career aspirations, and personality fit in respect to the department and role they are
considering.
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Once hired, student affairs professionals should be given a formalized and structured
orientation on the needs and services available on-campus that are specific to student populations
that may require additional knowledge and skills such as those marginalized populations who
identify as being undocumented, first-generation, minorities, low-income, LGBT et cetera.
Implementing a required training and onboarding policy for student affairs professionals is
crucial for their success and the success of the higher education institution. Flion and Pepermans
(1998) suggest that training and onboarding of new student affairs professionals should consist
of learning general information about the higher education institution, procedures, organizational
culture and professional and personal expectations for their success on-the-job. The policy would
mandate and require professionals at all levels in their careers participate and acquire the
knowledge and skills to perform their jobs as well as the ability to understand the importance of
their roles are necessary for the persistence and success of students, and more specifically
marginalized students (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Teranishi et al., 2014; Tinto, 1975, 1993).
Knowledge, skills, and accountability. The finding presented in this study revealed that
student affairs professionals did not have the knowledge and skills necessary to support and
serve the needs of undocumented students. Student affairs professionals did not perceive
themselves as having sufficient knowledge to support the needs of undocumented students due to
the immigration policies and laws concerning undocumented individuals. Even those who
attended the UndocuAlly training did not believe that they had the skills necessary to use the
information learned during the training when faced with a situation concerning an undocumented
student. The learning they acquire in training is essential for professionals as it allows them the
opportunity to connect new knowledge to prior knowledge to construct meaning as well as learn
to apply the knowledge accordingly (McCrudden, Schraw & Hartley, 2006).
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For accountability and productivity, student affairs professionals should be refreshed on
an ongoing basis on relevant topics, issues, new organizational changes, procedures, institutional
policies, federal and state legislations impacting their work or the students they serve.
Student affairs professionals can receive ongoing support and acquire the general knowledge by
accessing the orientation documents and resources by topic using a virtual and interactive
platform as part of a Learning Module System (LMS). In order to track learning, human
resources personnel should administer quarterly surveys that the institution sends out
electronically to marginalized students on campus to track satisfaction rates of programs and
services. Furthermore, student affairs professionals, as well as all employees, should also be
given the opportunity to provide feedback to the higher education institution on their satisfaction
level with the organization (i.e., resources, staffing, and general feedback).
In this study, findings revealed that student affairs professionals’ voluntarily attended the
3-5 hour UndocuAlly training to learn more about undocumented students and the immigration
policies surrounded undocumented individuals. However, the organization did not make it
mandatory for any university employees to attend. Changes in the laws that impact a student
population in any higher education institution should not be optional learning for university
professionals, it should be required. I recommend that an institutional policy is created that
mandates all university employees to attend an informational seminar to obtain the most recent
information.
For Research
The data included in this study was collected from student affairs professionals who
stated that they interacted with undocumented students and agreed to participate in this study.
This study was limited to 12 participants from eight different departments on-campus. At the
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 98

time of data collection, there was a presidential election and therefore, some participants may
have been uncomfortable or fearful to share more information regarding the organization due to
political tensions and campus climate issues. I recommend that future research is conducted
using a mixed-methods approach to examine the nature and levels of interaction between
university employees and the organization and the probable impacts (negative or positive) it has
on undergraduate and graduate student populations in 2-year and 4-year higher education
institutions. Additionally, a larger sample of participants across more university departments
who serve all students will provide a deeper and more diverse understanding of the nature of the
interaction between professionals and higher education institutions. Furthermore, I recommend
future quantitative research to understand the correlation between organizational structure,
policies, work processes and employee accountability and if it is an influencer to supporting the
needs of underserved student populations in 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions.
Additionally, this study evaluated the data from the lens of those who served undocumented
students and the voices of undocumented students or any other marginalized student population
were not considered. In the future, I recommend that research includes the voices of faculty and
staff, which could provide a broader scope of professionals who support underserved student
populations.
Conclusion
This study sought to examine student affairs professionals’ perceptions of the ways that
they serve and meet the needs of undocumented students at a public 4-year research university in
the Western United States. The study sought to better understand how student affairs
professionals perceived their abilities and skills to support the needs of undocumented students.
Additionally, the study examined how the student affairs professionals perceived the university’s
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 99

actions in support or hindrance of their abilities to serve undocumented students. Implications
and recommendations for practice, policy, and future research were recommended based on the
data analysis and findings that emerged in this study. The implications for practice suggested the
following:
1) Higher education institutions should have mandatory, standardized training and
onboarding programming for all hires which includes student affairs professionals,
academic affairs professionals, staff, faculty, and administrators.
2) Establish a culture of ongoing training and support in relation to student affairs
professionals’ roles and responsibilities.
3) Higher education institutions should have the infrastructure in place to allocate
appropriate staffing personnel, resources and funds to support the training and
onboarding of all employees.
4) Provide supervisors with the leadership support and direction they need in order for them
to better support their employees to acquire the knowledge, skills, and competencies to
better meet the needs of students.
5) Establish accountability measures that ensure that employees have the knowledge and
skills to support marginalized student populations.
The implications for policy suggest the following:
1) Develop and implement structured training and onboarding programs to be integrated
into the institutions’ human resources policies for hiring and recruiting professionals for
all university roles.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 100

2) Recruitment practices and guidelines need to be aligned to ensure that it is cohesive
across the entire system and applicable to all employees, which would include student
affairs professionals, staff, faculty, and administrators.
3) Enhance and customize job descriptions for student affairs roles to fit and align with the
needs of each department as well as the student populations who seek services from that
particular campus department.
4) Mandated policies that provide student affairs professionals with a formalized and
structured orientation on the needs and services available on-campus that are specific to
student populations that may require additional knowledge and skills such as those
marginalized populations who identify as being undocumented, first-generation,
minorities, low-income, LGBT et cetera.
5) Higher education institutions to track and continuously collect data to help develop and
improve services by administering quarterly surveys that measure student and university
employee satisfaction.
Finally, recommended areas for future research includes:
1) Conduct future research using a mixed-methods approach to examine the nature and
levels of interaction between university employees and the organization and the probable
impacts (negative or positive) it has on undergraduate and graduate student populations in
2-year and 4-year higher education institutions.
2) Conduct a study using a larger sample of participants to further understand the correlation
between organizational structure, policies, work processes and employee accountability
in 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 101

The findings, implications, and recommendations suggested in this study are provided to
improve the understanding of student affairs professionals who serve and support the needs of
marginalized students in 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions.

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THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 112

APPENDIX A
Interview Protocol
Background
First I would like to ask you some general questions to get a sense of your day to day
responsibilities.
1. Think about the last few days. Describe one that you think was a good representation of a
typical day for you. What happened? What did you do? Who did you interact with?
2. Tell me about your role and your responsibilities within your department.
3. Tell me about the types of student populations you usually interact with.
4. Are there student populations that you are expected to work with as part of your job?
Who are they?
5. Are you expected to reach out to students or do you only work with those who come to
you?
6. How do you reach out to students and/or how do they find you?
7. How often during the work week do you meet with students?
a) Tell me about the collaboration, if any that occurs between your department and
other departments on campus.
b) Under what circumstances do you interact with professionals in other
departments?
c) How much of your time do you spend interacting with professionals in other
departments?
d) What is the purpose of the interaction?
e) What are you trying to accomplish?
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 113

8. Think about a recent interaction you had with someone from a different department. Tell
me about it.
9. How much does that represent the way you "typically" interact with people from
different departments?
Now I would like to shift gears a little bit and ask you questions that are more specifically
focused on your work in relation to the undocumented students on campus.
10. Tell me about the services your office provides to undocumented students.
11. Tell me about your experience with undocumented students.
a) Under what circumstances do you work with undocumented students?
b) What kind of experiences have you had with undocumented students?
c) Tell me about a time you were able to help an undocumented student with a
challenge he/she faced. What happened?
d) Tell me about a time you were not able to help an undocumented student with a
challenge he/she faced. What happened?
e) When working with undocumented students, are there special considerations that
you make to help those students?
f) What has been the biggest challenge you have encountered in helping
undocumented students?
12. What are the skills you think someone in your job needs in order to support
undocumented students?
13. What are the qualifications (e.g., education/work experience) you think someone in your
job needs in order to support undocumented students?
Now I would like to ask you a few questions about your work context.
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 114

14. Tell me about the kind of resources that you have in order to serve undocumented
students.
15. In what ways, if any, does the university support you to serve undocumented students?
16. Is your supervisor asking you to make any special considerations to serve undocumented
students?
a) What kind of support do you receive from your boss that helps you serve
undocumented students?
b) What kind of support, if any, do you receive from other professionals in the
university to serve undocumented students?
c) Where, if at all, do you think you would benefit from more support?
17. What types of interactions that occur on campus do you feel have a positive or negative
influence on undocumented students?
18. In what ways, if any, do you think student affairs professionals have an impact on
undocumented students?
19. In light of this election, how, if at all, has the conversation you have had here in your
department about meeting the needs of undocumented students changed?
Now I would like to ask you questions about policies that are relevant to your work
responsibilities.
20. Tell me about any special policies you need to be aware of when working with
undocumented students.
a) In what ways, if any, do any of these policies make it harder for you to support
undocumented students?
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 115

b) In what ways, if any, do these policies make it easier for you to support
undocumented students?
21. What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
22. What do you, if any, dislike the most about your job?
Now I want to ask you some questions about the way you were trained.
23. Explain what kind of training you need to perform your job.
24. Explain what kind training you need in order to work with undocumented students.
a) What kind of training did you receive?
b) What type of ongoing professional development do you receive in your job?
c) What kind of professional development have you received that is specific to
meeting the needs of undocumented students?
d) How do you stay up-to-date on policies that are relevant to the work you do with
undocumented students?
e) Tell me about your own preparedness to work with undocumented students.
f) Where, if at all, do you think you would benefit from more training?
Wrap up Question
25. What might you like to add to the interview that I haven’t covered today? Is there
anything we didn’t talk about that you think I should know about if I am trying to understand
your experience working with undocumented students?

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 116

APPENDIX B
Informed Consent/Information Sheet
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4033

INFORMATION/FACTS SHEET FOR EXEMPT NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS OF
UNDOCUMENTED COLLEGE STUDENTS
You are invited to participate in a research study Conducted by Dina Mouris, Doctoral
Candidate, under the supervision of the Faculty Advisor, Julie Slayton, PhD., at the University of
Southern California, because you are a student affairs professional and have interactions with
undocumented students. Your participation is voluntary. You should read the information below,
and ask questions about anything that you do not understand, before deciding whether to
participate. Please take as much time as you need to read the consent form. You may also decide
to discuss participation with your family or friends. You can keep this form for your records.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to examine how student affairs professionals serve and meet
the needs of undocumented students.
STUDY PROCEDURES
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 117

If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to participate in one formal,
semi-structured interview regarding how you serve and meet the needs of undocumented
students. The questions will be open-ended. These meetings can be scheduled at locations and
times of convenience to you, and can be conducted in person. The interviews will be audio-
recorded with your permission; if you don’t want to be audio-recorded, handwritten notes will be
taken.
As part of the interview procedures, you may be asked to share documents with the
researcher, such as program descriptions, marketing brochures, website information and any
resources that are relevant to the study. Interviews will last approximately 1 hour.
POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
There are no anticipated risks in participating in this study.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS AND/OR SOCIETY
You may not directly benefit from your participation in this study-although you may gain
insight into your own approaches and practices when serving undocumented students or other
populations that may require similar needs. This study may benefit society in identifying and
gaining insight into student affairs professionals’ student support practices in higher education.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Any identifiable information obtained in connection with this study will remain
confidential. Recording of the interviews will be transcribed by a professional transcription
service. The data will not be maintained by that service; it will be transcribed then returned to
me. The audio-taped will be destroyed upon verification of the transcription.
The data, including identifiers, audio recordings and transcriptions will be stored on a
password protected computer and in a shared Dropbox folder for each respondent. This is called
THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 118

“raw data”. The researcher and the faculty advisor will have access to the raw data in the Dropbox
folder, and if you would like to see your raw data, you will be given access to it. The raw data,
including identifiers, will be retained for future research. If you don’t want your data or identifiers
retained for future studies, you should not participate.
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California’s Human
Subjects Protection Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors
research studies to protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.
When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no identifiable
information will be used. Study findings will not be shared with your employer.
PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Your participation is voluntary. Your decision whether or not to participate will involve no
penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent at
any time and discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims,
rights or remedies because of your participation in this research study.
ALTERNATIVES TO PARTICIPATION
Your alternative is to not participate in this study; your relationship with your employer
will not be affected, whether or not you participate in this study.
PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will receive a $10.00 gift card for your time. You do not have to answer all of the
questions in order to receive the gift card. The card will be given to you at the conclusion of the
interviews.

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 119

INVESTIGATOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact the
Principal Investigator, Dina Mouris., via phone at (951) 345-2969; email at mouris@usc.edu or
using the address at the top of this document.

RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT – IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant
or the research in general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to
someone independent of the research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review
Board (UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272
or upirb@usc.edu

THE ROLE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: SERVING THE NEEDS 120

APPENDIX C
Recruitment Letter
Hello,
I am a Doctoral student in the Organizational Change and Leadership program at the
University of Southern California. The purpose of the study is to understand how student affairs
professionals serve and meet the needs of undocumented students. You are eligible to participate
in this study if you have a role as a student affairs professional, have been employed at the
University for a minimum of 6 months, and interact with students, especially undocumented
students or others such as first-generation on a regular basis.
Participation in this study is voluntary. If you agree to participate, you will be asked to
take part in a one-on-one interview that will take place on or off your campus.
The study procedures are limited to one-on-one interviews, anticipated to last no more
than 60 minutes. You may also be asked to share documents with the researcher, such as
program descriptions, marketing brochures, website information and any resources that are
relevant to the study. You will be compensated with a $10.00 gift. You do not have to answer all
of the questions in order to receive the gift card. The card will be given to you at the conclusion
of the interviews.
If you have any questions regarding this research study, or would like to participate,
please do not hesitate to contact me via telephone (951) 345-2969 or email: mouris@usc.edu

Dina Mouris

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Asset Metadata

Creator Mouris, Dina (author)

Core Title The role of student affairs professionals: serving the needs of undocumented college students

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 02/15/2018

Defense Date 12/04/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag 4-year public research university,4-year research university,AB 130,AB 131,AB 540,academic advising for undocumented students,access to higher education,accountability in higher education,Astin,career counselor knowledge,career services in higher education,DACA,data access in higher education,financial aid for undocumented students,first-generation,Higher education,higher education culture,laws for undocumented individuals,marginalized students,motivation influences,motivation influences in higher education,new student affairs professionals,OAI-PMH Harvest,organizational culture,political climate in higher education,politics and fear of job security,providing support to undocumented students,role of student affairs professionals,serving undocumented students,student affairs,student affairs hiring,student affairs organizational support,student affairs perceptions,student affairs professionals knowledge and skills,student affairs professionals knowledge gaps,student affairs professionals motivation,student affairs professionals retention in higher education,student affairs professionals self-efficacy,student affairs professionals training,student persistence,Tinto,training and onboarding for student affairs professionals,undocumented college students,undocumented immigrants,undocumented students history,undocumented students in California,undocumented students in higher education,undocumented students literature review,undocumented students needs,undocumented students’ needs,university politics,university resources for undocumented students,university support,university support for undocumented students,working with undocumented students

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Slayton, Julie (committee chair), Datta, Monique (committee member), Tambascia, Tracy (committee member)

Creator Email mouris@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-477356

Unique identifier UC11267329

Identifier etd-MourisDina-6044.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-477356 (legacy record id)

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Document Type Dissertation

Rights Mouris, Dina

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA