What Helps Students Get Help?: An Exploratory Analysis of Factors that Shape Undocumented College Students’ Use of Academic Support Services

ABSTRACT

Academic support services are an important institutional resource that can support student success and retention. However, little research has examined undocumented students’ resource uptake, aside from demonstrating that exclusionary policies and experiences reduce undocumented students’ access to and use of institutional resources. In this article, we use regression analysis to identify what factors may contribute to undocumented students’ use of academic support services. Drawing on a survey of 1,277 undocumented students attending California 4-year public universities, we examine how academic performance, situational barriers, campus exclusion, and campus integration shape the odds that undocumented students will use academic support services. We find that campus integration is associated with increased odds of using academic support services, while campus exclusion is not; academic performance and situational barriers have mixed effects.

KEYWORDS:

• Undocumented students
• academic support
• campus resources
• situational barriers
• campus integration

Acknowledgments

We thank UC PromISE co-investigators Cecilia Ayón, Jennifer Nájera, Annie Ro, and Zulema Valdez as well as USEP project collaborators Karina Chavarria, Basia Ellis, Melissa J. Hagan, Julián Jefferies, Jannet Lara, Martha Morales Hernandez, Enrique Murillo Jr., Carly Offidani-Bertrand, Maria Oropeza Fujimoto, William Rosales, Ana K. Soltero López, Mercedes Valadez, and Sharon Velarde Pierce.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was conducted with the support of funding from the following entities: University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRI-19-601090), CSU Channel Islands Vice President for Student Affairs, CSU Fresno Kremen School of Education & Human Development, CSU Los Angeles College of Education, CSU Sacramento Center on Race, Immigration, and Social Justice, and San Francisco State University College of Science and Engineering.