Trans Students’ College Choice & Journeys to Undergraduate Education

ABSTRACT

Research demonstrates a clear connection between socialization initiatives and college student retention. Less clear are the ways transgender students select an institution to attend and transition into postsecondary education. As scholars dedicate efforts to understand trans college student success, more information is needed to determine how socialization initiatives fit in the success puzzle. Drawing upon an extensive qualitative study of trans college students, this article seeks to identify the factors that affect trans students’ college choice process and their experiences with anticipatory socialization initiatives moving into their first semester of study. Findings indicated that students attempted to grasp an institution’s commitment to transgender inclusion through various questions and online tools. Additionally, participants indicated the normalization of discussions concerning chosen names and pronouns suggested a supportive campus environment that helped them feel secure in selecting the institution.

KEYWORDS:

• Transgender students
• college choice
• college transition
• anticipatory socialization

Acknowledgments

The authors would first like to acknowledge the 24 participants whose generous sharing composed the data we analyzed for this paper. Second, a generous grant from the Spencer Foundation helped fund the incentives, transcription, and graduate assistantship tied to this project’s first year.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The Spencer Foundation supported this work under Grant Reference #: 201800153.