Latina/o high school students’ perceptions and experiences obtaining information about going to college: A qualitative study for understanding

ABSTRACT

A qualitative study with Latina/o high school students was conducted to understand their experiences obtaining information about going to college. The following themes emerged: students encountered difficulty meeting with the counselors and obtaining information; students had little idea of where to start looking for information about going to college; and little idea about the world of work. Implications for research and practice are presented to provide insight into the experiences of Latina/o students and to suggest changes needed to extend the possibilities of achieving the goal of college enrollment and success for Latina/o students.

KEYWORDS:

• Latina(o)
• higher education
• qualitative
• resilience
• career
• college enrollment
• college success
• social capital theory

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Abriendo Puertas Parental Communication Initiative. It was through our partnership with Abriendo Puertas that the original data for this study emerged. An independent school district (ISD) of a South Texas border region known as the Rio Grande Valley provided the space to conduct the focus groups for the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was sponsored by the Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The sponsor award number is R305A130641. The project title is Project Families4College (F4C); Institute of Education Sciences.