Al esconder, hide and seek: RicanStructing college choice for Puerto Rican students in urban schools

ABSTRACT

Drawing from two data sets – one focused on students in high school actively engaged in the process of college choice, the other centering the perspectives of college graduates and their parents reflecting back on the process – this article critically examines the journeys of DiaspoRican students trying to gather information and make informed decisions about college choice. The authors focus on three ‘sites’ where students reported seeking and receiving information about the college going process – schools, parents, and community. The implications of this study suggest that understandings of college choice need to be complicated – or as we argue, RicanStructed – to center the experiences of specific groups of students of color, account for variation in the college choice processes within and across groups, and reflect more race and culture conscious approaches to increasing diversity in higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Puerto Ricans
• college access
• college choice
• diaspora
• Latinx education
• post-secondary education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.