Getting college ready: Race, class, and access for Latino/a students at a predominantly White university.

摘要

This qualitative collective case study examines the transition to college for Latino/a students at a large, predominantly White university. Latinos lag behind Whites and African-Americans in terms of attaining four-year college degrees, and the voices of those Latino students who do attend competitive universities are underrepresented in the literature. This study offers an in-depth look into the experiences of five Latino/a students who have beaten formidable odds and enrolled at a selective four-year institution. Through the lens of Critical Race Theory, the students' racial identities and experiences with racism once at college are explored. The role family in the students' schooling is examined, as well as the issue of religion as is relates to the transition to college. Specifically, the complex interaction of fundamentalism and the public university setting is highlighted. Students' experiences with various college access programs and campus-based support programs designed for underrepresented students are discussed.;The methods used---in-depth interviews, observation, participant observation, and document analysis---offer a rich and informed understanding of these students' experiences over a period of ten months. Common notions of "success" in college, such as high grade-point averages and test scores, are challenged. Participants' voices and experiences show that feelings of racial isolation and/or belonging can shape conceptions of success in school more than traditional indicators. The existing structure of college access and support programs is also challenged, and the case is made for not only expanding the somewhat narrow ways in which underrepresented students are supported once on campus, but also for altering the exclusive nature of college access programs. In addition, the argument is made to expand the notion of "multiculture" to include differences of religion.;The role of various types of capital in the students' transitions to college is considered. Specifically, the influence of traditional conceptions of social and cultural capital as well as alternative forms of capital thought to be possessed by students of color are analyzed. Implications for post-secondary education, campus-based student support programs, college access and preparation, and qualitative research are discussed.