Unpacking Grit & Community Cultural Wealth: Examining the Academic Success of Undocumented Latinx Students in Higher Education
type: CreativeWork
description: Background: In the U.S. higher education system, only 220,000 and 225,000 undocumented students are enrolled across two-year and four-year institutions, representing 2% of all students (Casas et al., 2021). This relatively low number is attributed to the several challenges that undocumented students face in their matriculation and enrollment due to their immigration status. In a politically hostile and unstable environment for undocumented immigrants, students face legal, financial, societal, institutional, and systemic challenges. Undocumented Latinx students endure these challenges even more so because they often come from low-income socioeconomic backgrounds, which makes them more vulnerable to academic failure (Casas et al., 2021). Despite these challenges, however, undocumented Latinx students persevere in their quest for academic success. Purpose: This study examines the experiences of undocumented Latinx college students, particularly the challenges that they faced throughout their educational journeys. Through the lens of grit (Duckworth, 2016) and Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005), the study also examines the students' grit in pursuing higher education and how they leveraged their cultural wealth to achieve this feat and academic success. Research Questions: The questions that guided this study were: 1) What systemic, societal, and institutional challenges do undocumented Latinx students face in pursuing higher education? 2) What factors influence grit, and how do they affect the educational success of undocumented Latinx students in higher education? 3)How does Community Cultural Wealth shape the grit of undocumented Latinx students in higher education? Methods: Three undocumented college students and a formerly DACAmented student were identified for the study through snowball sampling. The students were enrolled in a public four-year institution in the U.S. Northeast pseudonymously named Wesley University. Using semi-structured interviews, participa…
abstract: Background: In the U.S. higher education system, only 220,000 and 225,000 undocumented students are enrolled across two-year and four-year institutions, representing 2% of all students (Casas et al., 2021). This relatively low number is attributed to the several challenges that undocumented students face in their matriculation and enrollment due to their immigration status. In a politically hostile and unstable environment for undocumented immigrants, students face legal, financial, societal, institutional, and systemic challenges. Undocumented Latinx students endure these challenges even more so because they often come from low-income socioeconomic backgrounds, which makes them more vulnerable to academic failure (Casas et al., 2021). Despite these challenges, however, undocumented Latinx students persevere in their quest for academic success. Purpose: This study examines the experiences of undocumented Latinx college students, particularly the challenges that they faced throughout their educational journeys. Through the lens of grit (Duckworth, 2016) and Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005), the study also examines the students' grit in pursuing higher education and how they leveraged their cultural wealth to achieve this feat and academic success. Research Questions: The questions that guided this study were: 1) What systemic, societal, and institutional challenges do undocumented Latinx students face in pursuing higher education? 2) What factors influence grit, and how do they affect the educational success of undocumented Latinx students in higher education? 3)How does Community Cultural Wealth shape the grit of undocumented Latinx students in higher education? Methods: Three undocumented college students and a formerly DACAmented student were identified for the study through snowball sampling. The students were enrolled in a public four-year institution in the U.S. Northeast pseudonymously named Wesley University. Using semi-structured interviews, participa…
author: Vela Enriquez, Jonathan David
language: en
keywords: Undocumented, Latinx, Grit, Community Cultural Wealth, Higher Education Staff
license: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:57:57Z
provider: University of Arizona
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Arizona.

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/677524