Advancing Equity in Financial Aid for Black Students: A Document Analysis Study of Student Equity Plans in California Community Colleges

<p>This study examined how California Community Colleges (CCCs) constructed financial aid discourse in Student Equity Plans (SEPs) and assessed whether these strategies mitigated or perpetuated racial disparities for Black students. Previous scholarship identified racial inequities in financial aid systems and explored how equity planning documents addressed race; yet, the influence of institutional discourse on financial aid access remained underexamined. This study contributed to the literature by applying critical race hermeneutics (CRH) to examine how SEPs outlined financial aid strategies, with particular attention to the framing of work–study opportunities and the extent to which the SEP intended to employ race-conscious approaches.</p> <p>A qualitative document analysis of 49 SEPs was conducted to evaluate whether financial aid language was race-neutral, race-conscious, or reflective of hegemonic whiteness. Guided by research questions that explored the racial framing of financial aid discourse, the study interrogated whether SEPs acknowledged structural barriers Black students faced and how financial aid strategies were constructed to address these inequities. Although many SEPs recognized that Black students experienced disproportionate impact (DI) in key metrics such as enrollment, persistence, transfer, and completion, they often failed to translate these findings into race-conscious financial aid strategies. Instead, colleges frequently defaulted to universal or race-neutral approaches that overlooked the specific structural barriers Black students have faced. This gap highlights the need for financial aid reform that not only acknowledges inequities but also incorporates race-conscious policies and targeted interventions to address them. Without such intentional efforts, the institutional acknowledgment of DI becomes performative rather than transformative.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD Education for Social Justice

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation: Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Learning and Teaching

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Williams, Edwina

• Black Student Success
• Financial Aid Discourse
• Financial Aid Equity
• California Community Colleges
• Student Equity Plans
• Critical Race Hermeneutics
• Race-Conscious Policy
• Disproportionate Impact
• Institutional Discourse Analysis
• African American Studies
• Discourse and Text Linguistics
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
• Educational Sociology
• Education Policy
• Other Education
• Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Justice

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/1067

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.sandiego.edu:dissertations-2080