Hustle in Higher Education: How Latinx Students with Conviction Histories Move from Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education

Abstract

The voices and experiences of formerly incarcerated college students are emerging throughout the social science literature. The importance of documenting their narratives is grounded in the reality that more than an estimated 12,000 system-impacted people are enrolled throughout the California postsecondary education system. This paper highlights the knowledge and skills formerly incarcerated students possess and deploy to navigate higher education successfully. Our study adds to the growing body of literature examining the experiences of formerly incarcerated Latinx students from an anti-deficit perspective. We use the theory of funds of knowledge and semi-structured interviews with 16 formerly incarcerated Latinx students at different points of the postsecondary education pipeline to understand their experiences. We find that formerly incarcerated Latinx students tapped into their “hustle” to move from surviving to thriving in higher education. These pre-college skills, acquired through their life experiences, allow students to seek academic and financial resources, create academic networks, and make personal connections with institutional agents to overcome various personal and institutional barriers.

Higher Education and Justice-Impacted Students: Toward a Radical Reimagining

“…Hernandez et al (in press) further illustrate that universities are not spaces created for nontraditional students. However, the increasing numbers of first generation, formerly incarcerated, and other non-traditional students will eventually create a critical mass in higher education.…”

“…In Hernandez et al (in press), we see a reimagining of the discussion of worth and value. From the beginning, two of the authors acknowledge how their personal backgrounds with criminal legal history involvement provided opportunity for rapport, insight, and “cultural intuition,” and by choosing an asset-based framework as opposed to a deficit model, they focus on worth rather than stigma, strengths rather than assumed weaknesses.…”

“…Using situational awareness and analysis, hard work, and hustle, these students have thrived living outside of traditional occupational and societal norms. Hernandez et al., showcase one participant in their study, Panchito, who shared his perspective about higher education, “these institutions are not built for us.” The participants in this study do not shrink under the fear or weight of stigma related to being formerly incarcerated. Instead, the participants in the Hernandez article do what they have always done—maneuver and adapt with an ethic of community and collaboration.…”

“…Hernandez et al (in press) and McTier (in press) tackle the issue of the collegiate experiences of students with conviction histories, and in both articles, we see that colleges and universities levy their admission processes as fruits of the proverbial poisonous tree; in a field like higher education that has been built on the exclusion of students deemed as “Other,” the various ways that justice-impacted students must prove their worth for admission are rooted in systemic and exclusionary violence (cite). Hernandez et al (in press) note the proactive reframing of the justice-impacted student narratives, where those students did not wait for someone else to define their strengths and existence; instead, the students took the reins and harnessed their own voices to advocate for themselves and others to promote community and persistence within their college environments.…”

“…However, using Kaba’s (2021) framing of resource allocation, and an emphasis on whether we are advocating for more resources going toward established, oppressive systems or structures, we must ask ourselves if these suggestions are sufficient to reorient higher education institutions that McTier (McTier in press), himself, found had substantial amounts of bias against college students with conviction histories. We argue that a far more radical approach is necessary, an approach that must be supported by progressive institutional leaders, that leverages the asset-based frameworks discussed by Hernandez et al (in press) and reaches outside the siloed confines of higher education to instead the community lessons taught by those steeped in community organizing and outreach through harm reduction and an ethos of meeting people where they are and acknowledging the expertise of lived experience. Doing so, and expanding our understanding of the purpose of higher education as a public good, allows us to better innovate and create more inclusive learning environments free of the same kinds of judgment of worth and value that currently reigns within the walls of the ivory towers.…”