Legal Status and Educational Transitions for Mexican and Central American Immigrant Youth

Abstract

This study uses the Survey of Income and Program Participation to infer the legal status of Mexican and Central American immigrant youth and to investigate its relationship with educational attainment. We assess differences by legal status in high school graduation and college enrollment, decompose differences in college enrollment into the probability of high school graduation and the probability of high school graduates' enrollment in college and estimate the contributions of personal and family background characteristics to such differences. Results show that undocumented students are less likely than documented students to both graduate from high school and enroll in college, and differences in college enrollment cannot be explained by family background characteristics. We conclude that legal status is a critical axis of stratification for Latinos.

A ‘master status’ or the ‘final straw’? Assessing the role of immigration status in Latino undocumented youths’ pathways out of school

“…My broad findings align with Gonzales' (2015) Finally, comparisons to citizen peers who occupy similar race, gender, socioeconomic status, and/or first-generation college student statuses would help elucidate the extent to which immigration status, other social locations, and their intersection disrupt educational achievement (for example see Greenman and Hall 2013).…”

“…Previous research on undocumented youths' educational experiences focuses on how undocumented immigration status distinctly and severely limits access to, pursuit of, and success in higher education (Abrego 2006(Abrego , 2008Abrego and Gonzales 2010;Diaz-Strong et al 2011;Flores 2010;Greenman and Hall 2013;Perez 2012). Yet, these findings primarily draw on the experiences of high-achieving, undocumented college students.…”

“…Though additional college-access legislation for undocumented youth, such as access to in-state tuition rates and financial aid, may help close the educational achievement gap in this population (Flores 2010;Greenman and Hall 2013), my findings suggests that broader educational access policies are also needed to address raced, classed, gendered, and firstgeneration college student status inequalities. Further, policies would also need to improve parental socioeconomic status, possibly by providing them with an opportunity to legalize their immigration status or obtain temporary access to a work permit, such as with the proposed Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program.…”

“…Many undocumented youth remain unaware of supportive educational policies because they are not embedded in networks with school officials, community leaders, or other undocumented students (Enriquez 2011;Gonzales 2010;Silver 2012). Although in-state tuition policies increase undocumented students' college enrollment rates and decrease high school drop-out rates (Flores 2010;Greenman and Hall 2013), financial barriers still disrupt educational pathways by forcing individuals to sacrifice study time to work, enroll in less expensive community colleges instead of four-year universities, take time off when they cannot afford tuition, or stop out (Abrego and Gonzales 2010;Diaz-Strong et al 2011;Terriquez 2015). Additionally, undocumented students often experience institutional neglect when schools are not prepared to meet their specific needs, may have limited social and emotional support when they do not reveal their immigration status to others, or may face antiimmigrant sentiment; all these factors can discourage their persistence (Perez Huber and Malagon 2007;Perez et al 2009).…”

Dreams Delayed: Barriers to Degree Completion among Undocumented Community College Students

“…A significant proportion of community college students come from lower socio-economic backgrounds and such students tend to stop out at higher rates than their more privileged counterparts (Goldrick-Rab 2006; Terriquez and Gurantz 2014), perhaps because students with less-educated parents do not obtain the same level of academic guidance in high school and beyond, as do those with more educated parents (Lareau and Weininger 2008). Additionally, students from lower income backgrounds cannot rely on their parents' financial resources to support their academic development as children (Farkas 2011) or pay for their school-related expenses when they reach adulthood (Huang et al 2010). …”