Finished!: How Newcomer Students Leveraged Family, Culture and Community to Complete a University Degree

Author

Brenda Eliana Bocanegra, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

First Advisor

David Martinez Prieto

Second Advisor

Michael Whitacre

Third Advisor

Kip Hinton

Abstract

The transition from high school to college represents a pivotal time in the life of a student. For Latino/a students, this transition may be met with unique challenges shaped by their cultural, socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. This research aims to delve into the multifaceted experiences of newcomer Latino/a students as they navigate the transition from, high school to university, to educators, exploring the factors that influence their paths, the barriers they encounter, and the support systems that helped facilitate their success.

This research used Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth as the framework to examine the factors that influenced and impacted Latino/a students during their transition from high school to university completion. The findings of this research are organized into three sections that depict the acquisition and use of different forms of capital used by the research participants.

These findings challenge the traditional deficit-based narratives that often frame immigrant and newcomer students as lacking the necessary resources to succeed and instead paints them in a light that recognizes the value and strength these students have.

Comments

Copyright 2025 Brenda Eliana Bocanegra. https://proquest.com/docview/3240635213

Recommended Citation

Bocanegra, B. E. (2025). Finished!: How Newcomer Students Leveraged Family, Culture and Community to Complete a University Degree [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley]. ScholarWorks @ UTRGV. https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/etd/1671