"Beyond the Barriers": Listening to Immigrant Youth to Transform Higher Education

Abstract

This article explores the ways a university-based research team learned with and from immigrant youth as they collaboratively inquired into issues surrounding access to higher education. Through a close look at the youth’s research, including their discussions and written texts, we examine their desires for higher education and their responses to visiting our campus. We found that the students began to develop both a sense of belonging to higher education and a healthy skepticism of its admissions practices and institutional representation. They were also able to conceptualize their identities, at least in part, as assets to the college application process. From this study, we draw implications for fostering more equitable university-community partnerships.