Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

6-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Urban Education

Advisor

Juan Battle

Committee Members

Anthony Picciano

Limarys Caraballo

Subject Categories

Higher Education

Keywords

time-to-degree, Latine students, bachelor's degree, college completion, transfer students

Abstract

Latine bachelor’s degree completion has grown in the last several decades but has not kept pace with other racial and ethnic groups. Millions of Latines have successfully navigated higher education, yet not enough is known about the conduits and barriers to timely degree completion. This dissertation utilizes LatCrit, Anti-Deficit Achievement, and Intersectionality as theoretical frameworks; employs secondary analysis of a City University of New York dataset; and utilizes hierarchical regression modeling to examine the relative impact of college completion programs, academic momentum, and key demographic variables on time-to-degree for Latine students. Further, to see how these relationships operate differently for transfer versus first-year students, analysis was conducted for those two groups separately. The findings revealed that the domains under investigation have varying effects on the time it takes Latines to earn their bachelor’s degrees. Participation in college completion programs, for example, has varying effects on time-to-degree depending on the types of support provided by the program and the student's matriculation status. Furthermore, achieving certain academic momentum milestones, such as attempting 15 credits in semester one, affects Latine first-year students' time-to-degree but has no effect on Latine transfers' time to degree. Finally, the impact of demographic characteristics like citizenship, language, and socioeconomic status vary according to students’ entry point into a bachelor’s degree. Given the findings, recommendations are provided for families, universities, and policymakers to improve Latine bachelor’s degree outcomes.

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