Based on a case study of two majority-Black public high schools in a highly segregated American school district, the article employs a critical intersectional framework to examine the experiences of ten college-aspiring young Black men as they navigate the college choice process. Findings indicate that working-class Black male students are less likely to have access to college-going resources and social networks than their middle-class peers. However, a wellresourced school that affirms Black identity may increase agency and help crystallize college plans among working-class Black male students. In contrast, the study found that more institutional academic structures constrain agency and channel working-class Black male students towards under-resourced colleges where they are less likely to thrive.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and reshaped undergraduate students’ social, learning, and workplace environments. Using an ecological systems framework, we draw on survey data from a sequential, mixed-methods study of undergraduate students at an urban, Minority-Serving Institution ( n = 1,272) to examine the association between health, economic, and other pandemic-related shocks and students’ academic perceptions. First, we conducted exploratory factor analyses on two groups of measures: “basic need concerns” and “interference with academic performance and plans.” Second, we connected student perceptions of the pandemic's interference with their academic performance and plans to ecological changes using regression analysis. Our model found a significant amount of the variance (12.6%) could be attributed to economic and health-related shocks and academic disruptions, including changes to caretaker responsibilities. However, students’ perceptions of how well they were doing with online learning accounted for most of the modeled variance. Implications for undergraduate student retention are discussed.
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