Latinx Community College Students and the (In)Opportunities Brought by COVID-19 Pandemic

Take a Page Out of the Community College Playbook: How a Community College Education Prepared Students to Meet Pandemic Challenges

“…This pivot was especially difficult considering the disparate access to online and technology resources and training across colleges (Hart et al, 2021), all of which impacted student performance, persistence, and enrollment (Bird et al, 2022; D’Amico et al, 2022; Hart et al, 2021). Also, because the pandemic touched areas of life broader than higher education, students faced additional difficulties and crises that revolved around work, finances, childcare, transportation, illness, mental health, and food and housing security, among other areas (Bird et al, 2022; García-Louis et al, 2022; Manze et al, 2021).…”

How Did COVID-19 Affect Education and What Can Be Learned Moving Forward?

“…Crucial roles were performed by the interplay of authorities, educators, parents, and specialists in enhancing students' educational outcomes. Problems were frequently complex, and perspectives of everyone involved in education need to be included (García-Louis et al, 2022). Special Needs.…”

“…Often, the interconnection of a lack of resources, difficulties with mental health, and other aspects such as food hardship affected how students and their families responded to the pandemic. Given that it was mostly social inequities that already existed prior to the pandemic and severely limited the access of these at-risk groups to educational and employment opportunities, which in turn led to vast economic, food, and housing insecurity (García-Louis et al, 2022), it is critical that the aforementioned inequalities be acknowledged by institutional leaders and addressed at a national policy level (United Nations Children's Fund et al, 2022).…”

“It’s Really Hard to Have Your Own Place”: The At-Home Experiences of Latina/o/x Undergraduates During COVID-19

“…Emerging research on Latinas/os/x during the pandemic has revealed the challenges that students had to navigate and the impact on their academic experiences. One of the more common challenges that Latina/o/x students and parents encountered in both the K-12 and higher education landscape was the lack of reliable internet and technology along with necessary resources (Cioè-Peña, 2022; García-Louis et al, 2022). This was also exacerbated by the fact that Latina/o/x parents often had less available financial resources, which limited their ability to provide reliable internet and other services to their children (Atske & Perrin, 2021; Chen et al, 2022).…”

“…Class inequalities were also exacerbated during the pandemic as low-income Latina/o/x students had less educational resources, that hurt their academic performance (Errisuriz et al, 2022). Students enrolled in college at the onset of the pandemic experienced increased challenges in mental health, housing and food insecurity, and increased financial need (García-Louis et al, 2022;Martinez, et al, 2022;Zottarelli et al, 2021). But perhaps the most significant challenge for Latina/o/x college students who returned home during the pandemic was the lack of adequate study space and reliable internet services, which made learning at home difficult (Means et al, 2020;Mshigeni et al, 2022).…”