When Alicia García first enrolled at College of the Desert, she felt lost. Her grades from her first semester at California community college weren't good, she says, and she didn't know much about financial aid or academic advising.
But when one of his professors announced an opportunity for students to participate in a research internship to study the well-being and civic engagement of youth in the Coachella Valley, his interest was piqued. She registered.
“As I am a first-generation student, I have never had the resources to be able to enter education. I didn’t know who to talk to, where to go and all that good stuff,” he says. “But when I saw this opportunity to be able to make a change in my community, I totally embraced it.”
Over the past year, the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, created partnerships with California community colleges to engage dozens of students in research that surveys youth in the communities where two-year colleges are located. years. Students who sign up to administer surveys (sometimes in Spanish or indigenous languages such as Mixtec) receive a stipend, earn college credits, and get a taste of what it's like to produce scholarships in collaboration with and support from faculty. from a top-level university.
For Garcia, the experience not only made her more involved in her community college, but also prompted her to consider pursuing additional higher education.
While working on the project with her professor, Andrew Alemán, he began asking her if she had plans to transfer to earn a bachelor's degree, García recalls. She hadn't thought much about it, he said. When she mentioned the names of some institutions, the professor encouraged her to think bigger and consider applying to schools in the University of California system.
“I became a little vulnerable. I thought, 'I really don't think I can do it.' If we're honest, I have a lot of doubts. It is really difficult. What if I'm not good enough? What happens if I don't come in?' What if?'” she recalls.
The professor counterargued: “What happens if you manage to get in? What happens if you pass the classes?' He told me: 'Not only that, but you already have your foot in the water.' What is there to be so afraid of?'”
Boosting transfer rates to community colleges is an ongoing challenge in higher education. a new data analysis shows that only about one-third of students who start at community colleges transfer to four-year schools, and only 48 percent of those who transfer earn a bachelor's degree within six years of starting higher education. That means only 16 percent of community college students transfer and graduate from a four-year university within six years, and the rate is even lower for low-income students (11 percent). blacks (9 percent) and Hispanics (13 percent). ).
For García, exposure to a university research program and the vote of confidence from his professor were key motivators for the transfer.
“He was just encouraging me,” Garcia says. “That's something I've never had.” That's something I've never experienced. I've never been told I can do it. I've never been told, 'You've got this.' Good job, I'm proud of you. “That’s something I got from him all the time.”
Community experts
According to Eder Gaona, tapping community college students to design and conduct social science research has helped build the infrastructure needed to collect data in regions of California that tend not to be studied as thoroughly as, say, Los Angeles or the Bay Area. -Macedo, former senior community research official at the Chicano Studies Research Center.
And because this particular research effort, called the Thriving Youth Study, is aimed at people ages 18 to 34, it makes sense to recruit students to help run it who can draw on their own knowledge of their neighborhoods and peers.
“They know where young people hang out,” says Gaona-Macedo. “That's very instrumental in our research pursuit.”
The study analyzes the social conditions that influence the education and employment of youth in California, focusing on those whose families work in agriculture and other low-wage industries. Input from community college students and faculty helps ensure that the survey results are useful locally, Gaona-Macedo adds, not just to UCLA scholars.
“It allows us to really have community buy-in,” he says.
Some of these community college students may join the next generation of researchers at California universities, Gaona-Macedo says, if the experience inspires them to transfer to larger institutions and pursue advanced degrees.
“We want to get to the point where, hopefully, they start to see UC as an option,” he says. “We don't provide any 'how to', but we hope that working with us will increase your curiosity.”
So far, three of the participating students have successfully transferred from their community colleges to UCLA, where they continued working on the research project, Gaona-Macedo says.
One of those students is Monserrat Ruiz. He first became involved as a student at Oxnard College participating in research ethics training. He then helped develop survey questions designed to resonate with people of his generation and helped hand out survey invitations at clinics and community events. Next, she learned how to conduct in-depth individual interviews with participants.
She says the research program helped her make friends with her fellow students and also strengthened her courage and social skills.
“It brought me out of my shell,” Ruiz says. “The more I got used to it, the more I liked it.”
Ruiz, who had enrolled at Oxnard College after high school because of its free tuition program, says transferring to UCLA has been a positive experience so far. The academic workload seems more rigorous, he says, but still manageable. He has also noticed that it is more difficult for him to access resources like advice and help at the writing center at his big university than at his community college.
Ruiz has continued working on the research project, transcribing and coding interviews for nine or ten hours a week. She hopes to eventually earn a master's degree and work at a nonprofit in her community. The experience “helped me want to continue community involvement,” she says. “It was refreshing to see all the perspectives in my community, in my county, that I never knew.”
Meanwhile, Garcia is making plans to apply to transfer to earn a bachelor's degree this fall. She says that her teacher continues to “bugger” her about it, that is, to monitor her progress.
“I didn't even know what a UC or a USC was” before starting the internship, García says. “Now I have big goals for myself, I have plans, and not only for myself, but for my community, for the people around me.”
