International educator awareness of the availability of undocumented student resources

Peter H. Buschkopf

doi:10.17918/00001590

Undocumented students, due to their legal status, face many institutional barriers within higher education that affect their enrollment and retention rates. A recent national study by Cisneros & Rivarola (2020) concluded that of all higher education institutions in the United States, only 59 had centralized support for this specific group of marginalized students in the form of Undocumented Student Resource Centers (USRCs). None of these USRCs was in Massachusetts. Advocates for undocumented students seek institutional support, yet most staff are misinformed or unknowledgeable about how to help undocumented students. These students may turn to international educators in their search for assistance; however, international educators may not be in a position to ally with these students. This is a sequential explanatory mixed-methods research design that studies international educators' awareness of institutional resources and supports specifically tailored to undocumented students. The goal is to analyze how institutions provide resources and supports for undocumented students, and how aware international educators are of aforementioned resources in order to ally with undocumented students. Data collection started with an electronic survey of close-ended questions distributed to a professional association of international educators to gather quantitative data. The researcher then selected a nested and purposeful sample of international educators within the Boston metropolitan area and conducted semi-structured one-on-one interviews to get a richer understanding of their knowledge and professional experience pertaining to appropriately guiding undocumented students. Ultimately, the researcher hoped to gain an understanding of international educators' abilities and limitations in allying with undocumented students. International educators, in their official capacities, are in a delicate position as both student support staff and enforcers of federal immigration compliance. These conflicting obligations affect international educators' ability to overtly assist undocumented students and perpetuate the hidden, circuitous institutional support systems for these students. In light of this tenuous relationship between international educators and undocumented students, institutional decisionmakers may consider strategic separation of these student support services and the creation of Undocumented Student Resource Centers (USRCs) in addition to international student and scholar offices.

International educator awareness of the availability of undocumented student resources

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International educator awareness of the availability of undocumented student resources

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