Facilitating Latina Mother’s Access to a California Community College

Erika Sanchez-Killian and Sara Lundquist, Ph.D.

Part I: Introduction to and Importance of the Project: Madres Motivadas

Background

California has more Latinos than any other state in the nation and by 2025 they will make up the majority of the state’s population (43%) (http://www.census.gov). Currently, Latinos comprise 42% of the 6.5 million enrolled students in California’s public K-12 schools (http://www.cde.ca.gov/demographics/). Hence, California’s well being depends on the education of this ever-growing population. Yet Latinos remain significantly underrepresented in higher education both in California and nationally. Three-fourths of Latino students who go on to college first matriculate in a community college (Gándara, 2000, Ortega, 2002). More than 29 percent of all Latinos in higher education nationally attend a California community college, reinforcing the significance of this critical constituency (Lundquist, 2002; Community College League of California, 2002; CPEC, Student Profiles, 2000, Display 3-5C). Even in the face of significantly rising costs California community college tuition remains the lowest in the nation and offers tuition-free access to all qualifying low-income students, making it an optimal vehicle for placing Latina mothers on a path toward upward mobility. The low fees and proximity of community college campuses work in favor of the students, but the revolving door phenomenon often stifles their academic progress as other priorities interfere with academic goals. While attachments to family and community contribute to this high community college enrollment by increasing the desire of students to receive their higher education locally, these same attachments can hinder progress.

Latino students in higher education often face competing priorities. At one end of the spectrum there is the desire to acquire an education, and at the other are familial and financial responsibilities (Fry, 2002). Often, as the first in their families to pursue higher education, Latinos lack an adequate support system to foster their endeavors. Pre-existing responsibilities and lack of support can greatly hinder progress and are particularly significant factors for Latina mothers.

Conflict between traditional domestic roles and academic success also affect the educational attainment of Latinas (Ortiz, 1995). When a woman leaves school to start a family she faces the difficulties of caring for her child/children in addition to the challenge of often lacking general education and job-specific skills to enter the workforce qualified to earn above poverty wages. As a result, for many Latinas low educational attainment is highly correlated with motherhood.

The Madres Motivadas Project

The Madres Motivadas project focuses on low-income Latina mothers (We use the term “Latina” to include all of the mothers in our study. Although the majority {50 of 54} of the participants are Mexican, four are from other Latin American countries, i.e. one from Venezuela, one from Argentina and two are from El Salvador) in a community college. Mexicans are the largest minority and the largest ethnic group in California, yet they have the lowest education attainment levels (Stanton-Salazar, 2001). In 1996, African American women had a high school completion rate of 74%, and non-Hispanic White women had a high school completion rate of 83%. Despite recent gains, Latina women trailed behind, with a rate of 63% while Mexican-origin women at 49% were even lower (Parrillo, 2000). The median age of Latinos living in the United States is 26, among the lowest for any group, making the quality and accessibility of the public education system a particularly significant determinant of their future educational attainment levels and economic well being (Lundquist, 2002). Yet, the 2002 census shows only 9.7% of 25-29 year old Hispanic females as having a college degree compared to 33.1% of White females. The Madres project offers effective ways to increase higher education access for Latinas. While not all Latinas complete their educational goals, higher education exposure often results in secondary positive effects, such as increased self-esteem, awareness and assertiveness.

As promising as the conditions for community college participation may appear to be, the reality is far more complex for Latina mothers. Although the unique tiered structure of California’s public higher education system makes community colleges the primary venue through which Latinas access higher education, at urban community colleges they remain among the most vulnerable student groups in terms of persistence and goal completion. Even grass roots and community-centered outreach programs often fail to reach Latina mothers who typically spend their days juggling commitments associated with infant care, family life, the needs of older children and extended family members. Existing support systems and co-curricular services often are not calibrated to the competing priorities experienced by this group of students, who have typically tried and failed to continue their education several times already. Insights about academic and co-curricular programs and services most significantly advancing the progress of this group will enable community colleges to modify and adapt current structures. Doing so will insure Latina mothers (and the children and extended family members they influence) will be first world citizens of the higher education community and not perpetually struggling on the margins of a system not structured to serve students with the constellation of competing priorities, which the Madres live with on a daily basis.

This study investigates the programs and services most likely to impact Latina mother enrollment and persistence at the community college. The long-standing history of cooperation between the University of California, Irvine and Santa Ana College fostered this joint effort to support student and community-centered institutional transformation. Participants became part of a three-year project designed to examine how college services, family relations, and interventions affect Latina mother’s community college success rate and in turn, how the community college affects the mother’s daily life. Over half (77%) of the participants are re-entry students who have taken some college courses right after high school but dropped out when they had children. The study has two groups of participants each of whom received a distinctive set of support services (high support versus low support), and a similarly structured control group who knew about the study but did not receive any program-driven supports (see Table 1). In group one (high support) 25 women were provided with $500 a year financial support (for books and emergencies), a monthly support group meeting, a monthly individual meeting with a program specialist and recognition ceremonies. In group two (low support) the women received limited financial help ($300 for books) as well as recognition ceremonies. In group three (control) the mothers simply had access to existing college programs and services, with no additional program-driven support provided. The high support group academically outperformed the other two groups (low-support and control).

Effective Access and Retention Measures

What happens when a Mexican mother decides she wants to pursue higher education? The mothers in our program have demonstrated that their jobs, income, migration patterns, family structure and support networks all have the potential to affect their role and identity as a student. Consequently, participation in higher education may also affect a mother and her relationships as she is exposed to new people and ideas. Our program highlights how various measures, most importantly a cohesive support network, are vital to Latina mother’s progress in higher education.

Lupe, a mother in her mid-twenties with two grade-school children describes how the many competing priorities in her life often conspire to overshadow the constant effort required to persist in school. Timely individual and group support reinforces the importance of education and can ultimately deter a mother from dropping out. Lupe shares the same education and economic background as many of the other mothers who participated in this project. Like the majority of the participating mothers, Lupe had thought about going back to school before the project, yet she was unsure how to go about doing so. The project’s grass roots outreach efforts transformed her fleeting thoughts about one day possibly becoming a student to actually joining the higher education world. While a community college student, Lupe lacked encouragement and validation from family and friends as she embarked on her new path. The other mothers in her monthly meeting and the program specialist, Estella, reinforced the importance of her decision to pursue her academic goals, which mitigated the negative messages she was receiving from loved ones. Although Lupe often felt that attending college set a positive example for her children, doing so proved to be quite difficult. She felt overwhelmed, stressed, torn and confused as she tried to be a wife, mother, employee and a college student. Yet she managed to persevere with the help of key support measures building her capacity to undertake approximately 12 to 18 hours of paid and unpaid work, parenting, and academic activities daily.

Outreach

Community outreach programs exist to a greater or lesser degree at all community colleges as their mission centers on the provision of basic skills, transfer and workforce education to the communities they serve and belong to. Relatively small changes may have a significant impact in terms of expanded awareness about access to the community college, options for the mitigation of fees, and valuable existing support services. Such efforts can be developed as part of a stand-alone program or as an integrated element of existing programs and services.

In this case, a bilingual program specialist began outreach efforts by setting up educational information booths at various local elementary schools and handing out free information about becoming a student at the local community college. The program specialist also distributed flyers about participating in the three-year project at churches, laundromats and various other locations in the greater Santa Ana area. Although the target population sought for this study was Mexican mothers, fathers also responded with questions and enthusiasm about the prospects of higher education. This suggests a broad and substantial interest in higher education exists in pockets of the community not touched by more traditional outreach efforts. The majority of those interested echoed their desire to enroll in a community college program of study but lacked specific information about how to actually do so. The outreach efforts demystified the initial process of getting started at a community college and highlighted information on available financial aid and programs of study. As a result, fifty-four mothers became part of the Madres Motivades project. It was extremely effective to have the outreach done by a program specialist who would later build upon these early contacts to form a sustained relationship with the program participants.

Lupe, previously mentioned, attributes her success in college to the program. Outreach efforts demystified the matriculation process for her and she maintains had she not received the flyer from her daughter’s school, she would not be a college student today. After starting at the local community college, Lupe as well as many of the mothers, emphasized that access to the program specialist as well as the one-on-one and group meetings were the primary reasons for their higher retention rates (versus those with no extra support measures, see Table 2).

Program Specialist and Monthly Support Meetings: A Bridge between Two Worlds

Participating in monthly group meetings with other student mothers proved to be a key support measure for the participants. The group with ‘high support’ had access to a monthly group meeting, which helped establish useful and highly effective peer support. This group also benefited from personalized attention through the monthly individual meeting with the program specialist, who handled both private and group meetings. The rapport the mothers established with the program specialist made them feel as if they had someone to turn to with any questions or concerns about the community college. The program specialist served as a bridge between their familiar world and the new college world. The mothers established ties with other mothers through the meetings that further sustained the bridge linking them to the college world. Both were important and beneficial interventions. Angela, a single 29 year-old mother of one four-year-old daughter, clearly exemplifies how crucial the group meetings were for her. She states the following when asked what has been most influential in continuing her studies,

This statement clearly exemplifies how Angela first began community college because of the outreach efforts; but more importantly how the Madres support group encouraged her to continue her studies. This group not only gave her a feeling of solidarity and belonging but also made her feel invested as part of a group, where she had colleagues to respond to whom she did not want to disappoint. The program specialist, as well as the mothers who attended the monthly meetings, fostered a support network facilitating educational success. This support seemed to outweigh the financial help that Angela initially thought would be of the greatest assistance. When a 22 year-old married mother with four young children was asked who supports her community college studies she replied,

The monthly meetings benefited the mothers by increasing involvement with Latina mother peers at the college and providing a venue for comfortable dialogue about challenges and strategies for succeeding in college. Other scholars also found similar support measures to be high predictors of college success (Nora, 2003; Tinto, 1987). These meetings covered various useful topics such as study skills, time management and domestic violence and many others. In addition, the mothers learned valuable public speaking and leadership skills during these meetings since each mother was asked to facilitate two meetings. The availability of free childcare for all program meetings sustained high rates of attendance throughout.

In addition to facilitating the monthly meetings, the program specialist maintained a supportive relationship with all of the ‘high support’ mothers by having individual monthly meetings to discuss barriers, challenges and emerging needs in a more intimate and private setting. While the program specialist was not a trained academic counselor, her role supplemented services already available at the college. In addition, she served as a role model for students through being a bilingual/bicultural, college educated Latina. She prepared herself for the project work by investigating, previewing and experiencing all aspects of matriculation and co-curricular support at the college. To further maximize the success of program participants, she learned about the internal workings of the college and networked with a cadre of existing college leaders whose programs and services would be available to the Latina mothers. She offered assistance and listened to the mother’s needs and concerns as they navigated the college world. The mothers who received this intervention commented on its usefulness and many of them credit the program specialist as well as the meetings she facilitated for their retention success. Fifty-six percent of those who received these interventions continued with their studies versus 32 percent of students who did not receive these interventions (both the low support and the control group combined, see Table 2). Out of the 56 percent, one student transferred to a University of California campus for the 2003-2004 academic year. Of the 33 percent, one mother from the low support group transferred to a California State University campus for the same year. However, while these are success stories in the conventional definition of the word, other noteworthy successes also transpired. Many mothers became more assertive and empowered by having learned how to survive and thrive in a new setting while managing family relations. Some challenged abusive relationships and others sought out better schools for their children so they to could attend college. These changes in the mothers had a direct effect on their lives regardless of school completion.

The mothers who did not have access to the program specialist cited a lack of support, among other things, as one of the main reasons for leaving the community college. Stanton-Salazar (2001) found that support networks foster academic success. In their analysis, Mexican Americans who had helping networks, whether friends or teachers, succeed at significantly higher rates than those who did not ( Zavella, 1987; Tinto, 1993). Our project confirms previous findings and further underscores the importance of supportive relationships to educational success.

Financial Assistance and Recognition Ceremonies

Although the meetings and the relationship with the program specialist proved to be the most powerful effects, the outreach efforts, financial assistance and recognition ceremonies were also valuable assets from the student’ point of view. Leticia, a 32 year-old married mother of two teenage daughters and one grade school boy, stresses the significance of the financial intervention when stating,

While some of the mothers received more financial assistance than others ($500 versus $300 per year versus nothing), in-depth interviews with the mothers in both groups reveal having some type of assistance, especially for books, helped a great deal. All of the mothers have other financial obligations, making education a difficult task to pursue especially considering the rapidly rising cost of books and materials. The group with the most financial assistance did have the highest retention rate. Yet this finding is inconclusive since they also received the most substantial in-kind support. It may suggest, as other research indicates (Tinto, 1987) that additional resources can substantially improve retention for low-income students, but are not a sufficient condition.

In addition to the financial help, periodic recognition ceremonies validated the mother’s experiences and encouraged them to continue their educational pursuits. The program specialist was in charge of arranging recognition ceremonies at the end of each semester as well as orchestrating a culminating celebration to mark the official end of the funded program. These gatherings publicly recognized the extended family members for their critical role in supporting the Madres and more closely connected extended family members to the community college itself by familiarizing them with college programs, facilities, and personnel. Many researchers maintain that Latinos perceive a high level of family support as important and desire geographic closeness to their families (Keefe and Padilla, 1987; Sabogal, Marin and Otero-Sabogal, 1987). Validating these relationships can greatly affect a mother’s retention and overall prospects of educational advancement.

Advisory Committee Process and Structure:

An advisory committee consisting of academics, higher education administrators, and community representatives guided this project from conceptualization to completion. Once the project became operational, students formally joined the advisory committee on a rotational basis, providing a majority of the Madres in the high support group with the opportunity to inform and guide the evolving project by adding their perspectives to the dialogue at critical implementation intervals. In addition to local representatives from the lead institution (UC Irvine) and the partner community college (Santa Ana), external advisors, scholars and community activists from UC Santa Barbara and Los Angeles added direction, perspective and insight throughout the project’s duration.

Scheduled as all day meetings, the advisory committee met twice a year facilitated by the principal investigator. The semi-structured meetings offered sufficient flexibility to expand on salient issues raised by the members while addressing core matters brought to the forefront by participants, advisors, or program staff. All meetings concluded with reflective writing in which advisors would synthesize their input regarding the status of the project emphasizing emerging successes and potential areas of vulnerability.

Part II: Analysis and Implications for Latina Mothers and Community Colleges

Higher Education Today

The present extreme shortfalls in funding for public higher education in California in general and for student outreach in particular pose a significant threat to the participation and retention of first generation college students. For groups such as Latina mothers who represent an extreme within this under-represented group the risks increase. This project is theoretically important, timely, and has crucial policy implications if institutions want to insure participation and retention of Latina mothers. As last year’s severe budget cuts worsened, tuition rose across the board at the community college, CSU and UC, and a sluggish recovery offers no assurance the worst is behind us, making efforts such as those described herein is particularly important. Santa Ana College President Rita Cepeda reported that Santa Ana College significantly cut class sections and curtailed support services in response to the enormous reduction in available funding. Cepeda believes that "it is safe to say that Latinos will make up a disproportionate number of the students who will be displaced" (The Road Runner Newsletter, 2003). As one of the most vulnerable student groups, history and research underscore the high price that Latinos in general and Latinas in particular are likely to pay as a result of these cutbacks. Support services are crucial to their retention and success as first generation college students who are often left out (Lundquist, 2002). As reduced funding and increased demand and rising fees in the community colleges threaten the participation of students who have no alternative path to higher education, careful attention to the findings of this study is one valuable way colleges can insure they consciously seek opportunities to welcome, support and retain Latinas in higher education.

Implications for Community College Practitioners and Leaders:

This study was not designed as a model program for outright replication; but rather, as a pilot project and research endeavor from which principles and practices could emerge for general application at other community colleges. Any community college interested in using the resources it has to support Latinas in general and Latina mothers in particular should consider the following:

Gather together key partners and stakeholders to develop an action plan for advancing a formal or informal initiative on your campus including consideration of the following elements as a point of departure:

1. Conduct a simple assessment of the status of participation and retention of Latinas on your campus—what data presently exist and what important questions remain unaddressed?
   
   
2. Consider what programs/services/courses in place already serve Latinas or low-income students. Effectively link these resources to an interested population of beneficiaries not currently engaged.
   
   
3. Analyze opportunities to more effectively articulate outreach work at school and community sites to mitigate the significant information gaps subduing community college participation for this population.
   
   
4. Hire, assign, or identify a bilingual, bicultural college educated staff member to serve as a resource to this cadre of students.
   
   
5. Establish a “Madres Support Group” to meet monthly or foster the creation of a similarly focused student club or organization.
   
   
6. Follow up regularly (personally, electronically, etc.) with each mother to check their status and respond to any existing issues or concerns.
   
   
7. Aggressively link students to financial aid and scholarship resources available through local, state and federal sources.
   
   
8. Broadcast the successes of Latina mothers as students to increase their visibility as a valued and successful part of the college community.
   
   
9. Coordinate recognition ceremonies where each mother can invite family members to personally experience the college and to share their success.
   
   
10. Compile a student satisfaction survey to learn how this constituency feels about education and what changes it most desires in the college’s programs and services.
    
    
    

Major Findings/Lessons Learned:

We conclude that community colleges can play a significant role in enabling Latina mothers to enter and persist in higher education. The community college structure with its focus on teaching and student success and relative affordability makes it the optimal institution for Latina mothers to begin their programs of study. If supplemental measures such as a cohesive support network, and supplemental financial resources are made available the environment will be even more conducive to Latina mother success.

Current insights gathered from our undertaking offer important information about which academic and co-curricular programs and services most significantly advance the progress of this group. These implications enable community colleges to modify and adapt current structures. Doing so will help to ensure that Latina mothers (and the children and extended family members they influence) will join the higher education community instead of perpetually struggling on the margins of a system not structured to serve students with competing priorities the Madres face daily.

Higher education institutions that adopt a proactive commitment to student diversity understand how their central mission is linked with the future of our changing society. The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA and numerous other scholars have documented the many ways in which a racially diverse student population enhances white students' educational experiences and contributes to the overall educational environment for all learners. These empirical studies provide further justification for institutional investment in the creation and maintenance of a racially diverse student body (Chang and Astin, 1997). Implementing some of the lessons learned from this initiative will benefit community colleges as a whole, and low-income mothers in particular.

Where Do We Go From Here

Beyond rhetoric and promises, hope for the future and the crushing reality of diminishing resources in the face of growing demand lies the ultimate question—what can and will we do with what we have to create and sustain the best possible institutions? To answer this question we have to look at the fundamental purposes of our institutions, at the communities they serve and reshape a definition of excellence for those constituencies depending primarily, if not exclusively, on us as their path to a better life. We invite you and urge you to consider the talents and needs of this extraordinary constituency as you allocate your precious human and capital resources and create a place for them to participate and belong to your institutions.

If you are interested in learning more about implementing the program in whole or in part on your campus please contact Lilia Tanakeyowma, Director of the Office of School and Community Partnerships at Santa Ana College (tanakeyowma_lilia@sac.edu).

References

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