Low-income students of color have the difficult task of navigating their educational pathways in an era of resegregation, where they have higher chances of being tracked to lower academic courses (Mickleson & Heath, 1999) and are more likely to attend low-performing, racially and socioeconomically isolated high schools (Orfield & Lee, 2005). Research promotes the positive educational outcomes of integrated school settings (Wells, 1995), but limited research contextualizes (Wells, 2001) the experiences of low-income students of color in these settings. In light of research on the impact of the racial and socioeconomic composition of a high school on students’ educational outcomes, this dissertation used social capital and network theory to examine how networks of opportunity in accessing postsecondary resources differed between one integrated and one high poverty, high minority high school. Interviews of students and faculty identified by students as institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 1997)—individuals who connect students to postsecondary resources—helped frame the two high school portraits (see Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997). Without systematic supports in both the integrated and segregated high school settings, only a select group of students were tied to resources that would lead them to their postsecondary aspirations. Students connected to postsecondary resources were at a structural advantage due to opportunities, such as enrollment in advanced placement (AP) courses, which would help broaden their networks of opportunity. In contrast, most students without the same structural advantages as high achieving students often felt lost navigating high school, disconnected from academics, and misdirected in navigating their postsecondary trajectories. Consequently, although the integrated high school was perceived as the gateway to accessing better educational opportunities, stratification occurred, tracking low-income and students of color to non-college preparatory courses. Therefore, low-income and students of color who transferred to the integrated high school in search of better educational opportunities received limited academic preparation similar to what was offered to them in their former low-performing, high poverty, high minority high school. The findings suggest that without both institutional and structural transformations and systematic supports, school integration alone is not the single element to offering greater educational opportunities to low-income and students of color. / text

More than 3 million refugees have resettled in the U.S. alone since 1948 (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2018). Less than 10% of refugees resettled in the U.S. make educational advancements of any kind post-resettlement, and only six percent of refugees worldwide have entered postsecondary education (Capps and Fix, 2015; Ferede, 2018; Kerwin, 2012; Mendenhall, Russell and Buckner, 2017; U.S. Department of State, 2017; UNHCR, 2017, 2019, 2021). Despite these data, there is no lack of desire to attend college or university among refugees who have completed secondary school (Dryden-Peterson et al., 2010). This post-intentional phenomenological study sought to understand more deeply the lived experiences of resettled refugees accessing postsecondary education and how they utilize navigational and aspirational capital to negotiate exploration, application, and enrollment processes. Findings of this study surfaced barriers resettled refugees in the United States navigate at the meso-, macro-, and micro-levels of postsecondary educational access, the community cultural wealth that resettled refugees create, and how they utilize this capital to navigate the complexities of an educational system created without them in mind. This study has implications for secondary and postsecondary professionals, policymakers at the state and federal levels, and for researchers who are interested in postsecondary educational access for resettled refugees. / Doctor of Philosophy / Refugees have been resettled in the United States since 1948(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2018). Most of these resettled refugees have not made educational advancements after resettlement despite their desires for additional education. This study was designed to understand what it is like for resettled refugees when they attempt to purse education after graduating from high school and what are the barriers that can get in their way when they are learning about, applying to, and going to college. This study also sought to understand what helps resettled refugees successfully continue to make progress at each of these points in the college-going process. This research shows that resettled refugees have high aspirations for gaining education after high school and that their families and other members of their broader community also share these aspirations. It also shows that resettled refugees learn how to work through complex challenges by relying on both the information they collect about college-going and the information that others share with them. This study is useful for those who work in all areas of education and government in the United States and who are responsible for making decisions about how policies and rules can help or hinder resettled refugees as they attempt to learn about, apply to, and go to college.