$50,000 grant will fund continued study of undocumented college student experiences

Laura Enriquez, UCI associate professor of Chicano/Latino studies, has received a $50,000 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to continue her UC Collaborative to Promote Immigrant and Student Equity project. The 18-campus UC and CSU study, which began in 2019, provides comprehensive insights into the ways in which students’ undocumented status disrupts their educational experiences and outcomes and overall well-being. Enriquez and her team have already produced two reports that document a population of primarily first-generation students compromised by immigration status. The Russell Sage Foundation funding will support data analysis on previous survey responses to determine factors affecting postgraduate socioeconomic mobility, as well as in-depth interviews with select participants to learn how individual actions, campus resources and the institutional environment could help reduce inequalities. Enriquez is one of only 21 scholars in the United States and Canada to have been awarded funding in the second round of the foundation’s Pipeline Grants Competition.