Beyond Admissions and Financial Aid: Demystifying the College-Going Process for Latine Students Through Relational Engagement

Abstract

College access programs are well documented to build procedural knowledge of admissions and financial aid, yet less is known about how they demystify the hidden curriculum of college-going for Latine students. To address this gap, we examine a four-day college access immersion program for Latine high school students in North Carolina. Guided by a relational engagement framework, we analyzed 205 open-ended survey responses from 96 Latine high school juniors and seniors, collected through the program’s anonymous daily evaluations, using a two-cycle iterative coding approach. Findings reveal five forms of learning through which participants described the program countering dominant narratives of exclusion: (1) reframing identity and culture as assets, (2) building confidence through intergroup exchange, (3) enacting agency for college access, (4) uncovering the hidden curriculum of financial well-being and college persistence, and (5) disrupting exclusionary assumptions about college access. The study extends relational engagement theory by demonstrating how culturally sustaining programmatic networks render implicit institutional knowledge visible and accessible. Implications for research and culturally responsive practice are discussed.

1. Introduction

College access programs are vital in supporting underrepresented communities’ pathways to post-secondary education (Bennett et al., 2022; Amaro-Jimenez et al., 2020; Kitchen et al., 2018). Extant research highlights college access programs’ effectiveness in amplifying students’ general process knowledge of college access, inclusive of basic understandings to apply for admission and financial aid (Bergerson, 2009; Dávila et al., 2023) and providing students an overview of campus life (Dyce et al., 2013). However, what remains unknown are other significant impacts of college access programs, especially how these programs clarify the hidden curriculum or the unspoken or implicit expectations, norms, and behaviors that students are expected to understand to navigate (Soria & Stebleton, 2012) college access processes. To address this gap, the present study utilizes open-ended survey responses stemming from program assessment, detailing participants’ own written reflections on their learning. Specifically, we examine how a four-day college access immersion program for Latine high school students in North Carolina demystifies college and supports students in realizing college as a possibility, countering dominant narratives of exclusionary access to postsecondary education.

We frame this research with Smith and Tinto’s (2024) students’ relational engagement framework, which conceptualizes student engagement as constituted through dynamic networks of interpersonal knowledge exchange, to address the research question: How is a college access program in North Carolina demystifying the college-going experience for Latine students? In the following sections, we situate the present study within the relevant extant literature on college access programs, overview our theoretical framework and methodology, and present and discuss key findings and their implications for research and practice.

1.1. Relevant Literature

Higher education scholars have examined several key areas related to this inquiry, including the purposes of college access programs, their effectiveness, and opportunities for developing participants’ intentions to attend college. College access and/or pathway programs (used interchangeably in this manuscript) are intended to encourage youth to pursue higher education. Towards this end, higher education professionals design and implement programs inculcating or nurturing participants’ beliefs that they, too, can successfully apply and enroll in college. As such, our review of the extant literature centers research on access programs’ traditional or overt purposes, e.g., enhancing college application and acceptance knowledge (Alhaddab & Aquino, 2017; Burbridge, 2019; Dávila et al., 2023; Dyce et al., 2013; Horng et al., 2013; Millett et al., 2018) and how access programs can additionally convey knowledges that demystify the more subtle or hidden curriculum of higher education access (Cotton et al., 2013; Koutsouris et al., 2021; Mariscal et al., 2022; Orón Semper & Blasco, 2018; Soria & Stebleton, 2012). Concretely, we bring these theoretical and philosophical commitments together to highlight extant scholarship on more customary (and laudable) purposes of college access programs as well as evaluation studies featuring historically minoritized student outcomes. This contextualization provides the foundation for our contribution, specifically the role of these programs in fostering college access preparation beyond traditional emphases and socializing minoritized students to the covert skills and techniques needed for successfully accessing and completing a college degree.

1.1.1. Overt Purposes of College Access Programs

College access programs have been widely studied for their role in providing fundamental knowledge about the application process, financial aid opportunities, and integration into campus communities for students. Research underscores the benefits of these programs for youth in general (Ng et al., 2014), among historically marginalized groups, including low-income students (Dyce et al., 2013; Horng et al., 2013; Millett et al., 2018), and ethnically and racially minoritized student populations (Burbridge, 2019; Dávila et al., 2023). Furthermore, research demonstrates that pre-college access programs directly enhance college preparedness and postsecondary academic readiness (Alhaddab & Aquino, 2017). These programs not only provide students with essential skills to navigate college environments (Caldwell & Siwatu, 2003) but also help bridge the gap in college access and attainment among racially and ethnically minoritized students, as participants are more likely to enroll in college immediately after high school and attend four-year institutions (Alhaddab & Aquino, 2017). Evaluations of specific access programs with economically minoritized student populations highlight their role in shaping students’ academic trajectories beyond undergraduate education. Millett et al. (2018) found that PUPP alumni exhibited increased continued education tendencies for advanced degrees, revealing that access programs can foster long-term academic planning. Their findings revealed that the program supported students’ charting of academic plans and pathways, especially to envision access to advanced degrees, including master’s and doctoral degrees (Millett et al., 2018). Similarly, Ward et al. (2013) investigated the effects of pre-college access programs on ethnically and racially minoritized and economically disadvantaged students, finding that the GEAR UP program enhanced participants’ awareness of key high school completion milestones required for higher education access, such as application and enrollment criteria. By providing academic enrichment and structured support starting in middle school, GEAR UP facilitated students’ college-going intentions and successful completion of required examinations (Ward et al., 2013). Together, these findings illustrate how access programs not only facilitate immediate college entry but also cultivate aspirations for long-term academic achievement, especially among students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Beyond informational support, college access programs contribute to students’ social capital and agency. Hudson et al. (2020) applied youth participatory action research (YPAR) to examine how access programs empower students to navigate systemic barriers to higher education, and their findings suggest that access programs cultivate self-efficacy and agency amongst financially disadvantaged, first-generation, and racially minoritized students. This empowerment extends beyond the students themselves. Amaro-Jimenez et al. (2020) found that pre-college programs also equip parents with functional college knowledge, reinforcing the intergenerational impact of these initiatives. The benefits of access programs extend to students’ families, particularly families of first-generation college students.

Read together, however, this body of work is not without tensions. Outcome-oriented evaluations (Alhaddab & Aquino, 2017; Millett et al., 2018; Ward et al., 2013) largely measure program success through individual attainment metrics like enrollment, persistence, and degree aspirations, implicitly locating both the problem and the solution within students. In contrast, studies grounded in participatory and asset-based traditions (Hudson et al., 2020) treat access programs as sites for developing collective agency against systemic barriers, locating the problem within exclusionary structures. These divergent orientations matter because they shape what programs are designed to teach and what evaluations are designed to measure.

Research pertaining to overt intentions of college access programs revealed that pre-college access programs enhance students’, parents’, and additional community members’ functional knowledge of the college-going process, including financial aid literacy and career readiness, reinforcing the intergenerational impact of these initiatives. By strengthening both student and parental engagement in higher education, access programs mitigate systematic disparities and advance the education trajectories of minoritized students. These studies highlight the necessity of expanding research on access programs beyond foundational college readiness skills to examine how they contribute to students’ understanding of the social, behavioral, and relational expectations embedded within the curriculum of higher education.

1.1.2. Access Programs Addressing Higher Education’s Hidden Curriculum

While the goals of college access programs are well-documented, scholarship increasingly explores their capacity to introduce students to the hidden curriculum of higher education. The hidden curriculum encompasses the implicit norms, behaviors, and expectations that facilitate success in higher education but are often inaccessible to minoritized students (this includes information about the norms of college and navigating different factors of attending college, including finances and racial or ethnic identity development). Over time, scholars have elaborated on and investigated myriad features of pathway programs, including the subtle knowledge made possible through college access programming. However, research has not explicitly looked at the role of college access programs supporting participants to gain information about financial literacy or financial well-being, though researchers assert that this is a critical component of the college experience (Zerquera & Smith, 2015). Despite this limitation of extant research on college access programs, this section of our literature review highlights scholarship that illuminates the role of access programs in revealing other aspects of higher education’s implicit knowledge or hidden curriculum (Cotton et al., 2013; Koutsouris et al., 2021; Mariscal et al., 2022; Orón Semper & Blasco, 2018).

Framed through the theoretical lens of Funds of Knowledge (FK, Moll et al., 1992), Mariscal et al. (2022) explored the role of Latina/o staff within pre-college programs as agents of empowerment and institutional change. By positioning access program staff as the unit of analysis, the study underscored their dual function, not only as role models for ethnically and racially minority students but also as examples for higher education professionals navigating diverse student populations; this perspective challenges traditional notions of college access programs as student-focused interventions by illuminating how staff agency shapes the broader educational system (Mariscal et al., 2022). The findings suggest that program staff who embody FK cultivate college-going cultural knowledge, which students integrate into their academic trajectories (Mariscal et al., 2022). In this context, FK extends beyond a repository of cultural capital to an active, relational process in which staff communicate lived experiences and institutional strategies for navigation. This transmission is significant given the hidden curriculum of higher education, including unspoken rules and expectations that often disadvantage first-generation and minoritized students. By fostering meaningful relationships with participants, college access staff create mechanisms for socialization that bridge these gaps, reinforcing the transformative potential of access programs not just for students, but for the institutions they seek to navigate. Other research has expanded the discourse on access programs by examining the importance of mentorship and peer networks in facilitating student success. Clark et al. (2021) explored the role of mentorship and partnerships between Black and Latino college and high school male students, revealing that programs not only cultivate functional knowledge about college access but also create conditions for “kinship-like bonds, fostering mutual trust and support, and being present for each other and the youth they mentored” (Clark et al., 2021, p. 272). Importantly, the feature of higher education hidden curriculum illuminated through Clark et al.’s (2021) research is the protective and motivational aspects of within-group mentorship. College access is only a preliminary step to educational advancement. Identifying and cultivating supportive relationships is vital to college completion. This reframing of mentorship as both a practical and effective resource emphasizes the importance of structuring access programs in ways that intentionally develop these supportive networks.

While much of the literature on college access and the hidden curriculum is U.S centered, international research offers additional insights into the structural barriers embedded within higher education institutions. However, we include one international manuscript because of its unequivocal emphasis on the necessity of institutional responsibility and change regarding higher education’s hidden curriculum (Koutsouris et al., 2021). According to Koutsouris et al. (2021), U.K. colleges and universities deploy the hidden curriculum in terms of an unachievable ideal student: the implied perfect students are traditional age, curricularly and co-curricularly well-rounded, and—by default—homogenous in terms of identities, e.g., English citizens, English speakers, middle or upper class, and white. Koutsouris et al. (2021) problematize how institutional norms deprioritize and alienate historically marginalized populations, making their inclusion and success an afterthought rather than a priority. Despite its international focus, the study’s core findings resonate within the U.S. context, where meritocracy and exclusionary academic norms similarly shape postsecondary access and success. Together, these studies illustrate how college access programs serve as both points of intervention and potential disruptors of the hidden curriculum in higher education spaces. While the primary function is to equip students with explicit knowledge and tools for college access, these programs also serve a higher purpose in revealing and mitigating the unspoken barriers in higher education institutions. By embracing mentorship, relationships with knowledgeable staff, and a deeper awareness of institutional norms, access programs create spaces where students can develop the skills, networking, and confidence needed to navigate higher education successfully. Notably, these studies also diverge in their units of analysis and implied loci of change: Mariscal et al. (2022) center staff as institutional change agents, Clark et al. (2021) center peer and near-peer mentorship, and Koutsouris et al. (2021) center institutional norms themselves, leaving unresolved whether demystifying the hidden curriculum is primarily the work of individuals, programs, or institutions. The present study speaks to this tension by examining how a program-level relational network operates as connective tissue between individual learners and institutional knowledge. This dynamic between the objectives of access programs and their potential to illuminate the hidden curriculum demonstrates the need for continued research on how Latine college-going students gain awareness of these structural expectations through their participation in these programs.

1.2. Theoretical Framework

The present study is guided by Smith and Tinto’s (2024) students’ relational engagement framework, deliberately read alongside Brown and Smith’s (2024) ecological extension of that framework: the former supplies a readily applicable model of relational networks of engagement, while the latter supplies the attention to power, identity, and structural inequality that analyses of minoritized students’ college access require. We elaborate the rationale for this integration throughout this section. Smith and Tinto’s (2024) framework applied a social network paradigm to investigate college students’ multiple dimensions of engagement; this approach highlighted the essential relational features of students’ engagement experiences. Essential to our analysis of a college pathway program, Smith and Tinto’s (2024) conceptual model shifts focus away from individuals alone to emphasize the exchange of information, knowledge, and experiences throughout a network and via multiple modes of interpersonal connection and exchange. To conceptualize relational networks of engagement, Smith and Tinto (2024) proposed a model depicting building blocks of engagement, e.g., relational networks starting from the classroom. Foundational concepts include types of engagement: affective, behavioral, and cognitive (Fredricks et al., 2004, as cited in Smith & Tinto, 2024, pp. 2–3). In a dynamic network model, emphasis is lessened on locating individuals to prioritize mapping the contours of their academic and/or social ties in the classroom and social groups (Smith & Tinto, 2024). Over time, the relational network broadens to encompass additional relationships and engagement spaces, culminating in a dynamic network engagement model (Smith & Tinto, 2024).

We posit a direct connection between relational networks (Smith & Tinto, 2024) and uncovering the hidden curriculum. Importantly, to the dynamism and access to various forms of capital exchange, “relational networks shape the student and the student shapes their networks” (Smith & Tinto, 2024, p. 10). Furthermore, there is related scholarship that alludes to the key role that relational networks play in empowering Latine students to access college by uncovering the hidden curriculum. Some of this work (Rios-Aguilar & Deil-Amen, 2012; Carolan-Silva & Reyes, 2013) examines the role of families, peers, and school staff in students’ development of educational goals and securing access to relevant college access information, which remains a challenge for many Latine communities. More importantly, this research also acknowledges the sources of cultural capital (Gonzalez et al., 2003; Martin, 2014) and funds of knowledge (Lopez et al., 2024; Luedke, 2020) that Latine students benefit from to advance postsecondary access. Because our framing invokes forms of capital, we clarify our theoretical grounding of these terms. Following Bourdieu (1986), social capital refers to resources that accrue to individuals through durable networks of relationships, and cultural capital refers to culturally valued knowledge, dispositions, and credentials that facilitate navigation of social institutions, including education. Bourdieusian analyses illuminate how institutions reward the capital of dominant groups; applied uncritically, however, they can position minoritized communities as deficient in capital. We therefore align with Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth framework, which challenges deficit interpretations by recognizing the aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistant capital that communities of color possess and exchange. When we refer to capital exchange within relational networks, we mean this asset-based circulation of knowledge and resources (Yosso, 2005), consistent with funds of knowledge perspectives (Moll et al., 1992).

Collectively, this work echoes the diversity within relational networks and their significance as support structures to facilitate Latine college students’ college access and opportunity by exchanging knowledge that increases students’ awareness of the hidden curriculum of college access. Correspondingly, a dynamic network model of engagement (Smith & Tinto, 2024) enables mapping the contours of relationships and exchange of information starting from an individual level to then understand the role and function of programmatic and institutional networks, specific to this inquiry about the affordances of a college access program, the dynamic model provides a conceptual mapping tool to theorize how relational networks shape students’ engagement experiences, first individually then programmatically and finally inviting individual college students into the institutional level network of engagement.

Since publishing their relational network analysis framework, Smith and Tinto’s (2024) contribution has been applied in the US (Brown & Smith, 2024; Dingel & Punti, 2023; Sapiro et al., 2023; Tinto, 2023, 2025) and internationally (Esteban et al., 2024; Griffiths & Dickinson, 2025). Excluding the later pieces from Tinto (2023, 2025), most of these manuscripts draw from Smith and Tinto’s (2024) relational engagement framework in their literature reviews (Dingel & Punti, 2023; Griffiths & Dickinson, 2025; Sapiro et al., 2023) rather than implementing the theoretical framing of ecological knowledge exchange.

Two investigations apply Smith and Tinto’s (2024) model as a form of theoretical framing (Brown & Smith, 2024; Esteban et al., 2024). Esteban et al. (2024) quantitatively investigated the phenomenon of student departure related to student satisfaction with college students from Spain in the first two years of undergraduate study. However, it is unclear to what extent Smith and Tinto’s (2024) work was applied in the study design as Esteban et al. (2024) do not reference this work until the discussion that addresses social factors in relation to students stopping out (i.e., temporarily withdrawing from enrollment). Conversely, Brown and Smith’s (2024) conceptual analysis of ecological models appears to be an extension of Smith and Tinto’s (2024) relational engagement framework. This manuscript directly addresses features of power and meaning making that inhere upon students’ experiences of and access to relational networks (Brown & Smith, 2024). Most relevant to the present research, Brown and Smith (2024) attend to the interplay of relational networks at peer-to-peer level as well as the meso-level of groupings; they additionally consider identity negotiation and the effects and wielding of power as evidenced through interpersonal systems. Most relevant to the present research, Brown and Smith (2024) note the need for further research that illuminates, in greater detail, how ecological models for relational connections and systems relate to college student identities, which our study addresses.

For the purposes of the present study, we bring these pieces into conversation to illuminate our methodological decision making and clarify the limitations and affordances of our theoretical framing. Concretely, Smith and Tinto (2024) provided a directly, readily applicable conceptual model for relational networks that holds the affordance of clear implementation for scholars conducting empirical research. Moreover, Brown and Smith (2024) introduced much-needed treatment of the role, function, and effects of power related to students’ networks, relationships, and the middle-level (group-to-group) exchanges that illuminate the features of students’ experiences with information exchange. By extension, the present study centers the realities of power, structural inequality, and navigational strategies to resist deficit framings in alignment with Brown and Smith’s (2024) argumentation, and we apply the model of relational networks from Smith and Tinto (2024).

2. Materials and Methods

The College Access Program (CAP, a pseudonym) is a 4-day college access immersion program for Latine high school juniors and seniors in the Southeast. As such all participants of the program identify with communities with affinity to the panethnic Latine label. Over the course of the program, attendees engage in various activities addressing college access topics, including admissions, financial aid, academic programs, and cultural experiences. Examples of culturally focused programming students attend include: a session on Latinidad, sessions on Latine cultural and socio-emotional wellness, presentations on student life from current Latine college students, sessions on intercultural communication, and sessions on financial literacy and college access delivered by Latine-centered local community organizations and renowned local Latine leaders (i.e., College for North Carolina (CFNC), local social media influencers). Students also participate in Latine-inspired group meals, a Latine-inspired film night, and a fiesta Latina (Latine dance party).

During their participation in CAP, students also have opportunities to engage with faculty, staff, and peer mentors through the sessions mentioned above and other interactive activities. This approach allows CAP to foster an atmosphere of support among program participants and serves as a building block for creating mentorship bonds and support connections for students. Moreover, on the last day of CAP, parents and family members of students are invited to participate in sessions relevant to developing and nurturing knowledge and awareness of resources to guide and support their children’s pathway to college. These sessions include: financial aid and admissions information for parents and families, sessions about parent and family engagement in college, and sessions with local education nonprofit organizations that advocate for Latine college access.

2.1. Data Sources

Data for this study stem from anonymous program evaluation data for CAP, a four-day college access immersion program in the Southeast that took place in the summer of 2023. CAP’s program evaluation incorporated survey methodology (Fowler, 2013), and data were collected through anonymous surveys asking CAP participants to evaluate their experience on each of the four days of the program. All participants were invited to provide feedback about their experience in CAP; therefore, all students who attended took the surveys (n = 96). The daily surveys included 20 items that presented program participants with a mix of agreement, multiple choice, and open-ended questions. Aligned with reliability standards in survey research (Blair et al., 2014), the survey instrument is in its fourth year of use, has been focus group tested and refined, and items are written simply and without leading language. Surveys were administered anonymously and electronically via Qualtrics. To increase participant confidentiality and to encourage openness in their feedback, CAP did not collect any demographic or identifiable information from program participants. This constraint has been noted in the limitations section.

The surveys asked participants to express their level of satisfaction with program sessions, report learning that occurred from attending program sessions, and provide highlights from sessions attended. As the survey is primarily oriented toward program assessment, other items ask respondents, for example, to report their level of satisfaction with “end-of-day mentor time,” “Latinidad and cultural/social-emotional wellbeing sessions,” and the “FAFSA presentation” among other sessions. The sample consisted of (n = 96) Latine high school students who participated in CAP that summer.

The present study specifically draws from participants’ open-ended responses to one survey item: “What did you learn from participating in the CAP program (Day 1–4)?” This question asked on each day of the program yielded 205 open responses over the four days, which provided a robust data set for analysis. Although qualitative surveys elicit briefer accounts than interviews, they constitute an established qualitative method that affords wide participation, participant anonymity, and access to perspectives expressed in participants’ own words (Braun et al., 2021). This design was especially appropriate given the program evaluation context and the imperative to protect the confidentiality of minor participants. The data set is unavailable due to participant privacy and institutional property of the program evaluation data primarily used for internal purposes.

2.2. Analytical Approach

Our analysis proceeded in two coding cycles, following an iterative approach (LeCompte, 2000), through six explicit stages: (1) data familiarization, in which each team member independently read all 205 open responses; (2) first-cycle open coding to identify recurring ideas; (3) weekly team meetings over one month to compare codes and consolidate them into categories; (4) second-cycle focused coding within the category most relevant to our research question; (5) four additional team meetings to refine themes and reconcile coding discrepancies; and (6) final verification of the coding scheme by all team members. We describe each stage in turn.

The research team first downloaded all open responses from Qualtrics. Once we were in possession of the data, all team members read all participants’ open responses individually. Then, the research team met once a week for one month to discuss emerging themes or recurring ideas from participant responses. In these meetings, we were able to identify emerging patterns. This process led to identifying four large categories representative of all insights provided by program participants about what they learned from the program. The four categories include (1) making connections and building relationships, (2) general college knowledge, (3) knowledge specific to CAP’s host institution, and (4) deconstructing/demystifying college access.

Once this first round of coding was completed, we analyzed open responses within the fourth category, “deconstructing/demystifying college access,” using an iterative coding approach (LeCompte, 2000). As such, we repeated the same process we completed to generate the four categories listed above and began this stage of the data analysis process by having all research team members read open responses within this category focused on what participants learned from participating in CAP. Each team member read all responses individually, and then the team met to discuss the initial themes with all team members. The team met four times over the course of one month to discuss the coding process. This process allowed us to ensure the trustworthiness of our coding process and our findings through intercoder reliability. Precisely, having multiple team members read and code all open responses individually, followed by team discussions of emerging themes, helped us reconcile any discrepancies and refine the coding scheme, ensuring accurate interpretation of participant responses (Miles et al., 2014).

All team members agreed with the final coding scheme for the fourth category, which included five themes: (1) reframing identity and culture as assets, (2) building confidence through intergroup exchange, (3) enacting agency for college access, (4) uncovering the hidden curriculum of financial well-being and college persistence, and (5) disrupting exclusionary assumptions about college access. The following section presents our findings addressing our research question: How is a college access program in North Carolina demystifying the college-going experience for Latine students?

3. Findings

CAP 2023 participants discussed their experiences of the college pathway program as offering a variety of advantageous learning, tools, and resources to support their higher education plans. This learning acquired from their participation in CAP demonstrated insights far beyond traditionally anticipated benefits, outcomes, and learning provided by college access programs previously documented in extant research. This learning contributes to uncovering the hidden curriculum of college access and the college experience, in the five themes below. While interrelated, the five themes are analytically distinct: the first two concern shifts in self-perception (cultural identity and interpersonal confidence, respectively); the third concerns action orientation; and the final two concern knowledge acquisition—of persistence-related financial knowledge and of college attainability, respectively.

3.1. Reframing Identity and Culture as Assets

Through participating in CAP, students expressed learning and awareness that denoted a reframing of their identity and heritage as assets in the college access and college-going experience. This theme highlighted the advantages of bilingualism and the ethnic and racial identities represented within the pan-ethnic label Latine. For instance, a participant shared that they learned “That it’s good to show your culture and not to be ashamed of who you are.” This statement illustrates this participant’s realization that their culture is an asset to embrace, not a dimension of identity that must be concealed. Another participant shared analogous sentiments about culture, “I learned to embrace my heritage and not gonna lie, I … was hidden. I don’t like speaking Spanish in school except at home, and I have gotten used to being ‘whitewashed.’ [During the program] I got comfortable speaking, even [when] I could not pronounce a few words, but I still tried.” This participant perceived the program’s environment to welcome and value the linguistic diversity present within the program participants; this perception made this participant realize that in other spaces, they had been compelled to hide their heritage and first language. These experiences also reflect and illustrate CAP’s commitment to honoring and affirming Latine cultures.

Several other participants conveyed similar sentiments that evoked the program’s unique environment that empowered them to “Embrace your culture!” and “... how to appreciate my true self” and “how to become successful and appreciate myself.” Though these participant statements are brief, they are significant in the messages and impact they carry. Participation in CAP cultivates participants’ sense of self and enables them to recognize and embrace their Latine culture without hesitation or fear of rejection. The intentional delivery of culturally responsive programming within CAP helps realize the cultural empowerment program participants experienced. Seen through Smith and Tinto’s (2024) framework, this reframing constitutes affective engagement generated within the program’s relational network: participants’ revaluation of language and heritage emerged through interaction with Latine staff, mentors, and peers, rather than through informational content alone.

3.2. Building Confidence Through Intergroup Exchange

This theme reflected students’ experience of gaining confidence and awareness of self through participating in the CAP and interacting with program staff and fellow participants. Notably, participants expressed sentiments including “I learned that I’m more social than I thought” and “I have learned not to be afraid to ask questions so you can be more prepared for what’s to come and get [an advantage] when applying.” These statements echo participants’ expanded awareness of themselves due to participating in CAP and acquiring strategies (not hesitating to ask questions) to improve their college application experience. These participant experiences correspond to CAP’s resolve to provide sessions that challenge and support participants in a community-oriented, supportive setting.

Furthermore, other participants shared that they learned “not to be shy and to be yourself” and “I learned how to open up to new ideas, and I learned to be more outspoken.” These statements represent participants’ gained confidence and motivation to share their ideas, listen to new ideas, and engage with others more openly. These realizations of self and engagement with others also prompted participants to express disruption of preconceived beliefs about their participation in CAP. For example, a participant shared, “[I learned that] people are very nice and not very intimidating as I thought.” Another participant expressed, “[I learned to] to start opening up because there are so many people who have your best interest at heart.” Also underscoring learning that there are people to help and answer questions, a participant shared, “I learned that we have people that we can go to for any questions that we may have about college,” and another participant echoed, “I also learned the importance of asking questions and not being afraid to ask for help. Whatever one wants to accomplish, one does not have to go through the struggles alone.” These statements demonstrate that CAP expanded student awareness and confidence in seeking support and countered prior perceptions that Latine students must navigate the college-going process in isolation. Participant experiences in this realm also echo the significance of CAP’s culturally situated programming that facilitates student skill development and nurturing amongst fellow members of Latine communities. These sentiments of connection and support are largely possible through CAP’s staffing model and support for and by Latine people. Within the relational engagement model, these accounts evidence the formation of new network ties (Smith & Tinto, 2024). Confidence here is not an individual trait developed in isolation but a relational achievement, produced through low-risk opportunities to practice help-seeking within an affinity-based community.

3.3. Enacting Agency for College Access

Participants described CAP as expanding their knowledge of college access processes and protocols and, moreover, their increased ability to enact agency. Responses present within this theme addressed both awareness and resistance to systemic racism and structural exclusion. Participants’ depictions revealed how these enactments of agency are rooted in and are an extension of viewing their identities and culture as assets and the confidence-building effect of within-group exchange within the Latine community supporting and participating in CAP. For instance, a participant shared, “[I learned] that I can make it in this world despite my skin color and that I wanna go here for college.” This statement conveyed this participant’s awareness of systemic inequalities in college access for racially and ethnically minoritized populations, yet participating in CAP ignited motivation to pursue educational advancement despite structural barriers. In the same vein, other participants expressed sentiments that evoked realizations and a desire to push on to take advantage of opportunities. A participant shared, “I learned to take risks and don’t let go of any opportunities!” These sentiments illustrate this participant’s motivation to embrace opportunities and risks in pursuing a college degree.

Data within this theme also revealed participants’ development of awareness to mobilize resources and engage reciprocity to support their journey to college. A participant shared, “Participating in CAP helped me learn that it’s important to take an initiative in meeting new people. One never knows who they might come across with, what kind of help can be exchanged amongst each other, and what kind of bonds can be formed.” This participant’s emphasis on connecting with others and engaging in reciprocity to support one another was also evident in participants who expressed that CAP taught them “How to support people and open up to people” and “apredi ayudar a personas/ learned to help people.” Through program sessions, participants learned to lean into their agency and social networks and develop new bonds for support to sustain their own and fellow Latine students’ journeys to college. These experiences further reflect how CAP’s programming served to empower participants to realize that college opportunity is within reach through finding support and providing support to fellow Latine community members. These accounts also illustrate Brown and Smith’s (2024) attention to power within relational networks: participants named racialized barriers explicitly and repositioned their networks as instruments of collective navigation and resistance, rather than as mere information channels.

3.4. Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum of Financial Well-Being and College Persistence

This theme represents students’ acquired understanding of aspects of the college experience otherwise ambiguous or typically not included in college access programming and, therefore, unfamiliar and undecipherable: collectively these concepts are related to the hidden curriculum (Soria & Stebleton, 2012). As stated otherwise, CAP afforded access to implicit knowledge required for success in college. Specifically related to financial well-being, students expressed learning that conveyed the importance of financial literacy during college and beyond. For example, a participant shared, “[I learned that] being financially responsible is important in life.” Similarly, another participant stated, “I learned about financial terms, “while two participants shared, “[I learned] how to be financially stable” and “I learned about financial literacy,” respectively. These statements exemplify participants’ learning that complemented standard college access curricula focused solely on college-going processes.

Furthermore, some participants took these ideas further to express expanded awareness of the importance of access to various resources to sustain their college pathways. To illustrate, one participant shared, “I learned how easy applying for college and FAFSA can be when you have the right resources.” This statement reflects that this participant recognizes that applying for and paying for college can be more challenging without proper access to support. Examples of this awareness also appeared in statements like “I learned so much information that I did not know so now I feel more comfortable applying to colleges,” which suggested feeling at ease about engaging in the college-going process. These sentiments also appeared alongside ideas that disrupted conceptualizations of linear college pathways; for example, a participant shared “I learned how college is going to be like, and I learned to do what my heart wants and follow my dreams because everything is possible.” These experiences also reflect this participant’s recognition that their postsecondary goals are within reach, also echoed in other participant statements like “Be open-minded and it’s okay if you change majors” and “[I learned that] it is possible to pay and go to college.” Both statements demonstrate participants’ understanding of college as a dynamic possibility, a pathway that might shift as needed but is ultimately within reach. Additionally, these experiences elucidate the comprehensive approach CAP takes to delivering college access programming, specifically, its sessions about overall well-being and information delivered from the local Latine community advocates. Theoretically, these data extend the relational engagement framework into a domain—financial well-being—rarely treated as engagement content. That is, the relational network functioned as the mechanism through which otherwise hidden financial knowledge circulated (Smith & Tinto, 2024; Zerquera & Smith, 2015).

3.5. Disrupting Exclusionary Assumptions About College Access

This theme illustrates students’ acquisition of understanding that college is achievable and is a possibility for them and fellow Latine community members. These ideas disrupted hegemonic understandings that college is inaccessible for communities historically minoritized. For example, a participant shared, “[I learned that] college is possible for me,” and similar ideas were shared by another participant who expressed, “[I learned] that college is a possibility.”

Ideas about college being a possibility for Latine college students also exhibited linkages to notions of community members who paved the way for future generations. A participant stated, “[I learned that] there are many different people who are in or were in the same position I’m in today.” This idea of knowing that others (currently or in earlier times) experienced similar circumstances and experiences gave participants grounds to believe that “There’s a place [in college] for everyone and their interests, and everyone who is part of the Hispanic community,” and “There’s people like me out there.” These participants’ statements reflected the program’s intentionality in providing cultural representation and relevance that made college more tangible for participants. This latter point was also evident from a participant who shared, “I learned that college is realistic for me, and there is a community for me as well.” This idea of community for Latine students existing on a college campus also disrupted prior understandings of the exclusionary nature of college as two participants shared, “[I learned] that everyone can get to college no matter the cost” and “Aprendí que vivir en el campus de una universidad no es tan malo como yo pensaba/I learned that living on campus is not as bad as I thought,” respectively. Notably, participants in the program viewed themselves as ambassadors of access to knowledge for others within their community. Education for Latine students has the ripple effect of supporting and enhancing the next generations’ college-going motivations as well as their own. Through CAP’s culturally responsive staffing and partnerships, participants were able to interact with and receive support directly from current Latine college students and staff and local Latine advocacy organizations. In network terms, encountering people “like me” who had already traversed the pathway expanded participants’ imagined network boundaries to include the institution itself. The institution was the final building block in Smith and Tinto’s (2024) progression from individual to institutional engagement.

4. Discussion

The present study addressed the research question: How is a college access program in North Carolina demystifying the college-going experience for Latine students? Accordingly, our findings demonstrated various advantageous participation outcomes that extend contemporary scholarship on access and pathway programs (Bennett et al., 2022; Dávila et al., 2023; Dyce et al., 2013). Applying the theoretical framework centering features of relational engagement (Smith & Tinto, 2024), including affective, behavioral, and cognitive forms (Fredricks et al., 2004), we discuss how our findings demonstrate the contours of a relational network that benefitted CAP participants beyond the baseline of deepening understanding of how to access and succeed in higher education.

CAP supported participants to reframe their cultural identities and heritage as assets. We argue that this feature of the program addresses an affective form of engagement (Fredricks et al., 2004; Smith & Tinto, 2024). Participant statements about no longer hiding their language and heritage illustrate this affective shift directly. Our findings reveal an additional influence of college access programs beyond traditional outcomes like gaining procedural knowledge. These findings expand research on the overt purposes of these programs (Burbridge, 2019; Horng et al., 2013) and elevate the significant contributions of college access programs to support and sustain college-going pathways for racially and ethnically minoritized students. Vitally, peer connections and their effects of celebrating the cultural elements of identity promote the effectiveness of college readiness programs through exposure to academic and programmatic expectations as well as the central element of social engagement (Alhaddab & Aquino, 2017). A central positive attribute of CAP is its facilitation of communities of support and peer-to-peer mentorship through the college transition process. Affective forms of engagement that contribute to the creation and support of networks are supported through social interactions that are thoughtfully embedded into communal and culture-sharing experiences.

Insights from the present study demonstrate that CAP participants converse with each other and program mentors regarding their questions and motivations for attending college. Consistent with Burbridge (2019), this level of engagement equipped participants to feel more confident while engaging in the college-going process. These experiences also indicate participants’ contributions to building community beyond simply contributing to structural diversity in higher education. In other words, CAP reinforces participants’ awareness of higher education benefits specific to their lives (Dyce et al., 2013). This finding demonstrates both cognitive and behavioral engagement (Fredricks et al., 2004; Smith & Tinto, 2024). In the realm of cognition, participants in CAP think about who they are, their sources of strength and motivation, and also their “whys” for pursuing higher education; behaviorally, sharing these internal features of college access offers participants the additional strength of their peers’ reasoning, which then reinforces the actions of applying for and participating in higher education.

Study findings also indicate CAP’s support of participants’ confidence built through intergroup exchange. These understandings demonstrate that programs like CAP facilitate supportive relationships not only with program staff, as previously documented in research (Mariscal et al., 2022), but also among peers with shared identities. This is evident in participant accounts of learning that they did not have to navigate the college-going process alone. This finding also expands current research (Clark et al., 2021) that centers on mentorship as a critical component of college access programs. As an affective form of engagement (Fredricks et al., 2004; Smith & Tinto, 2024), these relationships are essential to the network of engagement. Notably, our findings demonstrated increasing awareness of the multitude of identities and backgrounds represented within the panethnic label “Latine” and that exchanging knowledge and experiences became an asset relative to their college-going plans. For example, CAP afforded participants access to structural diversity whereby they saw themselves represented by the program mentors who identify as Latine and were enrolled in college as well as the broad array of identities, backgrounds, and geographic places of the other CAP participants.

Furthermore, the findings also elevate participants’ awareness of systemic barriers to college access based on race and ethnicity. These insights reflected participants’ motivation to enact agency in tracing college pathways and enabling collective resistance, captured in statements about making it to college despite racialized barriers. While prior research highlights capital and collective strength (Hudson et al., 2020), our findings make these features more explicit by demonstrating how CAP participants pair agency with social networks to fortify their own and others’ college access pathways.

The evidence presented in this study also expands perspectives on how college access programs like CAP empower participants to gain awareness of and to disrupt the hidden curriculum of higher education. Specifically, CAP provided space and opportunities for participants to engage with peers and professionals with whom they shared ethnic affinity. This affinity allowed for kinship bonds (Clark et al., 2021), which fostered comfort among participants and solidified college as a possibility. Participants’ descriptions of encountering others who had been in the same position they are in today reflect exactly this effect. At the same time, by staffing the program so purposefully, CAP effectively contributes to Koutsouris et al.’s (2021) call for institutions of higher learning to disrupt the hidden curriculum of college access; in this case, CAP provides examples of how college is possible to participants by facilitating engagement with mentors and role models who have and continue to pave the way for future generations. Through these forms of engagement CAP represents a relational network by which participants expand on and support each other’s college-going practices and possibilities. Taken together, these findings position culturally sustaining college access programs as intentionally engineered relational networks. Their demystifying power lies less in the information they transmit than in the relationships through which that information becomes credible, personal, and actionable.

4.1. Implications

Findings from this work present implications for research, practice, and for Latine prospective and current college students. In the realm of research, our findings provide a foundational understanding of how college access programs can help demystify the hidden curriculum of college access but additional research is needed in this area. For example, quantitative outcome-based studies could help assert the effectiveness of programs like CAP more explicitly. Furthermore, longitudinal research studies could help to comprehensively analyze the relationship between college pathway programs and student success, especially in light of Smith and Tinto’s (2024) engagement model, which addresses relational networks of engagement over time. Longitudinal research would also comprehensively demonstrate the affordances of college pathway programs and how or to what extent they enhance college students’ experiences and approaches to engagement. Assessing pathway programs’ outcomes over time will further elucidate opportunities beyond application and matriculation rates alone; for example, Smith and Tinto (2024) highlighted relationships between engagement in learning and relationship building.

Our findings might motivate future research on college access programs that emphasize demystifying the college-going process beyond basic knowledge of college access. Expanding on this body of work will benefit institutions and students, particularly by examining the effects of these programs on students’ college retention and persistence. As indicated in our findings, CAP provided knowledge that empowered program participants to learn skills to support their well-being, including financial literacy which is foundational to persistence. Research addressing the long-term consequences of this learning would provide a more well-rounded view of the effectiveness and importance of college access efforts like CAP. This goal can be accomplished through longitudinal or comparative studies that investigate student trajectories post-participation in programs like CAP.

Based on the elements of the hidden curriculum that CAP addresses and the theoretical framing through relational networks (Brown & Smith, 2024; Smith & Tinto, 2024), future research could pursue additional insight on the roles of power in students’ relational networks, particularly through a longitudinal or multi-site design. Future research could also examine what the hidden curriculum looks like for students from other racially and ethnically minoritized communities and examine understudied components of higher education’s hidden curriculum including knowledge of financial literacy and financial well-being. This emphasis is important given that by design, college environments work to sustain and perpetuate the exclusion of minoritized communities uniquely situated at the intersection of systems of oppression (Harper & Hurtado, 2007).

Conclusions from the present study also elucidate implications for student affairs practice. Our findings can inspire the creation of more access programs that serve minoritized students to further demystify the college-going process by engaging students with topics beyond the basics of college-going knowledge. Specifically, our findings pose relevance to student affairs and other student support offices that direct college access programs. These institutional actors can make the hidden curriculum more visible and create programs that do not assume that students who participate possess knowledge of the requirements to access postsecondary education or any prior knowledge that more privileged students would possess. For example, programs could be more open about implicit norms and expectations that students from minoritized backgrounds can encounter in their path to college (individualistic ideals, culture of meritocracy, access to social and cultural capital for college success, etc.). This call also acknowledges the important role that school counselors play in the college access process and encourages post-secondary actors to be more intentional about collaborating with school counselors and combining forces to demystify going to college for Latine students.

Additionally, our findings elucidate the pivotal role that college access programs such as CAP can play in sustaining institutional diversity and vibrancy. As such, we encourage institutions to provide adequate funding for programs like CAP to ensure program effectiveness, development, and growth. Specifically, a dedicated long-term funding source is recommended to ensure the longevity of such programs. We recognize current challenges arising from the socio-political context and climate across the United States could limit possibilities for the existence of programs like CAP and create institutional barriers for their inception and long-term success. However, we maintain our encouragement of institutions to dedicate the necessary support for the development and long-term success of programs like CAP.

Insights shared by program participants also centered on a need for intentional staffing and curricular development that is culturally responsive and relevant to Latine college students. As noted in participant accounts, engaging with fellow Latine participants and learning from and with Latine staff solidified college as a possibility for several program participants. Furthermore, the representation of Latine professionals in the program empowered participants to recognize that they could find community on the college campus. Consequently, our findings urge offices that lead college access efforts to staff their programs with intentionality and care.

As shared in participants’ accounts, CAP provided a space for them to experience belonging through engaging with fellow Latine participants and staff. These notions present implications for institutions of higher learning to prioritize the creation of new and the protection of existing spaces and initiatives that support racially and ethnically minoritized students. In light of the current anti-DEI discourse, it is imperative for institutions to heed this call. Although this study occurred in the Southeastern U.S., this implication is far-reaching, especially given the proliferation of anti-DEI movements and the sustained growth of Latine communities across the country.

4.2. Limitations

There are some limitations to the present study. In contrast to traditional qualitative research, such as interviews or narrative inquiry, survey research presents limitations in examining participants’ experiences in depth. Although open-ended questions provided opportunities for participants to share their narratives from attending CAP, surveys encourage shorter, more brief responses, and qualitative data methods would have provided space to share more extensively. Additionally, in an effort to allow participants to be as honest as possible in their feedback, CAP did not collect demographic information from participants. This decision limits our ability to provide a more detailed or contextualized overview of the study participants and inferences among identities and responses. Similarly, as the CAP program surveys were fully anonymous, we were also limited in our ability to assign pseudonyms to participants or provide more background information on participants.

Advancing research in this area would also be advantageous, particularly through methods like interviews or focus groups. Furthermore, although we were able to provide rich data reflecting how CAP helps participants demystify the college-going experience, the brevity of participant statements, given the nature of the study design, presented another limitation in our ability to further unpack and theorize their experience. Relatedly, participatory methodologies whereby participants are given an opportunity to review and contribute to the data would also offer more insight. Furthermore, the present study offered a delimited perspective on the role of CAP in demystifying the college-going experience of program participants. This perspective could be amplified by conducting longitudinal or comparative studies addressing the long-term impacts of CAP and similar programs.

Lastly, while the relational engagement framework illuminated key interpersonal and kinship components to CAP, it did not fully account for the complexity of benefits CAP participants acquired from engaging with the program. In this vein, longitudinal research designs that follow participants beyond their college access or pathway programs into postsecondary education and beyond would offer insights not temporally bound by the programs themselves.

5. Conclusions

College access and pathway programs have multiple affordances for students who are interested in postsecondary education. Yet, CAP and others like it are distinct because they prioritize ethnically and racially minoritized students and structure these opportunities in a culturally relevant and responsive manner. Given the ongoing social and cultural dynamics of exclusion, findings from this study elucidate the power of college access programs in empowering Latine students’ college-going pathways and disrupting deeply ingrained deficit understandings of college access and opportunity for Latine students. Furthermore, given CAP’s ability to foster traditional college access knowledge alongside relational networks of engagement, this study evidences the capacity of similarly designed college access programs to foster positive outcomes beyond the individual level. CAP and other similar programs serve to contribute to the betterment of Latine students, their families, and, broadly, the Latine communities in which they are embedded. Moreover, this study contributes to the higher education literature by empirically joining two bodies of scholarship—relational engagement theory (Brown & Smith, 2024; Smith & Tinto, 2024) and research on the hidden curriculum of college access—and by centering Latine students’ own accounts of demystification. Looking forward, as anti-DEI pressures intensify, the field’s task is not merely to defend programs like CAP but to learn from them: their relational architecture offers a transferable blueprint for rendering higher education’s hidden curriculum visible to every student historically excluded from it.