Dissertation Proposal Announcement Ph.D. in Education Program: Kelly Andrade “Latine Students as Stakeholders: Financial Aid, Institutional Communication, and Equity in Higher Education A Mixed-Methods Case Study at Rutgers University”

Latine undergraduates represent a rapidly growing share of U.S. college students, yet financial aid systems remain difficult to navigate due to complex policies, inconsistent messaging, and barriers in institutional communication. Far less is known about how Latine students themselves interpret and make sense of the information they receive across multiple levels (federal, state, and university) and how these interpretations shape decisions about enrollment, persistence, and engagement. This study proposes an explanatory sequential mixed-methods embedded case study of Rutgers University to examine how Latine undergraduates understand, interpret, and respond to financial aid communication within a multi-layered policy environment.

Guided by Stakeholder Theory, Sensemaking Theory, and Critical Race Theory, the study positions Latine students as legitimate stakeholders and interpreters of institutional meaning operating within racialized systems of governance and communication. Phase 1 will employ a quantitative survey to assess students’ perceptions of clarity, trust, reliability, and institutional responsiveness across financial aid messages. Results from this phase will inform purposeful sampling for Phase 2, which will consist of focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews designed to explore collective and individualized sensemaking processes, including how students seek clarification, whom they trust, and how family and cultural dynamics shape their interpretations of aid information.

The study is guided by one central research question: How do Latine undergraduate students make sense of and navigate financial aid systems shaped by interconnected federal, state, and university-level policies, practices, and cultural norms? Four subquestions further examine: (1) which communications students identify as shaping their understanding of aid and affordability; (2) how they describe their interpretive processes; (3) how intersecting identities influence financial aid decision-making; and (4) how students perceive themselves as stakeholders or consumers in their financial aid relationships with the university. By integrating quantitative and qualitative data, this dissertation aims to generate a nuanced understanding of financial aid as both a policy structure and a communicative system, offering implications for institutional communication practices and equity-centered policy design.