Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Sociology
First Advisor
Lindsey Wilkinson
Term of Graduation
Summer 2026
Date of Publication
8-27-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Sociology
Department
Sociology
Language
English
Subjects
broad access, habitus, poverty in higher education, regional public universities, student success, Student voice
Physical Description
1 online resource (vii, 162 pages)
Abstract
Higher education in the United States is often positioned as a pathway to economic security, social mobility, and opportunity. Yet access to college has not produced equitable degree completion for students from low-income backgrounds. While more low-income students enter higher education than in previous generations, degree completion remains stratified by family income. This raises an important question for broad-access regional public institutions: if students are granted access, what is their experience after they arrive? The intent of this study is to examine how low-income undergraduate students describe institutional barriers that impact their success at a broad-access regional public university. Rather than focusing on student attributes as the primary explanation for unequal completion, this study shifts attention to the institution itself.
This qualitative exploratory case study uses six years of open-ended responses from an annual Student Experience Survey administered between 2019 and 2025. The study focuses on responses from students identified as low-income through Pell eligibility and/or self-identification. I analyzed student narratives to understand how students described the institution in their own words and to identify recurring patterns across the six years. The study is guided by the following research question: What institutional barriers do low-income students describe as impacting their experiences and success at a broad-access regional public university?
The analysis produced four major findings: the burden of college bureaucracy, identity incongruence, decision making and governance, and wayfinding labor and institutional responsiveness. Students described affordability as more than tuition. They pointed to fees, holds, payment deadlines, parking costs, health insurance requirements, financial aid processes, and the time and labor required to navigate institutional systems. Students also described a mismatch between their lives as working, caregiving, commuting, transfer, first-generation, adult student, and an institution that often appeared organized around a more “idealized” student.
I conclude that low-income students' comments should be understood not simply as isolated feedback, but as institutional evidence. Across six years, students identified recurring barriers in policies, processes, communication, decision making, and institutional assumptions. This study contributes to the sociology of higher education by demonstrating how inequality in degree completion may be reproduced after access.
Rights
© 2026 Andrea Marie Garrity
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/45149
Recommended Citation
Garrity, Andrea Marie, "Student Voice as Institutional Evidence: An Exploratory Case Study of Low-Income Student Experience and Institutional Barriers at a Broad-Access Regional Public University" (2026). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 7215.