The college experience is continually evolving as new groups of students enter the university and schools look to engage them. Attracting and retaining students is understood to be critical to the success of higher education institutions. A phenomenon closely related to retaining first-generation and continuing-generation students is the student-parent experience. Accessible childcare is essential to institutions of higher education. It helps students go to college, graduate, find jobs, and earn more in their lifetime. It allows colleges to attract the best faculty and staff. It helps strengthen our nation through lasting economic and social benefits. The literature on college services is replete with references to TRIO, a series of eight highly successful federally funded programs established to help low-income individuals enter college, graduate, and contribute to society. Few investigations have evaluated the impactful role of the Child Care Access Means Parents in School Grant Program that supplements tuition to support and establish campus-based childcare. Its impact is mighty. Even so, CCAMPIS is studied and cited in thinly dispersed education journals; and it remains little known. The majority of studies have approached the subject from an educational perspective; I am proposing a sociological study using qualitative methods to investigate the positive outcomes of the coalition between TRIO and CCAMPIS programs that often serve the same students and share the same goals in retaining them. This research design would consider the topic from a broader perspective, not just student's educational needs but also their human and social needs.

Over the last two decades, funding for the arts within schools has drastically decreased, which has caused it to fade into insignificance within children’s education. The minimalist role the arts has begun to play within schools has overlooked the years of research that have shown the beneficial effects they have on children, specifically within low-income communities. Past supportive evidence for the positive effects of the arts have kept their focus on after-school and summer art programs; thus, overlooking the benefits of the arts within inclusive school curricula. Previous studies have been correlational, quasi-experimental, or experimental and have used surveys and evaluations to obtain data, which has left a gap with regards to qualitative research with data gathered from personal anecdotes and reflections. In this research, the effects of art-inclusive curricula on low-income students was observed via a qualitative and longitudinal basis. Five individuals from low-income households who participated in art-inclusive curricula within the last 8 years were interviewed. Participants discussed what their life was like before, during, and after having participated in an art-inclusive curriculum; their perceptions surrounding the effects and existence of art-inclusive curricula; and, the role they believe the arts should play in the education of children. After each interview, the transcriptions were analyzed as we took note of the ways art-inclusive curricula affected their academic and social habits, perspectives, goals, and overall lives.

Standardized testing is claimed to be the great equalizer in education because it evaluates a students’ knowledge, with complete disregard for the construction of race. However, if that knowledge does not conform to White capitalist norms, it is deemed incorrect. The result is racial stratification across levels of institutional selectivity such that a lower proportion of Black and Latinx students achieve the test scores required for admittance at prestigious institutions, and a larger proportion of White students are admitted instead. Within this context, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) serve to “cool-out” Latinx students while facilitating prestige-driven segregation. That is, HSIs require lower standardized test scores and less rigorous admissions criteria that are accessible to Latinx students and prevent institutions from having to integrate their prestigious schools. In this study, I consider whether the increased access provided by HSIs functions as an equalizing force or whether HSIs contribute to segregation across levels of institutional selectivity. Results indicate that Latinx students remain under-represented at the most prestigious institutions and over-represented at the least prestigious institutions. Because so few HSIs are among the more prestigious, and because such a high proportion of Latinx students enroll at these institutions, HSIs can only be seen as contributing to the problem. Recommendations for equitable admissions criteria are provided.