Understanding the Undocumented Student Experience: Proposing a Unified Model of Ethnic and Moral Development

Over 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools across the United States every year. While federal support aids an undocumented students’ formative primary and secondary education, all support is withdrawn as soon as these vulnerable students reach adulthood. Despite slowly growing support for undocumented admission in post-secondary institutions, there are persistent barriers which stand in the way of their potential enrollment and persistence in higher education. The effect of these barriers on the undocumented student psychosocial and cognitive development can no longer be ignored, and this paper hypothesizes a conceptual model of development which highlights the experiences of undocumented students as they strive to obtain a post-secondary degree in the United States