THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DACAMENTED STUDENT EXPERIENCE AND CAREER OUTLOOK DURING AN UNPREDICTABLE POLITICAL CLIMATE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

This qualitative, phenomenological study captures the experiences of selected DACAmented community college students and their career outlook under the uncertainty and threat of permanently losing their DACA status during the Trump administration of 2016-2020. Through focus groups and individual interviews, the major findings from participants included themes that focused on their DACA status, financial situation, and the institutional support and advocacy received at their college. With the identified three themes, the study also highlighted nine connected sub-themes: academics, majors, career planning, employment, family situation, mental health, fear, resilience, and independence. This study hopes to inform administrators, faculty, staff, and students about how to best support the DACAmented student population by understanding the personal and academic challenges that affected community college students during the time period