UC Davis

Mirroring the rapid expansion of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) across the nation, interest in examining student retention at HSIs has grown among researchers, policymakers and practitioners. HSIs are defined as colleges and universities enrolling 25 percent or more Latinx undergraduate students. As such, these institutions play a critical role in advancing student success as HSIs collectively educate over 60 percent of all Latinx undergraduates. Empirical research on Latinx student retention at HSIs has generally focused on individual characteristics, with minimal attention placed on the role of organizational structures in academically supporting students, particularly those who encounter academic challenges such as academic probation, dismissal, and reinstatement on the path to degree completion. Although scholars have recently moved towards organizational level analyses within HSI research, the influence of structures on Latinx students’ experiences with academic probation, dismissal and reinstatement remain unexplored. Knowledge of the organizational structures at HSIs that are intended to support Latinx students who experience academic challenges will provide a better understanding on how to best serve and retain Latinx students through graduation. As such, the questions that guide this dissertation are: 1) What organizational structures and services support Latina/o/x undergraduate students’ retention at HSIs? 2) How do institutional factors influence support structures for Latinx students facing academic challenges at HSIs? Grounded in the Multidimensional Conceptual Framework of Servingness in HSIs, this mixed-methods study design includes the descriptive analyses of a survey distributed to staff and administrators at public, four-year HSIs to understand academic and retention support structures. In addition, a case study employing interviews with administrators and document analysis at a HSIs was conducted. Findings indicate that there are structures within a HSI that fully embody servingness and carry the weight for other units on campus which are not serving. This study broadens the scope of existing literature on Latinx student retention by documenting how the organizational structures and campus-based efforts at HSIs “serve” Latinx students during instances of academic probation, dismissal, and reinstatement through their persistence to graduation.