Fighting for A Second Chance: Policies & Practices that Impact College Students with Criminal Record's Experiences In Traditional Higher Education Settings

Very little information is known about the experiences of graduate students with criminal records in higher education. As such, the purpose of this dissertation seeks to understand the various factors that impact graduate students with criminal records experiences in higher education. The overarching purpose is broken down into three individual research papers. The first research paper uses a thematic analysis to assess the ways Arizona’s four-year public higher education institutions utilize their power, via written policies, to deter, ban, or prohibit college students with criminal records from actively pursuing or participating in academia. Specifically, I provide a robust overview of all the current policies practices that target college students with criminal records in traditional higher education settings. The next two papers draw its attention to how college students with criminal records navigate the academy. Specifically, I seek to understand the experience(s) of living through institutional barriers as a graduate student while possessing a criminal record using Van Manen’s Hermeneutical Phenomenology. In the last paper, I seek to understand the experience(s) of living through criminalized microaggressions as a graduate student while possessing a criminal record using Van Manen’s Hermeneutical Phenomenology. In each of these papers, limitations, implications for research and practice are included for future policy makers, administrators, and scholars.