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Examining How Community College Students Develop Aspirations for Graduate School

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Title: Examining How Community College Students Develop Aspirations for Graduate School
Language: English
Authors: Casey Lukszo (ORCID 0000-0002-7502-9372), Catherine Hartman, Maria Luz Espino (ORCID 0000-0002-6217-9304)
Source: Community College Review. 2026 54(3):248-272.
Availability: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 25
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Two Year Colleges
Descriptors: Community College Students, Academic Aspiration, Graduate Study, Student Responsibility, Mentors, School Personnel, College Role, Peer Influence, Teacher Influence, Barriers, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students, Alumni, Educational Environment
DOI: 10.1177/00915521261428061
ISSN: 0091-5521
1940-2325
Abstract: Objective/Research Question: In this study, we sought to understand what factors motivate community college students' and alumni decisions to pursue graduate study. Specifically, we asked: What influences community college students and alumni to pursue graduate school? What role do community colleges play in influencing students' aspirations for graduate school? Methods: A qualitative research design was utilized, and data was collected from 16 focus group participants and 20 individual interviews. Results: Findings from this study indicate that students' aspirations for graduate school are shaped by multiple factors, including responsibilities outside of school as well as mentorship and guidance from institutional faculty and staff. Conclusions/Contributions: Findings from this study present implications for researchers and practitioners focused on supporting community college student success. Notably, this study prompts opportunities to consider the role of community college support on students' long-term goals, including pursuing graduate study.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1507671
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0194258048;ccr01jul.26;2026Jun05.02:55;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0194258048-1">Examining How Community College Students Develop Aspirations for Graduate School </title> <p>Objective/Research Question: In this study, we sought to understand what factors motivate community college students' and alumni decisions to pursue graduate study. Specifically, we asked: What influences community college students and alumni to pursue graduate school? What role do community colleges play in influencing students' aspirations for graduate school? Methods: A qualitative research design was utilized, and data was collected from 16 focus group participants and 20 individual interviews. Results: Findings from this study indicate that students' aspirations for graduate school are shaped by multiple factors, including responsibilities outside of school as well as mentorship and guidance from institutional faculty and staff. Conclusions/Contributions: Findings from this study present implications for researchers and practitioners focused on supporting community college student success. Notably, this study prompts opportunities to consider the role of community college support on students' long-term goals, including pursuing graduate study.</p> <p>Keywords: community college; students; graduate school; enrollment; educational pathways; decision-making processes; mentorship</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-2">Introduction</hd> <p>As open-access institutions, community colleges serve over 43% of postsecondary students in the United States ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref1">31</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref2">51</reflink>]). These colleges promote educational attainment and mobility by providing pathways for students seeking to transfer to earn a baccalaureate degree. While many community college students envision the baccalaureate as their highest earned degree, others aspire to pursue graduate studies. Although community college students represent a significant proportion of learners across higher education as well as a substantial portion of students aspiring to attend graduate school, few community college students complete graduate degrees ([<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref3">40</reflink>]). If community colleges are to prepare these learners for advanced training and careers, more research and focus must be dedicated to understanding and improving students' pathways from community college to graduate school.</p> <p>Although prior research has examined individuals' decisions to enroll in graduate school (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref4">22</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref5">41</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref6">60</reflink>]), there have been few inquiries into understanding community college students' experiences through this educational pathway. In particular, few researchers have examined how students develop aspirations for graduate study. Recent research has pointed to faculty encouragement and students' sustained aspirations for graduate study during the transfer process as being positively related to students' plans to pursue a post-baccalaureate degree (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref7">5</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref8">6</reflink>]), yet there is still much to be learned about this process.</p> <p>Recognizing the significance of the community college student and alumni population within higher education and the lack of understanding about these students' progress toward graduate education, we sought to understand what motivates community college students' and alumni's decisions to pursue graduate study. Specifically, we sought to answer the following research questions:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> What influences community college students and alumni to pursue graduate school?</item> <p></p> <item> What role do community colleges play in influencing students' aspirations for graduate school?</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0194258048-3">Understanding the Community College to Graduate School Pathway</hd> <p>During 2020–2021, over 8 million students enrolled in community colleges, representing over 43% of all undergraduate students in the United States ([<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref9">51</reflink>]). Many of these students have high academic and career aspirations, such as obtaining graduate credentials ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref10">26</reflink>]), which require reaching multiple educational milestones, including attending community college, transferring to a baccalaureate degree program, completing a bachelor's degree, and enrolling in graduate school. Each step in this process presents challenges that prompt students to navigate multiple bureaucratic and institutional hurdles ([<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref11">45</reflink>]). As a result, students may struggle to advance through each of these stages of the pathway.</p> <p>Starting at the transfer phase, data paints a bleak picture of student progress. Nationally representative data from a cohort of first-time-in-college students in fall 2015 indicate that only 33% of students transferred to a four-year school within six years of beginning higher education ([<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref12">53</reflink>]). Of those who successfully transferred, only 48% earned a bachelor's degree within six years. Ultimately, only 16% of students aspiring to complete a baccalaureate degree achieved this goal ([<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref13">53</reflink>]), despite evidence that over 81% of community college entrants intend to transfer ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref14">15</reflink>]).</p> <p>Considering additional milestones and aspirations beyond transfer, research suggests that 44% of community college students aspire to earn a graduate degree ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref15">26</reflink>]), and there is a subset of learners who achieve this goal. According to the [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref16">37</reflink>], approximately 20% of master's degree earners in 2016–2017 started their education at community colleges, while 11% of doctoral degree earners attended a community college at some point during their undergraduate education. Research has identified multiple barriers and opportunities across the community college to graduate school pathway that influence students' aspirations to attend graduate school. Given the misalignment between students' aspirations and persistence ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref17">26</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref18">37</reflink>]), it is important to consider what these forces are and what role they play in students' goal development and progression. In the subsequent sections, we review sources of challenges and support that community college students and alumni may encounter in pursuit of a graduate degree.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-4">Navigating Transfer into Baccalaureate Degree-Granting Institutions</hd> <p>Transfer presents a significant challenge for many students as they pursue bachelor's degrees and consider graduate study ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref19">31</reflink>]). Transfer is a complex process that requires students to interpret institutional policies related to enrollment, advising, transfer credit, financial aid, and more ([<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref20">45</reflink>]). In addition, students' transfer decisions—including which baccalaureate degree-granting institutions to transfer into, programs to pursue, and the timing of these endeavors—are informed by students' working and familial responsibilities ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref21">29</reflink>]), the availability of relevant educational programs within geographic proximity of students ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref22">28</reflink>]), as well as financial aid and scholarship availability and opportunity costs ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref23">7</reflink>]).</p> <p>Upon transferring to a four-year institution, community college students may face obstacles such as accessing relevant initiatives to help them develop or foster academic goals, including research experiences, internships, and other experiential learning opportunities ([<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref24">49</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref25">52</reflink>]). Interactions with faculty at four-year institutions may provide students considering graduate study with access and opportunities to participate in research initiatives, which can help students to explore their academic interests ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref26">2</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref27">5</reflink>]), feel connected to their universities ([<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref28">50</reflink>]), and meet graduate school admissions requirements while remaining focused on their goals ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref29">21</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref30">32</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref31">35</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-5">The Significance of Institutional Agents, Mentoring, and Peers</hd> <p>Institutional agents, including faculty and staff, play a crucial role in shaping students' pursuit of graduate study. Student-faculty engagement has been found to support community college students' academic progress and to bolster their intentions to transfer to baccalaureate degree-granting institutions ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref32">2</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref33">4</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref34">25</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref35">44</reflink>]). Relationships that students have with these faculty and staff can serve as a steppingstone toward strengthening students' progress toward degree completion as well as preparing to pursue graduate study.</p> <p>Engagement with academic advisors and related services can also aid students' progress. In particular, meetings with advisors provide opportunities for students to obtain and make sense of information needed to navigate the transfer process ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref36">46</reflink>]). These meetings may also provide the validation needed to foster students' aspiration for graduate study ([<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref37">35</reflink>]). Validation from advisors and faculty can "warm" students' educational aspirations ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref38">18</reflink>]), leading them to consider expanding their goals to include transfer to a four-year institution as well as to pursue a graduate program. In addition, advisors may help students negotiate registration-related barriers. In particular, students intending to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields may not have access at their four-year institutions to introductory courses required for these majors, thus limiting their ability to pursue these academic pathways ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref39">5</reflink>]). Proactive advising and institutional policies that prioritize transfer students can serve to combat barriers that students may encounter.</p> <p>In addition, community college students' pathways toward graduate school may be informed by mentorship experiences and peer relationships. Research has indicated that mentorship is a significant factor in fostering aspirations, particularly among marginalized populations, including women ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref40">7</reflink>]), Latinx ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref41">17</reflink>]), and Black ([<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref42">24</reflink>]) students. Peers may also serve as valuable and trusted mentors by sharing information about navigating the transfer process, the academic and social context at four-year institutions, and preparing for post-baccalaureate pursuits ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref43">7</reflink>]). These relationships can provide students with information needed to navigate complex institutional processes, such as identifying graduate programs and schools and seeking financial support for attendance. Mentors and peers can also provide emotional support and encouragement to help students maintain their focus and persist, particularly as marginalized students navigate exclusionary spaces and systems that may not prioritize their success ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref44">2</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref45">7</reflink>]; Blaney et al., 2025; [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref46">52</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref47">57</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-6">Implications of Challenges Across Graduate Pathways for Student Success</hd> <p>Given the multiple forces that affect students' journeys combined with the fact that community colleges enroll greater proportions of racially and ethnically minoritized as well as low-income students ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref48">31</reflink>]), it is important to understand how students are supported in their pursuit of graduate study, as racial and ethnic gaps in graduate school enrollment among community college alumni exist. According to the [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref49">38</reflink>], 3.1 million students were enrolled in a post-baccalaureate degree program in fall 2020. Most of these students identified as White (61%), while 13.9% identified as Black and 12.3% identified as Hispanic ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref50">39</reflink>]). As these statistics highlight, racially and ethnically minoritized community college students are not enrolling in graduate study at the same rate as their peers, which indicates that pathways to graduate study for these learners may be fraught with barriers that challenge their progress toward their goals.</p> <p>Ultimately, while a significant amount of research has examined students' navigation of the transfer process, little research has explored subsequent steps in students' educational journeys, including how graduate study may be related to students' reasons for transferring as well as how students develop aspirations for advanced degrees. As such, this study addresses this research gap by investigating what influences community college students and alumni to pursue graduate study and the role that community colleges may or may not play in fostering these aspirations.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-7">Conceptual Framework</hd> <p>To explore community college students' pathways to graduate school and factors associated with students' aspirations, we used [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref51">27</reflink>] Model of College-Going Decisions and Trajectories as a guiding framework. There are three components to Iloh's model: <emph>information, time</emph>, and <emph>opportunity</emph>. These contexts are intertwined and evolving based on the environments students encounter. The domain of <emph>information</emph> represents multiple forms of information a student might obtain and employ as they navigate their college-going journey. Community college students use a variety of information sources to inform their decisions to attend college, and they also gather and curate information needed to prepare to transfer and about their postsecondary plans, including graduate school. [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref52">27</reflink>] noted that <emph>information</emph> is not always equitably accessible to students across all communities and specifically cited "information deserts" to represent areas of the country that might have a particular lack of information to navigate access to college (p. 5). The context of <emph>time</emph> represents either one's chronological age or moments in time that have a particular impact on a student's decision about whether or where to attend college, or, as related to our study, graduate school. Lastly, the domain of <emph>opportunity</emph> signifies the varying levels of support and resources available to students in the college-going process. Opportunity can also indicate what students believe is possible within their context, which can be realized through information they receive about education as well as their perceptions of campus climates and environments. As [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref53">27</reflink>] stated, "one's identity, life experiences, as well as their familial, educational, spatial, financial, political, technological, and community content, can all influence whether a prospective student believes college or a particular college is right/possible for them" (p. 238). Varying levels of opportunities and obstacles seem particularly relevant to community college students and alumni, who are much more likely to work or serve as caretakers during college ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref54">1</reflink>]).</p> <p>The Model of College-Going Decisions and Trajectories ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref55">27</reflink>]) takes an ecological approach to provide a holistic view of the phenomena being studied. This framework builds previous models, notably Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model (1974, 1977), to highlight how different components of one's experience and contextual surroundings affect outcomes. Iloh's model presents the college decision-making process as non-linear and informed by the environment, thereby allowing us to understand how students' aspirations are formed. Ultimately, Iloh's research helped us to understand how students develop aspirations within the dynamic intersections of <emph>time, information</emph>, and <emph>opportunity</emph>. Understanding this fluidity is particularly useful when considering community college students, particularly as students often cycle through higher education through a variety of paths, including through different enrollment patterns ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref56">13</reflink>]) that are informed by factors like family, faculty, and advisors which in turn influence their graduate school aspirations ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref57">12</reflink>]).</p> <p>Although the Model of College-Going Decisions and Trajectories ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref58">27</reflink>]) may have been intended for baccalaureate college decisions, we extend these concepts to the multiple steps for the development of a community college student's aspirations and journey to graduate school through <emph>time, opportunity</emph>, and <emph>information</emph>. When applied to community college students and alumni, we anticipate that students' access to information about graduate school and its quality, their perceptions of potential and real opportunities to continue their learning, and their interactions with others (including institutional agents, friends, family members) and other forces (including ever-present socio-political forces) would influence their aspirations to enroll in graduate school.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-8">Methods</hd> <p>To explore the pathways of community college students and alumni to graduate school, we utilized a qualitative research design ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref59">36</reflink>]). Specifically, we used in-depth interviews with participants, including focus groups (<emph>N</emph> = 16) and semi-structured one-on-one interviews (<emph>N</emph> = 20) with a total of 36 participants. Details about our methods for data collection and analysis are described below.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-9">Data Collection</hd> <p>We began data collection in spring 2021 by conducting focus groups with community college students and alumni. One aim of the focus groups was to guide subsequent individual interviews. Individuals were eligible to participate if they were a current or former community college student and had aspirations for graduate school, were currently in graduate school, or were a graduate school alumnus. We posted tweets on Twitter (now known as X) and various professional email listservs (including Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year institutions) to recruit and purposefully select focus group participants from community colleges across the United States. Ultimately, we hosted four virtual focus groups on Zoom that included 16 participants across four distinct groups: current community college students (four participants), current students enrolled in a bachelor's degree program (one participant), current graduate students (nine participants), and graduate school alumni (two participants). See Appendix A (Tables 1 and 2) for a list of participants and demographics. The focus groups lasted approximately 60 to 90 minutes and were audio recorded with participants' consent. The interview protocol was informed by the study's literature review, theoretical framework, and research questions and focused on participants' experiences at their institutions, the role of faculty and mentors in participants' educational decisions, and the reasons for participants' interest in graduate study, among other topics. Sample questions included 1) When did you first hear about graduate school and when did you first start considering attending graduate school? 2) What has most influenced or inspired you to attend graduate school, and specifically, how has this influenced/inspired you?</p> <p>After completing the focus groups, we reflected on findings and planned individual interviews to further explore the identified themes and findings ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref60">16</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref61">36</reflink>]). We used recruitment strategies similar to those for the focus groups, including Twitter (X) and emails across professional listservs. Using the same eligibility criteria as the focus groups (current/former community college student and interested in/currently attending/graduated from graduate school), we purposefully sampled new participants (i.e., those who had not participated in the focus groups) who identified in each of the four categories previously mentioned (community college students, bachelor's degree students, graduate students, and graduate alumni). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 participants. Our individual interview sample consisted of one current community college student, six current/recent bachelor's degree students, five current graduate students, and eight graduate school alumni. The majority of participants attended different community colleges (i.e., each student from a different community college), representing different geographic regions of the country (south, northeast, central, west regions of the United States). See Appendix B (Tables 3 and 4) for more information about the participants. In the interviews, we asked similar questions as those posed during the focus groups, but we also amended our interview protocol to further explore concepts like sense of belonging, the role of family and friends on students' educational decisions, and students' interactions with institutional advisors.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-10">Data Analysis and Trustworthiness</hd> <p>During and after completion of the focus groups and interviews, we engaged in several processes to engage in reflection and conduct analyses. First, we recorded reflective notes for each focus group and individual interviews that enabled us to record initial observations and information. In these, we described the participants' interview setting, their body language, and any other elements that stood out. This process informed the next phase of our debrief: analytical memos. In these, we recorded connections between the interview findings and the theoretical framework (i.e., how <emph>time, opportunity</emph>, and <emph>information</emph> related to students' aspirations and graduate school decision-making process). After engaging in memoing, we then met as a team to create a codebook that contained inductive codes (such as themes that emerged during the memoing process) and deductive codes (including those derived from the conceptual framework, such as <emph>time, opportunity</emph>, and <emph>information</emph>) ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref62">43</reflink>]). After compiling a codebook with 33 codes, two of our three research team members then coded the interview transcripts in Dedoose. The research team engaged in several rounds of pilot coding designed to increase inter-rater reliability, and each interview transcript received two rounds of coding (and alternating coders for each). Themes were derived according to the findings and quantified, when possible.</p> <p>Several techniques were used to facilitate the trustworthiness of the data. After cleaning the interview transcripts, we invited each participant to engage in member checking of their transcripts. We also asked participants any clarifying questions we had at this point. Additionally, the research team engaged in conversations about themes and findings across the data collection and analysis processes, which facilitated opportunities for us to debrief on our positionalities to better understand our impact on the interpretation of the data ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref63">23</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-11">Positionality Statement</hd> <p>As part of our analytic plan, we engaged in opportunities for reflexivity and now offer more information about this reflection through a positionality statement. Our research team consisted of three scholar women who are aware of how our experiences and perspectives may have informed the design and analysis of this study. The first author is a community college alumna who identifies as a White cis-gender female working as a community college practitioner-scholar. The second author is a community college graduate and transfer student who navigated the pathway to graduate school, which she believes helped her to understand and connect with participants in this study. The third author is a queer Latina woman who is currently an assistant professor. Her research interest explores the various avenues in which marginalized students enter higher education. Collectively, through our research, we intend to shed light on the role that institutions and other social, political, and economic forces play in shaping students' educational success.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-12">Findings</hd> <p>Our findings for this paper are divided into multiple sub-themes that fall into two main categories: <emph>when</emph> students developed aspirations for graduate school and <emph>how</emph> students developed aspirations for graduate school. We found that students' awareness of graduate school differed from their conscious decisions and efforts to pursue advanced studies. In terms of how students made the decision to attend graduate school, three prominent themes arose, including how their environment shaped (or did not shape) their graduate school aspirations, how students obtained information about graduate school, and the role of community colleges in shaping students' aspirations for graduate school. In some cases, only interview findings were quantified because a theme was further articulated during interviews as a follow-up of focus group findings.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-13">Influential Sources of Information in the Discovery of Graduate School</hd> <p>Participants indicated that multiple forms of information influenced how they discovered graduate study. In our study, participants differentiated between when they first learned about graduate school versus when they seriously started to develop their own aspirations to attend graduate school. Twelve interview participants discussed first learning about graduate school when they were in elementary, middle, or high school, primarily through several resources: family, a community member, or a high school teacher. Four interview participants described knowing about graduate school from a very young age because their parent(s) had attended or were attending graduate school. For instance, Miriam's mom was earning a PhD while Miriam was in middle and high school, so Miriam felt like she developed not only a clear understanding that graduate school existed but also an understanding of what it looked like to pursue advanced studies. This instance is an example of how students use information gleaned from others to inform their understanding of graduate school as an optional course to pursue. Also, by continuously receiving information over the course of several years, <emph>time</emph> is also an element in learners' pathways.</p> <p>Eight interview participants first learned about graduate school through members in their local community. Brooklyn was one of these students; her neighbor had a PhD in history. Danny (a focus group participant) had a family friend who was a pharmacist who talked about attending pharmacy school, so he understood the concept of graduate school at an early age. A few participants learned about graduate school from teachers. Maria shared that she heard about graduate school from her teachers: "I first heard about [graduate school] early on, like elementary or middle school. My teachers told me because I was always vocal that I wanted to be a teacher like them. And they always told me about [graduate school]." For many students, this initial discovery about graduate school served as a precursor to developing personal aspirations for their own graduate school attendance. These examples closely connect to Iloh's concepts of <emph>opportunity</emph> and <emph>information</emph>, as students realized from an early age that graduate school was a possibility through information about such pathways through direct signaling from trusted community members.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-14">The Role of the Community College in Exposing Students to Graduate Study</hd> <p>Students expressed that they were exposed to graduate school at different points along their educational journey, even starting in K-12 settings. We specifically asked participants whether they heard about graduate school while attending community college. Only five interviewees said that they heard about graduate school from community college faculty or staff. These students became aware of graduate school from faculty members or from an advisor, typically in discussions about career opportunities. Miriam, who is a psychology major currently attending a bachelor's degree program, shared:</p> <p>Oh, yes. They mentioned [graduate school] a lot...A lot of faculty did talk about graduate school. So when I'm getting involved with the professor who I was doing research with, he did mention that this would be very good for graduate school, and this would help prepare me for graduate school level work. And so I was very much aware of that in my community college, and it very much was talked about.</p> <p>Miriam indicated that this interaction was very influential in her development of aspirations for graduate school. This early encouragement enabled her to think early about opportunities for research, which led her to do research not only at her community college, but at her bachelor's degree institution as well. These <emph>opportunities</emph> eventually solidified her aspirations towards graduate school.</p> <p>In addition, students who discovered graduate school through college faculty and staff described the significant role that encouragement and conversations from these individuals had on their academic trajectory. For example, Tina spoke with a community college professor about her career plans, and the professor informed her that she could not thrive in her chosen career without a graduate degree. Esmerelda also discussed an impactful interaction with a counselor at her community college transfer center. She said:</p> <p>He has a huge role in my educational journey, and so I wanted to do something similar. So I think it was at that point I asked him what you need to do in order to get the counseling degree, and so he was like, "You get your masters in educational counseling,"...That's where I decided I wanted to go to grad school.</p> <p>Esmerelda's connection with her counselor exposed her to career possibilities while also providing an opportunity for her to form connections with college staff that would prove useful in encouraging her to pursue post-baccalaureate studies. This interaction was both how she discovered graduate school, and it directly influenced her aspirations.</p> <p>However, Miriam, Tina, and Esmerelda's experiences were somewhat unique. They do not reflect the experiences of 15 interview participants who did not hear about graduate school at community college. Several students brought up their belief that this was because community colleges are focused on the workforce and transfer. Brooklyn noted,</p> <p>Most of the emphasis on post-community college education was on that bachelor's degree or entering the workforce. I am very grateful that my community college does emphasize that really well, because not every student that's going for an Associate's wants to transfer or wants to continue with higher ed, so I am thankful that they were very transparent about there are other options. But they didn't really talk about what other options live beyond your bachelor's degree.</p> <p>Participants who mentioned examples of intentional discussions about graduate school with community college faculty or staff almost universally indicated these conversations came up because students asked questions about certain careers, which then led to <emph>information</emph> sharing about graduate school. Thus, these conversations appeared to be happenstance and not because of a concerted effort on behalf of community colleges to expose students to graduate school. Once again, these examples illustrate that some students are presented with opportunities to learn more about graduate school, which influences subsequent discussion and action students may take toward pursuing advanced studies. This represents the overlap between the <emph>information</emph> and <emph>opportunity</emph> dimensions of Iloh's framework.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-15">The Significance of Timing of Exposure to Graduate School</hd> <p>Early exposure to graduate school can provide students with navigational capital, or maneuvering of educational spaces ([<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref64">58</reflink>]), and shape how students approach their educational journey. Developing this navigational capital can impact both students' aspirations but also set them up for later success. As such, the timing of when students receive information about graduate school can present enhanced opportunities for successful progress across educational pathways. One student who was completing their bachelor's degree at the time of her interview, Miriam, spoke to both her family members but also faculty about graduate school during community college and engaged in undergraduate research at their community college. Empowered by this experience and early exposure, she made connections with faculty and graduate students after transferring and continued her engagement in research. These connections gave her the opportunity to observe graduate school up close, to ask questions about what the experience would be like, and to hone her research interests. As a result of this groundwork, she is now applying to graduate school and feels confident about her prospects.</p> <p>Early aspirations for advanced study also impacted Jacob's decisions as he navigated his education. Although he had aspirations for graduate school prior to entering community college, he spoke about being intentional in building relationships with faculty:</p> <p>And I was even being deliberate. Like knowing that I have two years to build relationships with professors in order to get a recommendation for grad school, because I knew when I went into community college I wanted to go to grad school. And I knew I was going to have to get good grades all the way through. And I knew when I got to university, I was going to have to have relationships with the professors.</p> <p>Jacob's goals led him to be proactive in making connections with faculty, and this awareness helped him to accumulate requisite forms of navigational capital required to be competitive for graduate study. Jacob did not note challenges in the transition to his graduate program, likely as a result of being intentional about his pursuit of graduate school as he was transferring into his baccalaureate program.</p> <p>Yet, as discussed, not all students had the benefit of early exposure. Teresa was one of the many participants who did not hear about graduate school at community college:</p> <p>There wasn't really talk about graduate school actually, now that I think about it. I haven't never really seen that. They more so just talked about what you got to do after you leave here. And of course, you can't like graduate with your associates and immediately go into a master's program...Alas, but no.</p> <p>Teresa transferred into a primarily online institution and unfortunately was not able to make close connections with faculty at her transfer institution. Like Miriam, she was also applying to graduate school at the time of the interview, but unlike Miriam, she felt like she was struggling to complete the process, including obtaining recommendation letters. Teresa believed that she would have benefited from earlier exposure to graduate school, so that she could have used her bachelor's program to more intentionally set herself up for success. She recommended that community colleges do more to tell students about graduate school: "It would be really great for a lot of the recruiters from graduate schools to just, I guess, pique their interest with [community college] students... so that way they can be able to prepare themselves."</p> <p>This juxtaposition of these students' experiences demonstrates how early exposure to graduate school can enable students to develop aspirations. However, it also shows how early exposure affects students' actions, which in turn, influences their journey to graduate school. Lack of early exposure can exacerbate inequities in developing aspirations for and becoming a competitive graduate school applicant. This timing of exposure to graduate school represents a clear connection to Iloh's concept of <emph>time</emph>.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-16">The Role of the Educational Environment in Fostering Graduate School Intentions</hd> <p>Beyond the few students who indicated exposure to graduate school during community college, 10 interviewees talked about how their aspirations for graduate school solidified during their bachelor's degree. Thus, the <emph>opportunities</emph> to learn about graduate school from campus activities (or lack thereof) was a driving factor in their decision-making process. For some of these students, this influence was a result of attending a university that had graduate programs on campus. When asked about when she first heard about graduate school, Ramona shared:</p> <p>[My university], they have PhD, master's degree. They have the full I guess Carnegie classifications...but I think it was really just a part of the macro environment at [my university]. Like you're hearing about master's degree programs, you're hearing about PhD programs, they have a law school there. It's just a part of the environment.</p> <p>Ramona's response also underscores the value of interacting with the physical campus environment and campus climate in shaping her understanding of graduate school, giving her the <emph>opportunity</emph> for this exposure. In addition, environment and space were often intertwined with the element of <emph>time</emph>, particularly for Tina, whose baccalaureate program had an accelerated bachelor's to master's program. Although she knew graduate school existed prior to transferring, being in such proximity to a graduate program after transfer is when Tina began to solidify her intentions to attend graduate school.</p> <p>Eleven interviewees referred to their graduate school intentions coming together as they engaged with campus activities, another representation that the campus environment impacts students' opportunities to learn about graduate school. Skip was originally planning to major in communications. Despite being heavily involved both at his community college and his bachelor's institution, it was not until he served as a teaching assistant and a tutor at his baccalaureate institution that he decided to switch career goals:</p> <p>What I was finding through these years was that what I was most enjoying was not necessarily the field of study that I was pursuing, but rather, the extracurricular engagement. It was through serving as a teaching assistant and a writing tutor and some other roles that were not directly related to my discipline...I quickly realized that I needed to leverage my passions in those spaces, and then I was starting to look at graduate school.</p> <p>Thus, Skip's career trajectory was influenced by extracurricular experiences in his environment that led to a redirected career focus, which then led to aspirations to attend graduate school. Engagement with extracurricular activities proved impactful for some students as they considered next steps in relation to their career.</p> <p>Similarly, Teresa spoke about how her involvement in her community college newspaper reshaped her career intentions. She had previously considered being a nursing major and a psychology major, but she developed a close mentorship with her newspaper advisor who became an important part of her career development. This advisor encouraged her to pursue a career in communications. As a result, Teresa changed her major and ended up completing both her associate's degree and a communications baccalaureate degree. In the middle of completing her bachelor's degree, Teresa developed a goal to enroll in a graduate program, a decision that was finalized after working in the field and determining that she needed to obtain a master's degree to further her career. Thus, her environment at the newspaper was an <emph>opportunity</emph> to explore different careers. This experience, along with her work experience, influenced her decision to pursue graduate school.</p> <p>In relation to the importance of students' engagement with their institutions, mentoring proved to be another impactful form of supporting students' graduate school pathways. For instance, Brooklyn, who was heavily involved in an educational organization outside of her community college, spoke about how this led to her development of a mentorship with a leader of the organization. This leader has since become an important part of her development of aspirations for graduate school. Brooklyn's mentor has spoken to her about different programs she could pursue while she was attending community college and how those degrees might shape her career:</p> <p>She and I had an amazing conversation...And I had brought up the possibility of going to grad school and like it was something that I was looking to start considering now because I don't have much time...having that conversation with her really helped because it kind of gave me options, and she really helped me see where I want to go with things.</p> <p>This mentorship helped Brooklyn begin to solidify her decision to attend graduate school early and narrow in on the types of choices she could pursue.</p> <p>Several other students discussed how structured <emph>opportunities</emph> at different points throughout their baccalaureate education furthered their aspirations for post-baccalaureate education. Esmeralda was part of the McNair Scholars Program, which intentionally exposes bachelor's degree students to graduate school <emph>opportunities</emph>. An assigned mentor in this program helped Esmeralda to hone her interests and make the most of her time prior to graduate school. As an undergraduate student, Fanny also participated in a fellowship that emphasized graduate school and even offered graduate scholarships to alumni. She shared that this activity built up her confidence, which led her to develop graduate school plans. James participated in a program during high school that took students on a campus visit to a prestigious law school. Although he had thought about law school prior to this experience, the opportunity led him to develop further aspirations for law school even before he started college. Both mentorship and these programs provided students with the critical <emph>opportunity</emph> to envision graduate studies and see themselves as capable of pursuing such a route, once again, emphasizing the usefulness of the <emph>opportunity</emph> dimension of [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref65">27</reflink>] framework.</p> <p>While engagement with the physical campus as well as faculty and staff proved useful for strengthening the interests for some students, others discussed the impact of a structural lack of opportunities in their institutional environments or the importance of supporting engagement for nontraditional learners. Teresa, for example, was highly involved at her community college, but she decided to attend an online college for her bachelor's degree. She discussed disappointment in the lack of initiatives and activities for her to participate in and was frustrated that she only found out the college offered in-person events after she graduated. In addition, a number of our participants who were adult learners during college described the need for flexible scheduling options that allowed them to care for children or other family members. Kelly was an adult learner who was also a single parent of two children. She spoke highly about her community college, which not only offered flexible scheduling for classes but also had clubs that catered to all types of students with familial responsibilities. These opportunities influenced her trajectory to graduate school, as she looked for this same level of flexibility as she progressed in her education. Such examples show a strong connection to the opportunity component of our conceptual framework, as <emph>opportunities</emph> shaped students' paths. These examples illustrate the importance of both two-year and four-year institutions to provide these flexible engagement opportunities so that students have the chance to be exposed to graduate school and develop mentorships that might be critical to career development and post-baccalaureate plans.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-17">Discussion</hd> <p>In this paper, we examined how community college students develop aspirations for graduate school, recognizing that students' journeys are shaped by a series of decisions about their educational pursuits. [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref66">27</reflink>] model provided a useful lens with which to examine community college students' pathways. Drawing from the contexts identified in [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref67">27</reflink>] framework, <emph>opportunity</emph> influenced students' goals for graduate school in multiple ways.</p> <p>In our study, more than half of interview participants reported not learning about graduate school at community college; more students received information while enrolled at their baccalaureate institution. Many four-year universities have graduate programs, so students who begin at a four-year university are often exposed to graduate school from the time they start college. Community colleges do not offer graduate programs, so students do not have access to this environmental exposure, or this opportunity to gain information. This may make it more important that community colleges consider how students may strategically be exposed to graduate school and how they can support opportunities for students to learn more about graduate programs earlier in their education.</p> <p>Within [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref68">27</reflink>] Model of College-Going Decisions and Trajectories, the three model dimensions of <emph>information, opportunity</emph>, and <emph>time</emph>, were critical for the students and their educational trajectories. Students described nonlinear paths that shaped their experiences. <emph>Information</emph> was a critical component of how and in what ways students developed aspirations for graduate school, and the lack of guidance and details about pursuing advanced degrees that students received during their time at their community college was particularly noteworthy. In addition, <emph>information</emph> appears to sometimes be related to students' environments. For example, some students reported learning <emph>information</emph> about graduate school in particular contexts. In instances when students attended an institution that housed graduate programs, students felt they received <emph>information</emph> by virtue of being physically surrounded by graduate students and programs. In this way, we see the <emph>opportunity</emph> and <emph>information</emph> dimensions intersecting to influence students' trajectories.</p> <p>Our findings reinforce that students' educational trajectories are nonlinear, especially when they encounter <emph>information</emph>, experience <emph>opportunities</emph> of support, or develop goals. Students often learned about graduate school well before they formed concrete plans to pursue advanced degrees. The timing of students' exposure and decisions shaped students' readiness and ability to act, demonstrating how <emph>time</emph> is related to planning, preparation, and confidence in pursuing graduate education. Time also underscores the importance of repeated and early interventions across the educational timeline, particularly for students whose trajectories do not follow traditional or linear paths.</p> <p>In addition, our study demonstrates how students' access to educational options, resources, and guidance is often shaped by their institutional environments and social networks. <emph>Opportunities</emph> to learn about and prepare for graduate school differed across students' experiences, especially in relation to initiatives and information offered by community colleges. Students often created such <emph>opportunities</emph> by intentionally seeking guidance and activities in which to engage, rather than benefiting from these supports being institutionally embedded or equitably distributed. Participants frequently described a lack of proactive graduate school discourse within community college settings, as most advising focused on preparing students for workforce entry or transfer in pursuit of the bachelor's degree. These missed <emph>opportunities</emph>, particularly for adult learners or online learners, highlight a critical gap in access. [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref69">27</reflink>] framework highlights how the presence or absence of institutional opportunity can significantly shape students' ability to visualize and pursue graduate education, especially for those who are already navigating constrained time and resources.</p> <p>Our findings contrast related research about community college students' information gathering processes. While research suggests that peers can be very influential in the transfer process from community colleges to four-year institutions ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref70">33</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref71">59</reflink>]), none of our study participants noted that peers were significant influences on their aspirations for graduate school, except peers who mentioned their interest in graduate school (such as medical school) in passing or students who viewed their peers more as a mentor (such as a sorority sister).</p> <p>Similar to past research about the importance of institutional agents in transmitting information and empowering disadvantaged students and transfer students, we found that institutional agents can be important conduits of <emph>information</emph> and help build students' self-efficacy toward graduate school ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref72">20</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref73">33</reflink>]). This supports past research that has indicated community college agents can help "warm up" students' aspirations and further develop their plans to continue their education ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref74">18</reflink>]). In particular, faculty seem to provide encouragement to students as it relates to career development, which is consistent with other findings, such as [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref75">55</reflink>], about how faculty can play a critical role in smoothing transitions for transfer students.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-18">Implications for Research and Practice</hd> <p>Our research has several implications for research and practice for those interested in supporting the pathways and success of students who begin at community college, transfer to a baccalaureate degree-granting institution, and then pursue graduate school. Notably, we discovered that students' discussions and interactions with community college staff primarily focused on transfer (including exposing students to information about transfer programs and opportunities), but planning for study beyond the baccalaureate degree appeared to be minimal. This lack of intentional exposure to graduate school may be due to persistent political forces and public calls for accountability ([<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref76">34</reflink>]) that community colleges face, often manifesting in a goal of boosting outcomes like degree completion and transfer ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref77">30</reflink>]). With this increased attention to retaining community college students and strengthening transfer pathways, we contend that greater connections should be made to students' long-term goals, as well, which may include pursuing graduate study.</p> <p>Our study also found that the graduate school exposure that students did receive at community colleges came from thoughtful faculty and advisors who made it a point to provide these connections to students. Advising staff play a key role in both developing and supporting students' goals ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref78">14</reflink>]) as well as diminishing students' academic aspirations ([<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref79">45</reflink>]). Extant research indicates that effects of such gatekeeping may be exacerbated among systematically minoritized students ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref80">9</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref81">56</reflink>]). As such, it is important that faculty and staff advisors be prepared to engage in conversations with students about their goals beyond community college and even baccalaureate study and provide them with information about how to achieve these goals. For example, faculty could incorporate information about career pathways and graduate school in some lessons in their class. As key spaces of socio-academic engagement ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref82">19</reflink>]), classrooms may be particularly valuable for exposing students to graduate education, especially considering that community college students often juggle multiple significant responsibilities outside of their education ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref83">1</reflink>]). Additionally, advisors could revamp existing resources associated with pathways that make more concerted connections to graduate school ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref84">3</reflink>]). For instance, many community colleges have transfer pathways or articulation agreements with local universities ([<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref85">47</reflink>]). Perhaps a new pathway that mapped out courses for associates to bachelor's to graduate degrees could be a useful way to re-envision existing resources.</p> <p>Community colleges may also need to create new resources and/or build upon existing programming to increase students' exposure to graduate school. One effort may include creating research opportunities for community college students so that they may pursue academic interests, gain exposure to the research process, and develop relationships with faculty mentors. This may strengthen students' transfer pathways and heighten their aspirations for graduate study. An example of a research program includes the Mellon Research Fellows program, a partnership between Brightpoint Community College and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Colleges and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia ([<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref86">54</reflink>].).</p> <p>Another way to expose students to graduate study may be through information fairs at community colleges. These are popular transfer initiatives, in which representatives from four-year institutions provide prospective students with information about academic programs, transfer policies and procedures, and more. However, information sessions may be a ripe opportunity for community colleges to invite faculty and staff from graduate programs to participate. Doing so could expose community college students to graduate fields of study, prompt conversations between students and graduate school staff, and provide students with earlier information about graduate school (which may inform students' academic and transfer planning). In addition, these graduate information sessions not only allow students to learn more about programs, but they also are opportunities for students to develop the requisite capital ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref87">33</reflink>]) and build relationships needed to gain admission, including building strong relationships with professors for graduate school recommendation letters. In the words of one of our participants, Teresa:</p> <p>I also feel like [community colleges] should definitely have graduate school fairs. I feel like that would be really nice. We're used to the career fairs and the college fairs I know, but I think that it would be really great for a lot of the recruiters from graduate schools to just pique their interest with students, even if they're not ready yet.</p> <p>An example of an organization that has pursued such events is Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), which is an honor society for two-year colleges. PTK hosts graduate school fairs, which help expose their members to graduate school ([<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref88">42</reflink>].). Ultimately, the success of transfer and graduate program fairs relies on building and maintaining cross-institutional relationships, including with four-year institutions that offer transfer programs for community college students and also graduate programs that students identify as areas of academic interest.</p> <p>In addition to strengthening relationships and programs with four-year institutions, we urge community colleges and baccalaureate institutions to understand the needs and academic journeys of adult learners, like Kelly, from our study. While there is increased attention toward (re) enrollment and degree completion among these students (as seen in statewide efforts, including the [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref89">48</reflink>]), practitioners, administrators, and policymakers should also consider how graduate school enrollment may be bolstered by associate or certificate attainment. It is important to understand how adult learners receive information about graduate study and their career goals, considering several traditionally aged learners in our study indicated that they received such information while in high school. Adult learners may be farther removed from their high school experiences than other students and may not have access to relevant and useful information about graduate study. In addition, adult learners in our study indicated the need for flexible scheduling, both for classes and extracurricular activities, so as colleges are thinking about ways to increase awareness of graduate school, they should be mindful of flexible options to do so, such as virtual information sessions.</p> <p>Our study also posed multiple considerations for future research. To start, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref90">27</reflink>] model of college-going decisions and trajectories provided a useful lens to examine the ecological components of graduate school pathways among community college students. Yet, at times, capturing the distinct components of the three-dimensional model was challenging, as the domains of time, opportunity, and information overlap and inform each other. As with [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref91">10</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref92">11</reflink>]) and [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref93">27</reflink>] models, the relationships were evident as indicated by bidirectional arrows among the domains, but it was sometimes difficult to capture this in the coding process. Future research may also consider this model as a beginning point, but additional theoretical constructs may be needed to further focus the analysis.</p> <p>We also encourage researchers to consider longitudinal research designs to further study community college student pathways into graduate study. One limitation of our work is that our sample included alumni. To answer our interview questions, these participants had to rely on their recall of and reflection of their past educational experiences. A longitudinal study may be able to better track community college students' thought processes throughout their journey.</p> <p>We acknowledge that our analyses did not account for different experiences by gender, race, or ethnicity. It may be useful to investigate whether students in different groups develop aspirations in different ways and the best way to support students who are underrepresented in graduate school pathways. Since community colleges serve more diverse students than many four-year institutions, further examining the community college to graduate school pathway for multiple student groups is an important equity consideration.</p> <hd id="AN0194258048-19">Appendix A</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0194258048-20">Focus Group Participants and Demographics</hd> <p>Table 1. Focus Group Participants.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Pseudonym</th><th align="center">Group</th><th align="center">Gender</th><th align="center">Race/Ethnicity</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><p>Omar</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>Black or African American</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Michael</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Emma</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jennifer</p></td><td><p>Current Community College Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Black or African American</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Victoria</p></td><td><p>Current Community College Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Hispanic/Latina/Latino/Latinx</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>John</p></td><td><p>Current Community College Student</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>More than one race/ ethnicity</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Danny</p></td><td><p>Current Community College Student</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Martin</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>Black or African American</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Carey</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Black or African American</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Amina</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Catherine</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Fiona</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Asian</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jenny</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>More than one race/ ethnicity</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Constance</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Black or African American</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maria</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Hispanic/Latina/Latino/Latinx</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Derrick</p></td><td><p>Current Bachelor's Degree Student</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Table 2. Summary of Focus Group Demographics (<emph>N</emph> = 16).</p> <p>Graph</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Gender</th><th align="center">Number</th><th align="center">Percent</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><p> Male</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>37.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Female</p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>62.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p>Race/Ethnicity</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Asian</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>6.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Black/African American</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>31.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Hispanic/Latinx</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>12.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> More than one race/ethnicity</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>12.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> White</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>37.5%</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0194258048-21">Appendix B</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0194258048-22">Interview Participants and Demographics</hd> <p>Table 3. Interview Participants.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Pseudonym</th><th align="center">Group</th><th align="center">Gender</th><th align="center">Race/Ethnicity</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><p>Ramona</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Unknown</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rachel</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Kelly</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Black/African American</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Stephanie</p></td><td><p>Bachelor's Degree Graduate</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Laura</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Miriam</p></td><td><p>Current Bachelor's Degree Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>More than one race/ethnicity</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maria</p></td><td><p>Current Bachelor's Degree Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Hispanic/Latina/Latino/Latinx</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Marisol</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Hispanic/Latina/Latino/Latinx</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Brooklyn</p></td><td><p>Current Bachelor's Degree Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Teresa</p></td><td><p>Bachelor's Degree Graduate</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Black/African American</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Selma</p></td><td><p>Current Community College Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Asian</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jewel</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>More than one race/ethnicity</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jacob</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jessica</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Skip</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>James</p></td><td><p>Bachelor's Degree Graduate</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>Unknown</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nafi</p></td><td><p>Current Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Middle Eastern</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Tina</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Asian</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Esmeralda</p></td><td><p>Currently Graduate Student</p></td><td><p>Female</p></td><td><p>Hispanic/Latina/Latino/Latinx</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Matthew</p></td><td><p>Graduate School Alum</p></td><td><p>Male</p></td><td><p>White</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Table 4. Interviews (<emph>N</emph> = 20).</p> <p>Graph</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Gender</th><th align="center">Number</th><th align="center">Percent</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><p> Male</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>15%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Female</p></td><td><p>17</p></td><td><p>85%</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p>Race/Ethnicity</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Asian</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>10%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Black/African American</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>10%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Hispanic/Latinx</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>15%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Middle Eastern</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> More than one race/ethnicity</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>10%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> White</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p>40%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> Unknown</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>10%</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <ref id="AN0194258048-23"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref54" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> American Association of Community Colleges. 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DOI: 10.1353/rhe.2005.0030</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0194258048-24"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibtext> Casey Lukszo</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext>Graph</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7502-9372 Maria Luz Espino</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext>Graph https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6217-9304</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Casey Lukszo; Catherine Hartman and Maria Luz Espino</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>Casey Lukszo is the associate director of curriculum and innovative education at Northern Virginia Community College, where she manages curricular programs and transfer pathways. As a practitioner-scholar, her research focuses on community college and transfer student experiences and the impact of transfer policies and partnerships on student outcomes.</p> <p>Catherine Hartman is an assistant professor of community college leadership at North Carolina State University.</p> <p>Maria Luz Espino is an educator and scholar researching equity in higher education for systematically excluded students. Her work spans STEM pathways, identity development, community colleges, & organizational change.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib51" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib60" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref11"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib53" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib52" firstref="ref25"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib50" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref30"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref31"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref36"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref38"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref41"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref42"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib57" firstref="ref47"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref49"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref50"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref51"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref56"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref57"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref59"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref60"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref62"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref63"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib58" firstref="ref64"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref70"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib59" firstref="ref71"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl39" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref72"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl40" bibid="bib55" firstref="ref75"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl41" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref76"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl42" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref77"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl43" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref78"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl44" bibid="bib56" firstref="ref81"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl45" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref82"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl46" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref85"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl47" bibid="bib54" firstref="ref86"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl48" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref88"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl49" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref89"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl50" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref91"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl51" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref92"></nolink>
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  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Examining How Community College Students Develop Aspirations for Graduate School
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Casey+Lukszo%22">Casey Lukszo</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7502-9372">0000-0002-7502-9372</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Catherine+Hartman%22">Catherine Hartman</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Maria+Luz+Espino%22">Maria Luz Espino</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6217-9304">0000-0002-6217-9304</externalLink>)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Community+College+Review%22"><i>Community College Review</i></searchLink>. 2026 54(3):248-272.
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 25
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Two+Year+Colleges%22">Two Year Colleges</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Community+College+Students%22">Community College Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academic+Aspiration%22">Academic Aspiration</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Graduate+Study%22">Graduate Study</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Responsibility%22">Student Responsibility</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mentors%22">Mentors</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+Personnel%22">School Personnel</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+Role%22">College Role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Peer+Influence%22">Peer Influence</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Influence%22">Teacher Influence</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Barriers%22">Barriers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Undergraduate+Students%22">Undergraduate Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Graduate+Students%22">Graduate Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Alumni%22">Alumni</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Environment%22">Educational Environment</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1177/00915521261428061
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0091-5521<br />1940-2325
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Objective/Research Question: In this study, we sought to understand what factors motivate community college students' and alumni decisions to pursue graduate study. Specifically, we asked: What influences community college students and alumni to pursue graduate school? What role do community colleges play in influencing students' aspirations for graduate school? Methods: A qualitative research design was utilized, and data was collected from 16 focus group participants and 20 individual interviews. Results: Findings from this study indicate that students' aspirations for graduate school are shaped by multiple factors, including responsibilities outside of school as well as mentorship and guidance from institutional faculty and staff. Conclusions/Contributions: Findings from this study present implications for researchers and practitioners focused on supporting community college student success. Notably, this study prompts opportunities to consider the role of community college support on students' long-term goals, including pursuing graduate study.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
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  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1507671
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1507671
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    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1177/00915521261428061
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 25
        StartPage: 248
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Community College Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Academic Aspiration
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Graduate Study
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student Responsibility
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mentors
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      – SubjectFull: School Personnel
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      – SubjectFull: College Role
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      – SubjectFull: Peer Influence
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      – SubjectFull: Teacher Influence
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      – SubjectFull: Barriers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Undergraduate Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Graduate Students
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      – SubjectFull: Alumni
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      – SubjectFull: Educational Environment
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    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Examining How Community College Students Develop Aspirations for Graduate School
        Type: main
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            NameFull: Casey Lukszo
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            NameFull: Catherine Hartman
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            NameFull: Maria Luz Espino
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            – D: 01
              M: 07
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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              Value: 1940-2325
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