Combatting Hidden Ledgers: How Students (en)Counter Racialized Burdens in the Financial Aid Process

Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza

As college costs rise and most jobs require more than a high school diploma, financial aid is crucial for creating affordable pathways to post-secondary education. While research shows that marginalized students face disproportionate barriers to aid, few studies examine how systemic racism is embedded within financial aid processes. This dissertation investigates racialized barriers within financial aid systems and the cultural capital employed by students of color—particularly Latinx students—to navigate these challenges. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, I apply QuantCrit to analyze survey responses from recent high school seniors regarding how they were informed about and supported in the financial aid process. Building on these findings, I conducted 76 semi-structured interviews with students across California's public higher education institutions. Through Racialized Administrative Burden theory, I examine how systemic racism manifests as administrative hurdles that perpetuate structural inequities across micro, meso, and macro levels—offering insight into why marginalized students encounter greater obstacles when accessing financial aid. The study then focuses on 34 first-generation Latinx students, applying the Community Cultural Wealth framework to analyze how these students mobilize various forms of cultural capital to navigate aid processes despite facing racialized barriers. This research highlights the overlooked racial dimensions of financial aid policies and processes while centering the agency and resilience of marginalized students. Ultimately, this study demonstrates the urgent need to recognize systemic racism as an intersecting, compounding factor within the financial aid ecosystem and offers race-conscious recommendations for policy reforms and institutional practices that prioritize student voices and dismantle systemic inequities.

About Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza

Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza is a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis studying School Organization and Educational Policy. His journey from rural California as a first-generation, low-income, bilingual Latino shapes Jaime's mixed-methods research on racial equity in college affordability, access, and success—aiming to translate findings into actionable policies that advance systemic change. His dissertation investigates how systemic racism manifests within financial aid systems and how marginalized students leverage cultural capital to navigate these challenges. Jaime's scholarship includes publications in Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis, The Journal of Higher Education, and numerous policy reports with non-profit organizations. He is a recipient of the UC Davis Dean's Distinguished Graduate Fellowship, the Gardner Fellowship on Higher Education at UC Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education, and was recognized as an Equity & Inclusion Fellow by the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM). Before pursuing his Ph.D., Jaime holistically advised marginalized students through Upward Bound, the Educational Opportunity Program, and Destination College Advising Corps. He later became an award-winning Policy Analyst at The Education Trust, centering student experiences to advance racial equity policies in college affordability. Jaime continued to bridge research and policy through roles at TICAS, The Century Foundation, and currently as a graduate researcher at the California Education Lab at UC Davis. A proud son of immigrants from Jalisco, Mexico, Jaime holds a master's degree in Higher Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and bachelor's degrees in Chicanx Studies and Managerial Economics from UC Davis.