UCLA

This qualitative study is a critical examination of Latinas’ experiences in a Private For-Profit Vocational Education (PFVE) institution. PFVE institutions are for-profit schools that offer less-than-two-year certificate programs designed to prepare adult students for jobs and careers in an array of vocational trades such as dental and medical assistant positions. Communities of Color, specifically Women of Color, are a target population for PFVE institutions (Chung, 2008; Hentschke et al., 2010; Iloh, 2014; Iloh & Toldson, 2013; McMillan Cotton, 2017; Tierney & Hentschke, 2007). To explore my interest in the prevalence of Latinas who are attending PFVE institutions (Oseguera & Malagon, 2010), I pursued two research questions: What factors influence Latinas to attend a PFVE institution? What impact did attending a PFVE have on their career goals? As the theoretical frameworks informing this study, Critical Race Theory in Education (CRTE), Chicana Feminist Epistemology (CFE), and Cultural Intuition illuminate the racialized, classed, and gendered schooling experiences of Communities of Color (Sol�rzano & Yosso, 2002). I held pl�ticas—a reciprocated conversation between researcher and co-constructor of knowledge as methodology and method (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2015)—with eight Latinas who graduated from a PFVE. Their experiences exemplifed all six capitals of Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) (Yosso, 2005), as well as a newly identified concept, actualizational capital. Actualizational capital is the drive. Findings from these pl�ticas demonstrate the following: (a) Most of the Latinas attended a PFVE to attain a better-paying job, thus seeking upward socioeconomic mobility; (b) Some women attended a PFVE due to the lack of support, information, and guidance; and (c) A couple of Latinas chose to attend a PFVE based on time efficiency. All of the women experienced high levels of debt as a result of their PFVE attendance. For most Latinas, attending a PFVE had a positive impact as they gained self-confidence, work experience, and transferable skills in their designated fields while they actively worked toward pursuing their career goals, exercising their actualizational capital.