Barriers and Bright Spots: Insights from Students on College and Financial Aid Application Processes
Graduate Group in Education Research Seminar Series
Join the School of Education and Graduate Group in Education on Monday, December 1, 2025 from 12:10-1:00p.m. for Ph.D. student Stephanie Luna-Lopez’s presentation ”Barriers and Bright Spots: Insights from Students on College and Financial Aid Application Processes.” This event is free and open to the public and will take place in the School of Education building, Room 174.
For more information on the Graduate Group in Education Research Seminar Series, contact Dr. Paco Martorell, Chair of the Graduate Group in Education, at pmartorell@ucdavis.edu.
Presentation Overview
How do supports and barriers to college admissions and financial aid applications differ by student income, race, and first-generation status? Ph.D. student Stephanie Luna-Lopez will share evidence from over 10,000 survey responses and 76 in-depth interviews with California high school seniors to shed light on the processes and challenges they face in accessing and paying for college. She will also present student-driven recommendations to improve the financial aid and college application process, as well as strategies to overcome structural barriers and create alternative support systems when applying to college.
About the Speaker
Stephanie Luna-Lopez is a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Davis, studying School Organization and Educational Policy with a designated emphasis in Computational Social Science. Her research interests focus on first-generation and minority students, access to information about higher education, and the role of social networks in students’ experiences and outcomes.
Luna-Lopez collaborated with Ph.D. candidate Jaime Ramirez-Mendoza to co-publish this presentation’s research. They received the 2025 Outstanding Paper Award at the California Educational Research Association for their work on this topic.