Preparing for 2025: Widening Allyship Efforts for Underrepresented Graduate Students

As we welcome the new year, scholars and practitioners have voiced concerns as well as hopes while grappling with some expectations that policies and practices within higher education aimed at promoting gender, racial, and economic equity may be scaled back or discontinued under the new administration 1, 2. This potential shift is particularly concerning for faculty, staff, and students who are women, individuals with minoritized gender and sexual identities, racially minoritized groups, those with non-privileged immigration status, and individuals from low-income backgrounds.3  As policy-level protections for diversity and inclusion face potential rollbacks, individual allyship becomes increasingly critical.  

At the same time, with anticipated reductions in federal support for financing postsecondary education4, students from underprivileged backgrounds may face greater challenges in preparing for and pursuing graduate degrees. Thus, in this edition of Ally Tips, we offer practical strategies for allies—both individually and collectively—to support equity and drive positive change on our campuses, and ensure that underrepresented students not only gain admission to graduate programs but succeed within them.   

Thank you for being an ally.  

Concerning Financial Equity in Graduate Education

One anticipated change under the new administration is the potential rollback of federal loan forgiveness programs.6 This could disproportionately affect college access for students from underprivileged backgrounds7, further limiting their ability to pursue and prepare for graduate education due to loan repayment obligations. A lack of diversity in the graduate student population translates to a lack of diversity in the knowledge production workforce—comprising researchers, academics, and professionals —who generate new ideas and technologies that shape our society's future. When minoritized communities are absent from the workforce, new knowledge and technologies risk being biased toward privileged communities, undermining efforts to build an equitable society.8 

Student loan forgiveness availability affects graduate enrollment disproportionately by student gender and race. Women were found to borrow 14% more than men for postsecondary education across different degree levels.9 and 24-25% more in graduate programs.10, 11  Malcom and Dowd (2012) found that heavy borrowing for college negatively affected student’s decisions to enroll in STEM graduate programs. Their research confirmed that the estimated “debt penalty” was smallest for White STEM baccalaureate and largest for Latines, with Asians and African Americans falling between these two groups. The authors also postulated that heavy borrowing may have less impact on the pursuit of STEM graduate degrees among Asian and African American students compared to Latine students and suggested that this difference may be attributed to slightly greater social and educational supports.  However, Malcom and Dowd noted that these students’ enrollment and persistence in STEM graduate programs are likely also influenced by the type of institution they attend with a main factor being the ability of these institutions to effectively provide clear information about graduate funding sources and opportunities.  

Importantly, Bostick and colleges (2021) addressed potentially disproportionate mental and physical health issues faced by racially minoritized women graduate students. The study participants shared reflections about “crying and pleading and begging” for help as their graduate assistantships may cover their tuition and fees, but not life expenses. The study’s authors suggested that the pay gap by gender and race in STEM combined with a lack of social networks that can provide additional funding opportunities available to Black women in STEM in particular, exacerbate their sense of uncertainty and thus negatively affect their mental and physical health.  

Ally Tips for Supporting Diverse Graduate Students

Allies can proactively reassess financial equity in graduate education and renew their commitment to promoting equitable graduate admissions and ensuring student success.  

  • Proactive communication and easy access to funding sources: Graduate programs should proactively communicate funding resources when recruiting students and offer guidance in applying for fellowships and financial aid. Cadena and colleagues (2023) highlighted the hidden curriculum associated with financial aid and advocated for reducing the number of documents required for internal aid applications. They also emphasized the importance of providing clear guidance to students on how to effectively address their financial needs in application essays.  
  • Promoting diverse enrollment by redefining merit, excellence, and innovation: Higher education often lacks clear definitions of merit, excellence, and innovation. However, innovation thrives when diverse perspectives, informed by unique lived experiences, are brought together. Allies should take an active role in encouraging discussions about how diversity fosters genuine meritocracy12  and establish criteria for merit, excellence, and innovation based on students’ commitment and potential to incorporate diverse ways of knowing and viewing the world. For instance, Yosso (2005) suggested a concept of community of cultural wealth. This concept illustrates that the minoritized communities in the U.S. foster their youth with cultural capital such as navigational, aspirational, resistant, and linguistic capital and how such a cultural capital shape the way that minoritized communities seek knowledge and define success. Thus, defining merit by integrating these aspects of cultural capital developed by the minoritized communities in the admission process can facilitate more equitable enrollment among the underrepresented graduate students.    
  • Participating in departmental workshop on equity: These efforts can be supported by allyship trainings offered on campus such as Facilitation; that is, a unit/department-based workshops focused on engaging men in equity conversations. Advocating for health support: Financially burdened minoritized graduate students often face additional mental and physical health concerns.13, 14, 15  Graduate programs, especially those with rigid assistantship schedules, should explore ways to provide flexible health care access. Students should be supported in seeking timely care without delays caused by work obligations, ensuring their well-being remains a priority.  

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