REFLECTION III 1

Reflection III:

Access and Opportunity

Katelyn Spencer

California State University, Fresno

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Reflection III: Access and Opportunity

Barriers

In reflecting on my access throughout my P-20 education, and comparing it to our

readings, it has been made apparent to me that I have been privileged enough to not experience

the recurrent barriers that many of my peers have, whether their barriers have been based on

race/ethnicity, gender identity, family dynamics, and others. My educational experience has been

rather straightforward, with very few hiccups along the way. However, one aspect of my

education that I believe had been a barrier, especially during K-12, has been the factor of

income, whether it my parents’ income or my own.

There was not a lack of opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities at any of

the schools that I attended, and there were plenty of options available. However, both of my

parents worked multiple jobs and long hours during my K-12 years to cover the day to day

expenses. This also brought into question how they would be able to provide transportation to

such activities, especially when my grandparents were also working part time and watching me

when they were available. This followed me into my higher educational career, where it was

expected of me to work and go to school at the same time to provide for schooling expenses.

Money was a large concern, as I did not qualify for any scholarships, and it was only with the

assistance of my parents that I was able to transfer from Fresno City College to Fresno State

without going into debt. Without their assistance, it is very likely that I would have ended my

higher educational career with an associate degree and transition to working full time. I only

began to participate in clubs or other activities when I was able to transfer to Fresno State, and in

activities that did not require fees and were outside of work hours. Overcoming such barriers was
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a balancing act that still allowed for school and work to come first, but I was able to participate

in some clubs during my time at Fresno State.

Opportunities

Although my experiences in K-12 were run of the mill and uneventful, I had the

opportunity to participate in several AP courses in my junior and senior year. A downside to our

AP program was that there was only a handful of classes that were offered at my high school, but

those that were offered would fall under our general education requirements for Fresno City

College. Although I was unable to pass the tests to officially receive college credit, the workload

and curriculum difficulty in comparison to the rest of my course load prepared me for the course

load that I would have at Fresno City College. Many of the other programs that were offered

during my P-20 career I was unable to qualify for.

Impact

Although I did not face more major obstacles in my P-20 education, I am able to

recognize that there are multiple factors that impact whether a student is able to pursue a higher

education. It is imperative that we as student affairs professionals understand the many barriers

that students face in the K-12 education system, the impact that it causes on their perception of

higher education and the new barriers they will face, and what support nets are in place or can be

developed to assist those who are struggling to acclimate to their new campus environment.

Knowledge of these barriers is also important as it allows up to critically evaluate policies and

programs that negatively affect the persistence of specific groups of students because of the lack

of support that they provide. My P-20 career may not have been as impacted as some, but that

means there is always room to learn in grow professionally to make sure that I am able to impact

students in a positive manner.