The composition of social support networks of URM graduate students at predominantly white institutions

In this study, a social support framework was adopted to investigate the structure and makeup of the social support networks of underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students at predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Support networks are a critical need for URM students, especially at PWIs. Graduate students from URM groups face isolation, hostility, and estrangement in environments where they are excluded and minoritized, leading to high dropout rates. Low degree attainment is catastrophic for the scientific community as it loses diverse perspectives from entire groups of academic scholars. This study focuses on the social support networks of sixteen Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino/a/x graduate students as they persisted through graduate school at three different PWIs. Three social networking surveys were used to collect data about their network composition, and six interviews provided qualitative data about specific personal experiences related to their support networks. The combination of this data is critical to the analysis of their support networks as they persisted through their graduate programs to help future graduate students from URM groups at other PWIs. By knowing the composition of persisting URM graduate students’ social support networks and their personal experiences, institutions can emphasize the importance of having support networks and provide opportunities to form and strengthen support networks.