The cost of attending college has risen sharply over the last 40 years. Although more credit and grant aid have been made available to students, there are still major gaps between aid and the cost of attendance for many students in the United States, all of whom are left to figure out whether they can afford the remaining costs associated with…

This dissertation addresses the rhetoric of deficiency that frames Latina/o students as lacking with regard to education. This dissertation begins by examining the cultural deficit model entrenched in colonial narratives of history that justify unequal access to resources in the US. I argue that the reimagining of the pejorative trope of…