This study focused on understanding how "familismo," rurality, schooling experiences, and racial identity affect the postsecondary education journey of rural Latina/o/x students in the Southwest. Furthermore, the dynamic regarding Latina/o/x college access and opportunity was introduced with an emphasis placed on minoritized experiences across intersectional identities. This study aimed to recognize the lived experiences of rural Latina/o/x students through storytelling while positioning their cultural, familial, geographical, and racial identities as assets that higher education leaders can leverage to understand better how these intersectional identities influence their collegiate aspirations. The framework of Latina/o Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) was employed with consideration of the unique landscape that rural Latina/o/x students must grapple with when educational administrators adopt deficit-based thinking. To further understand how rural Latina/o/x students in the Southwest navigate their pursuit of higher education, this study followed a qualitative research design and utilized "testimonio" as the inquiry strategy to engage students who have successfully matriculated to a 4-year institution of higher education. Data sources included individual interviews, a focus group interview, and memo writing, which were grounded within a LatCrit framework and collected and analyzed simultaneously using a three-phase data analysis process. Five intersectional themes, based on the tenets of "testimonio," emerged from the data. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]