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“Roadblocks And Passageways”: Pandemic Lessons For Helping Graduate Students Survive And Thrive In Times Of Crisis, Eunsong Park, Corey S. Shdaimah, Nikita Aggarwal, Amy Garzón-Hampton

Journal of Graduate Education Research

Graduate students and universities continue to be challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study explored how U.S. graduate students (n=19) experienced and navigated pandemic challenges to their education using by Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital, and field. Respondents’ abilities to manage changes caused by the pandemic were largely dependent on the capital they or their informal networks had and the field where they positioned during pre-pandemic and pandemic. Institutions’ characteristics and supports greatly influenced students’ habitus and sense of belonging. Study respondents’ ability to maintain their educational trajectories was tied to both their assessment of their institution as …