This report was produced by the NavCal
Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program
(URAP) cohort at IRLE.
STUDENT RESEARCH BRIEF | August 2021
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning
Environments and Educational
Performance of Low-Income, First-
Generation College Students
Naomi Eden, Kelly Figueroa, Nilufar Kayhani, Amy Lo,
and Sabrina Luna
irle.berkeley.edu
Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
2521 Channing Way #5555, Berkeley, CA 94720 (510) 643-8140 [email protected]
Abstract
This project explores COVID-19’s impact on first-
generation, low-income students’ learning environments
at home, educational performance, and experience
accessing school resources.
We conducted 21 interviews with marginalized students
at UC Berkeley during the university’s remote learning
semester in March and April 2021. Marginalized
students expressed they experienced difficulties
with remote learning that negatively affected their
academic success. Marginalized students experienced
barriers like insufficient technology, inadequate
learning environments, and a lack of connection with
their professors and classmates. As a result, students
experienced negative impacts on their academic
performance and detriments to their mental and physical
health.
Key Findings
• Students could not afford technological equipment,
such as laptops, ipads, quality internet, etc., to
complete remote learning successfully.
• Students experienced a lack of connection with
their professors and their classmates which caused
stress during assignments and decreased academic
motivation.
• Students lived in environments that were not
conducive to learning. They experienced the inability
to concentrate due to loud and shared environments
and the frustration of sitting in one place for an
extended period of time.
• Students reported deterioration of their mental
health, i.e., sleep disorders, demotivation, isolation,
academic rigor and financial stress, and aggravated
pre-existing conditions, i.e., ADHD, and PTSD.
• Students sought after other financial measures
such as loans, scholarships, credit cards, and cost of
attendance adjustments.
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
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Generation College Students
increased concerns about their academic performance
(Son, 2020). Remote learning in education is a must
when acknowledging a global disaster, but more can
be done effectively to help students get through the
difficulty.
Marginalized students already face barriers to
educational success, which could be exacerbated by the
additional obstacles of being a student within a global
pandemic. A barrier that comes with the COVID-19
pandemic is online learning. Online learning presents its
challenges for both parties: institutions have difficulty
delivering online programs that provide as rich of a
learning experience as in-person classes, and students
have difficulty studying and engaging (Croft, Dalton,
and Grant, 2010). For students, learning alone requires
a heightened motivation that students cannot produce
if they do not engage meaningfully with professors,
tutors, and classmates. Furthermore, students struggle
to access spaces conducive to learning and studying,
materials usually available on campus, social and financial
resources, and community that in-person interactions
provide.
A study conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic
did not show a significant difference in performance
between online students and in-person students
(Allen and Wilson, 2009). Nevertheless, in regards to
low-income students, there is no evidence to show that
online courses are either beneficial or not (Jaggars
and Bailey, 2010). Online learning might be valuable
for prepared students but may lower the chances of
academic success for low-income students (Jaggars,
2011). For instance, course completion rates were much
lower amongst community college students who were
low-income and academically unprepared when taking
online classes instead of in-person. Further, low-income
students were less likely to continue enrolling in
courses after taking a class online, contributing to lower
academic success rates (Jaggars, 2011).
Evidence suggests low-income students encounter
significant barriers to enrolling and completing online
classes because of the lack of financial and technological
resources such as internet access at home (Jaggars and
Bailey, 2010). While taking courses online can mitigate
access restrictions like scheduling and transportation, it
does not reduce tuition costs (Chao, DeRocco, & Flynn,
2007). Further, low-income and underprepared students
• Based on our findings, our recommendations
include: simplifying the financial aid bureaucratic
processes, prioritizing low-income and first-
generation students by speeding up the process of
receiving funding, connecting students to additional
resources, and offering the necessary technology to
low-income students at little to no cost.
Introduction
Marginalized students, defined as low-income and
first-generation students, experience disparities in
regards to educational attainment when compared to
their peers. Marginalized students experience lower
graduation rates and are more likely to leave higher
education. The current COVID-19 pandemic has created
difficulties for all students, exacerbating the obstacles
marginalized students experience. There is a scarcity
of literature about marginalized student’s educational
experiences with COVID-19 and research about online
learning neglects to mention the importance of physical
arrangements and learning spaces. This research is
necessary to identify marginalized students’ needs
so institutions can better support students from
low-income and first-generation communities and
address the educational inequities in society.
Background
Marginalized students are four times more likely
to leave higher education than students who are
low-income or first-generation (Pell Institute, 2008).
Of those who attended two-year colleges, advantaged
students (students who are not low-income or first-
generation) obtain bachelor’s degrees at five times
the rate of marginalized students (Pell Institute, 2008).
These disparities in educational success can come from
multiple causes, such as coming from an ethnic or racial
minority group with low college participation or being
an older student with obligations outside of school (Pell
Institute, 2008).
The current COVID-19 pandemic created the challenge
of emergency remote learning. Although studying
remotely was perhaps not the best option, it was
the only option to cope with school closures. Since
transitioning to remote learning, students reported
increased stress and anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
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Generation College Students
might lack the necessary social and psychological skills
to succeed in online classes, such as seeking help and
self-discipline (Jaggars and Bailey, 2010). As of 2014,
graduation rates among marginalized students were
declining; they are far less likely to earn a bachelor’s
degree than those with higher income levels (US
Department of Education, 2014). These students enter
college with less academic preparation and limited
information about college due to a lack of financial,
academic, and social resources and are thus at a higher
risk for dropping out.
COVID-19 has created difficulties for students that could
potentially create long-lasting impacts on society as a
whole. With the United States being unprepared for the
shutdown of campuses, disparities will worsen between
marginalized and advantaged students (McKinsey &
Company., 2020). Their unpreparedness for online
learning, combined with their lack of participation in
higher education threatens their futures.
Methodology
This qualitative study was conducted remotely with
University of California, Berkeley undergraduate
students in the Spring 2021 semester. To investigate the
experiences of marginalized students in the COVID-19
pandemic, we conducted semi-structured interviews
with students over Zoom. The COVID-19 pandemic
presented unprecedented challenges with online
learning, thus, we hypothesized that students would
express they experienced barriers with remote learning
and negative impacts on their academic success. This
study was approved by the University of California,
Berkeley Institutional Review Board.
Data
The research team conducted 21 interviews in the
months of March and April of 2021. Semi-structured
interviews were conducted to promote in-depth
conversations about marginalized student’s opinions
about and experiences in the remote learning semester.
The research team consisted of 5 undergraduate
students at UC Berkeley who identify as first-generation
and/or low-income students, so this allowed the research
team to validate the usability of the interview guide.
Interviewees were recruited via organizations that
support low-income and first-generation students at UC
Berkeley. These organizations include the Educational
Opportunity Program (EOP), Disabled Students Program
(DSP), and Navigating Cal (NavCal). To take part in the
study, students needed to be a first-generation college
student, defined as being a part of the first-generation
in their family to attend college in the United States
or whose parents did not complete college. Secondly,
students were required to be low-income students,
defined as students who were granted the Federal Pell
Grant and/or had an estimated family income less than
80,000 dollars per year.
Members of EOP, DSP, and NavCal were sent an email
describing the project and a link to where they could
answer questions about whether they were first-
generation and low-income college students. Members
submitted their availability to conduct an online
interview. There were 26 total respondents to our
recruitment email; 2 were deemed ineligible and 3 were
unresponsive to further contact from the research team.
Researchers minimized risk or discomfort in interviews
by asking general questions about their educational
experience and allowing research participants to opt
out of answering questions at any point. Interviews were
conducted over Zoom with one of the research team
members after students provided written consent to
participate in the interview. The interview guide asked
questions regarding learning environments at home,
changes in academic performance or study habits, and
their ability to access resources for their academic
success. The research team recorded the audio of
the Zoom meetings and utilized Zoom’s transcription
software. Individual team members who conducted
the interview corrected their interview transcripts and
provided participants with a pseudonym to maintain
anonymity.
Analysis
Prior to analysis, the research team anticipated the
themes of living conditions, technology, academic
conditions, and mental health would occur in the
interviews. This deductive approach to identify themes
was corroborated by the research team’s personal
experiences as marginalized students in the remote
learning environment.
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Generation College Students
Next, each researcher coded four interview transcripts
to identify themes. The team inductively identified an
additional theme of finances based on it’s repetition in
student’s respondents in interviews.
Thus, our final five themes were finances, living
conditions, technology, academic conditions, and
mental health. Interviews were coded by the entire
research team. Each team member coded passages
and quotes that fit into the themes from the interviews
they conducted themselves. Lastly, team members each
analyzed one theme and obtained findings. Findings and
conclusions were identified based on repetition and
emphasis in interviews. Furthermore, some unique cases
of experiences in the remote learning semesters were
included in the findings to illustrate the difficulties of the
pandemic that students experienced.
Findings
This section focuses on the themes identified within
our research which include finances, living conditions,
technology, academic conditions, and mental health.
These themes were chosen based on what students
mentioned they struggled with during the COVID-19
pandemic. First, we begin with the theme of finances,
in which we found that due to loss of income, students
sought other financial resources such as loans,
scholarships, credit cards, and the cost of attendance
adjustments. Then we follow the theme of living
conditions. Within living conditions, we found that
students experienced the inability to concentrate due
to loud and shared environments and the frustration
of sitting in one place for an extended period of time.
Next, with technology, we found that students could
not afford technological equipment, such as laptops,
ipads, quality internet, to complete remote learning
successfully. After technology, we discussed academic
conditions where we found that students experienced a
lack of connection with their professors and classmates,
which caused stress during assignments and decreased
academic motivation. Finally, students reported
deterioration of their mental health and the aggravation
of pre-existing conditions.
1. Finances
Basic Needs
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the priorities
of students by making them realize that the current
survival of them and their loved ones now has a
higher priority than the long-term investment in their
education. At least 15 students experienced difficulties
concentrating on schoolwork during the pandemic
due to the uncertainty of meeting their and their
families’ basic needs. Zoe explains the impossible task of
completing her essay when she is hungry:
School is important because it helps with
the goals but it’s not like life-sustaining work.
[...] like if people are out of work, or housing
insecurities, food insecurity, it’s very hard to
be like ‘yeah I gotta buckle down and write this
essay’. You’re like ‘no, fuck that essay’, [...] I got
to figure out how I’m going to feed me. I have
to see if my mom is okay. All these other life
situations become so much more apparently
important during times like that.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced low-income
students to face the difficult task of prioritizing basic
needs which have resulted in school being second.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, students had access to
campus resources such as the Food Pantry and cultural
resource centers that would provide access to basic
needs such as food and even work-study jobs. However,
during the COVID-19 pandemic, students lost access
not only to income through their work-study jobs but
to basic needs centers that served their needs. Zoe, a
student, was faced with the task of figuring out food
expenses and the well-being of her mother over writing
an essay that highlights the inequitable experience
among low-income Cal students. This student needs to
figure out her basic survival needs before she can write
an essay. Students cannot function on an empty stomach
which is why school is becoming an afterthought. It is
not that this student is neglecting her duties to school
purposefully, but is struggling to solely provide for
herself. Low-income students have always had to worry
about meeting basic needs, but now more than ever due
to loss of income, school housing, and resources.
Family Responsibilities
In addition to providing for themselves during the
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Generation College Students
also highlights how this pandemic has pressured her
ability to keep her family afloat. Also considering that
her older son cannot help her due to his disability, this
requires Lulo to rely on financial aid and veteran’s aid
provided by the state to support herself and her two
children.
Housing Affordability
A challenge that students encountered financially during
the COVID-19 pandemic was sacrificing their study space
in exchange for financial affordability. The COVID-19
pandemic forced many students to work from home and
required a bigger space to work since study spaces on
campus were no longer available. In Gamora’s case, she
did not have the financial means to afford a bigger space
adequate for studying. After losing her job due to the
pandemic, she was forced to move back with her parents
because she could no longer afford to live on campus.
Gamora had to sacrifice a study space. Gamora says:
I was dorming the university and then I had to
go back home and then make, and then I had
to find housing for the next year and make
sure it was affordable do I want to go back
to Berkeley and I personally I’m back in my
hometown or with my family, I can’t have that
academic space, you know I had so much more
responsibilities.
Gamora shares that she did not have the financial means
to continue to live at the dorms. And when she went
back home for financial reasons, she lost her study
space. In addition to sacrificing her study space, she
had to deal with family responsibilities since she was
the oldest child. This negatively impacted her academic
performance, as she did not have the proper learning
environment available and had to dedicate more time to
her family.
Emergency Funds
Since COVID-19 has seriously impacted students’
financial situations, it is especially harmful when
students face family emergencies that not only drain
their finances but occupy their mental and emotional
capacity to complete their schoolwork. Students shared
that they put money towards family emergencies during
the COVID-19 pandemic that brought financial setbacks.
For example, Marc shared that their foster care parent
COVID-19 crisis, students have had to put money
towards family expenses, which have been an additional
financial burden for students at Cal. Carl explains how he
has spent money to help his mother and sister:
My mother...she’s a housekeeper and plus with
COVID... She works at Hilton and she’s out of
a job right now so I’ve been trying to help a lot
[...] I had to buy her a laptop for her to do all
that [responsibilities, bills] online. It’s another
expense I had, but it was to help her with that
you know, trying to get the cheapest laptop.
Even though my sister is older, I started to help
her a lot, like I sent her some money yesterday
so she could get an uber home or for food
sometimes.
When living at home, Carl identified himself as the “man
of the house,” which to him meant taking a big part in
paying bills and supporting his family. So, ever since his
mother had lost her job, this student not only supported
his mother financially but spent time teaching his mother
how to pay bills online. He explains that he bought his
mother the cheapest laptop for said bills and to search
for available jobs. Supporting his family required this
student to spend a lot of time and money to take care of
his family from his dorm. Without Carl, his mother and
sister would be facing further financial adversity. Carl
stated that he took out loans to buy the technological
equipment needed for school.
Unlike Carl, student-parents like Lulo have no choice but
to support their families by any means necessary. She
explains:
We rely completely on me, I have an adult son
who’s autistic and not able to find employment.
And I’m trying to help him through life
and then, I have a young daughter who’s in
elementary school and so all the financial
[responsibilities] — How we put food on the
table, how we keep the car running, how we
keep our cell phones on all of that falls on my
shoulders.
Since schools closed down due to the COVID-19
pandemic, Lulo, a single parent, no longer had access
to free childcare services. Therefore, as a student, she
did not have the finances to hire a childcare provider.
In addition, being at home with her kids increased the
expenses for basic needs such as food, toiletry, and other
expenses like technological equipment. Lulo, a single
parent, explains the difficult financial responsibilities of
her two children who are completely reliant on her. She
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
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Generation College Students
share a desktop computer with her siblings which would
have hindered her ability to complete her assignments:
I needed to have access to a laptop so yeah, I
was just on a desktop. I was sharing it with like
my siblings but eventually with like financial aid
and all that I bought myself a laptop.
Financial aid helped Leslie buy the most important
expense required for remote learning, which she shared
was a relief for her during the semester. According to
the Department of Financial Aid and Scholarships at
the University of California, more than 65% of Berkeley
Undergraduate students receive aid. However, despite
the benefit of this financial aid, there were issues
with the expenses changing during the middle of the
semester unreflected in the current aid package and
therefore requiring readjustment.
Cost of Attendance Adjustment (COAA)
Research participants shared that they filed for the
Cost of Attendance Adjustment (COAA) through the
financial aid office in order to receive more funding to
buy the needed technology
for remote learning. The
cost of attendance (COAA)
is a student budget that
is the estimated average
and “reasonable” cost of
completing an academic
year at UC Berkeley. This budget, along with the
student’s household income, is used to determine
students’ financial needs and the amount of aid that
is offered through scholarships, grants, or loans. The
standard COAA is based on a budget that is the same
for all students. In other words, low-income, reentry
students (student 25 or older), formerly incarcerated
students, student parents, undocumented students,
transfer students etc. are all assigned the same averaged
budget as students who are not low-income or that do
not experience additional barriers to being a student.
Students oftentimes have to adjust their COAA for
their budget to accurately reflect their finances and
any additional needs that are not considered in the
COAA. One of the budget items included in the COAA
is dedicated to additional funding for a “computer
purchase” but can be used to also purchase other
needed technology such as a printer or tablet.
was diagnosed with cancer and needed to put money
towards care and later funeral expenses, which hindered
his education financially and emotionally. Due to the
pandemic and its travel restrictions, commonly known
as the quarantine, Marc was isolated in this difficult
time and could not be with his family which hindered
his ability to focus on school. Leslie mentioned that her
parents lost their jobs due to the pandemic. And her
family faced eviction the summer before starting at Cal.
Aside from her family losing their home, she could not
even afford the necessary technology to be successful.
She explains:
My family, my family got evicted…experienced
eviction over the summer...I think facing
eviction is really hard just because my parents
are both undocumented and then my sister
and I are both undocumented...so just
navigating the whole process was probably the
hardest...the hardest thing I’ve experienced in
this COVID.
These are unforeseen emergencies that happen in life
that people cannot prepare for, which makes it especially
daunting. This student did not have the proper financial
nor mental capacity to
function in school.
Financial Aid
Despite financial burdens,
many students expressed
the necessity and support of receiving financial aid as
vital to completing remote learning semesters. Students
often stated that the necessary technological equipment
bought was solely due to financial aid. Monty explains:
The expectations that you’re supposed to
work with certain things like the Chromebook
you know and it’s like the reality is I’m a bit, I’m
barely feeling like we’re breathing and that’s
with, you know? Like because of financial aid,
like if I didn’t have financial aid, I would not be
able to buy any of these things.
Monty argued that his computers ran slower and at a
lower capacity due to the excessive amount of time
spent online. So, buying a new laptop during the remote
semester allowed him to keep up with the intense tasks
of joining zoom meetings, completing assignments, and
reading. Another student, Leslie, explained that without
the help of financial aid, she would have continued to
“
Facing eviction is really hard just because my
parents are both undocumented and then
my sister and I are both undocumented.
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
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Generation College Students
College students struggled to adjust to new social
routines—from deciding to skip in-person gatherings to
consistently wearing masks in public. In one particular
area of distance learning a student parent, Lulo remarks:
I have a living room, I cannot work, I cannot
study, and an open room and I think that is just
my trauma and PTSD. I need a place where I can
close the door, and it is just me. So not having
that means that this room is just filled with
stress. There is no break.
Another student, Luke, who went home for the
pandemic, stated that:
When you are online, you’re still a student.
They [family] still think you’re just home. So,
it’s really difficult to be present in your family
life or your home life and be a student at the
same time.
With the living conditions during COVID-19, it is essential
to encourage students to
take personal responsibility to
protect themselves and their
loved ones. The onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic created a
definite deterioration in living
standards. Natasha explained:
It has been very difficult...we always have a kid
here, I have either my niece here, and my mom
babysits a lot. Thus, she is a handful and can
often be loud and distracting.
Luke stated:
I’d probably say a good five hours average of
[responsibilities] because you know there’s
cleaning, then feeding the animals and pets,
and then there’s cooking and all that.
Zoe also mentioned that:
I really start my day and end my day with
household responsibilities...so maybe like four
hours a day I spend really cleaning. And that’s
not including walking the dog or going to the
grocery store or you know doing anything like
that. That’s not even cooking.
We have seen both benefits and disadvantages of being
cooped up with family for long periods throughout the
pandemic. Moreover, there has undoubtedly been added
Our research participants expressed some frustration
regarding the process of filing for their cost of
attendance adjustment (COAA) and getting approved to
receive funding for technology. One of the complaints
was about the fact that COAA’s took a long time to get
approved and that as a result, the funding took a long
time to be received. One student shared not receiving
the funding until the mid-spring semester when they had
applied in the fall. Another problem that came up in our
interviews regarding the COAA was that students could
only be approved for technology funding once every
three years. This rule disregarded the unprecedented
circumstances of having to study remotely during the
pandemic. Students expressed feeling frustrated by
that rule because they felt that the more they needed
to use their electronic devices, the more likely their
devices would experience wear and tear and that
additionally, more accidents were likely to happen. These
technological challenges impacted low-income students
because they oftentimes could not afford to buy the
technology they needed
without the additional
help from the school. As a
result, not having the right
technology impacted their
ability to show up to class,
learn, and perform.
2. Living Conditions
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of
human life worldwide and bestowed an unprecedented
challenge to college students’ living conditions. The
economic and social disturbances caused by the
pandemic are destructive, and low-income and first-
generation students are at risk of withdrawing from their
studies. Students studying from home are experiencing
challenging circumstances such as not having a study
space, difficulty concentrating, and distractions due to
household responsibilities. As one participant stated,
it has simply been a roller coaster the past year. The
pandemic has affected students’ living conditions making
it more difficult to study, focus, and feel more motivated.
As Natasha mentioned:
I think I got lazier—I procrastinate a lot more
just because it is so easy to because I do not
have the proper space, whereas, at school, I
would go to like coffee shops, or the library,
and to have space.
“
It’s really difficult to be present in your
family life or your home life and be a student
at the same time.
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Generation College Students
their home. A participant explained having to share
their internet with their sister, a middle school student,
and that one of them almost always got kicked out of
class when their class time overlapped. Another student
shared oftentimes being asked to get off the internet by
their family members:
There’s a lot of us in and out of that house, so
we did have internet, but like my schooling was
not the priority in that house. Like if there were
too many devices on the internet, they would
ask me to get off.
Some students also experienced lack of access to
internet options. One participant shared not being able
to upgrade or change their internet because the area
they lived in only had one internet provider. They shared:
Where I live, it’s like an old phone line. And the
WI-FI is really slow. So I just have to endure it
and kind of just hope it will suffice for my Zoom
and meet the demand.
Internet access during the pandemic and remote
learning highlights the inequity in education.
Low-income students often live with many other
individuals, whether that be family members or
roommates, and are not always able to afford internet,
let alone reliable fast internet.
As a result, many low-income
students are not always able
to attend classes or engage
in their coursework. As one
student best put it:
You start to see systems
of oppression because no
one ever thought about
technology as a human
right in its essence, but
it has become one you know, the Internet,
computers, all this stuff has become a human
necessity that’s no longer a privilege, it’s like
you need this to survive. And so it’s been
very interesting to see that uptake and just
everybody’s access to things like it changes the
conversation around it about social justice. Like
I’m sure some of the better co-ops and stuff,
have like excellent internet and then I feel like
when you go down to like Rochdale [low-cost
co-op housing], I feel like all the people that are
there are like ‘yeah my hotspot never works’ or
everyone is on the same hotspot for class time,
and it never works…
stress for students and families who have had to deal
with remote learning situations.
3. Technology
Technological needs for low-income first-generation
UCB students were magnified by the COVID-19
pandemic. The sudden switch to remote learning forced
students to adjust to studying from home and to create
a workspace supportive of their needs. Thus, many had
to acquire all kinds of new technology such as laptops,
computer monitors, reliable internet, keyboards,
mouses, desks, chairs, printers, and tablets in order to
continue their academic careers. However, the high
cost of technology, the unreliability of the technology
offered by the school, and the bureaucratic barriers that
came with applying for additional financial aid made
it especially difficult for low-income first-generation
students to adjust and function as students.
Technology Needed: An Extra Screen
One of the main technological devices participants
expressed needing was another screen such as a
monitor or tablet to help them focus and better engage
with the material presented in class. Interviewees
mentioned the challenge
of working on one screen
and having to go back and
forth from the lecture
window to their notes.
They shared that having an
extra screen helped them
better understand lectures
because they could take
notes without having to
switch up screens and they
could directly annotate the slides or worksheets often
provided by professors.
Technology Needed: Internet
The internet is needed to succeed as a student during
remote learning but is not always reliable or accessible
for low-income students. Many students reported
having unreliable WI-FI and often getting kicked out of
their Zoom meetings and classes. Some interviewees
explained that WI-FI issues mainly surfaced while they
were connected at the same time as other people in
“
The high cost of technology, the unreliability
of the technology offered by the school, and
the bureaucratic barriers that came with
applying for additional financial aid made
it especially difficult for low-income first-
generation students to adjust and function
as students.
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
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Generation College Students
during the pandemic made it even more challenging
for low-income, first-generation students to access
resources necessary to succeed in their classes.
Impact of Not Having the Right Technology
on Physical Health
Research participants shared needing new technology
in order to continue participating in their coursework
in a way that was physically comfortable and conducive
to learning. Many interviewees explained that not having
certain technology or being on a small laptop screen all
day really took a toll on their body and impacted their
ability to engage with their coursework. Esperanza, a
comparative literature student, explained how reading
on a small screen for long periods of time impacted her
eyesight and as a result made it difficult to understand
the material she was reading. Esperanza communicated
her wish for more funding so she could buy a monitor, a
larger desk, and a printer to be able to switch up screens,
read on paper instead of on a screen, have better
posture while studying, and ease her eyesight pain. Zoe,
a history student, reported having to buy a new monitor,
chair, and webcam in order to go to class without having
neck pain. She explained:
I got a pinched nerve in my neck because I’m
staring at a small laptop screen so then I had
to get a different chair, and now, the laptop
is attached to a monitor… I had to change my
whole desk system to be comfortable and go
to class.
Not having the right technology impacts students’
physical health and as a result, can have some serious
repercussions in their ability to show up to class and
engage with the material.
STEP
To address some of the technological challenges that
students experience, UC Berkeley has in place programs
to help students borrow electronic devices or receive
extra funding to buy technology. One such program is
the Student Technology Equity Program (STEP). STEP
loans hardware and internet access devices to students
in need. Students are able to apply to borrow laptops,
webcams, headphones, mics, etc., as well as internet
hotspots. Eligibility is based on various factors such as
Technology Needed Specific to Majors and
Courses
Some participants shared technological challenges
specific to their major. For some STEM majors, not
having a tablet came up as being an especially difficult
challenge, especially to work on problems and receive
help from faculty. A mechanical engineer student
reported feeling very frustrated at the technological
inequity in STEM majors. They explained having to write
their mathematical problems on a paper which took
longer to show their professors or GSIs on Zoom than
if they had an iPad or tablet. This student also shared
his observation of how professors expected students to
have certain technology. He shared:
I know a lot of people, a lot of my friends, they
all have iPads and pencils and like professors
kind of expect that now. They’re all like ‘do it on
your iPad, open up your iPad’ and some of us
don’t have it, so I have to go print out the paper
at FedEx or wherever.
This student had to work harder to submit their work
and engage in the classroom due to their lack of a tablet.
Additionally, professors expecting students in their class
to have a specific type of technology further highlights
the importance of having that technology in order to
compete with other students who have the means to
buy the technology they need, engage in the classroom
and coursework, and overall succeed as a student at UC
Berkeley.
Certain courses required technological equipment that
could have, in non-remote times, been borrowed from
the school. For instance, Natasha, a student taking a film
course, explained having to find her own way around
getting the proper equipment required for her class. She
shared:
I borrowed technology from my own family, like
[the] mic is from my brother-in-law… and then
my mom had a camera. But I do know that in
person for this film class my professor said, like,
it’s a lot better in person, because we can get a
lot of equipment from Berkeley, but we weren’t
able to get that. So that kind of sucks… I had to
figure out where to get this equipment and also
because I didn’t want to spend money on it…
but there was other stuff I could have gotten.
This example highlights how being away from campus
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
10
Generation College Students
sometimes.” Gamora felt that in person it was easier to
establish connections because it was “so easy to talk to
people, so easy to get to know people in your classes.”
With the remote environment, students often did not
turn on their cameras in class and participated minimally.
Carl, a STEM major, explains that:
It even feels weird to speak in the Zoom, when
no one else is talking or has their camera off...
feels like a bad thing to ask for help on Zoom.
Another participant, Mario, explained that even if you
found study sessions, they were unhelpful because it was
difficult to collaborate. Mario describes his experience:
“It’s kind of hard to … just sit behind the screen and do
your work with other people.” Mario feels like study
sessions “could be helpful,” but dealing with lack of
motivation with online learning, it was easier for Mario
just to “try to get it over with” on his own. This narrative
was not uncommon, of our study participants; many
expressed difficulty with asking for help with the online
platform of school. Some study participants explained
the lack of academic support consequently affected
their grades and academic performance.
In the classroom, students also struggled to make
connections with their professors or graduate student
instructors (GSI). Students explained that online school
felt more structured, so making connections with your
professor online felt intimidating or inorganic. One
participant, Sage, explained that she felt “scared to
talk to the professors,” and she didn’t want to “bother
them” so asking for help felt very “intimidating.” Office
hours felt structured and technical, rather than feeling
like casual conversations at school. Carl found that with
the pandemic professors were “a lot more structured
with the time,” so office hours often had a start and end
time. As a result, students felt pressured to only go to
office hours when they had something necessary to say.
Ella explained that she only went to office hours if she
had “a great update” to provide. Furthermore, students
couldn’t accommodate a professor’s scheduled office
hours, with one participant, Natasha, saying she wanted
to go “but [she] couldn’t attend them because [she]
either [had] to either work at those times or like babysit
or just do other stuff.” In summary, students experienced
barriers to seeking help and building rapport with course
instructors with remote learning. As a result, students
financial need and previously received support. Many of
our research participants applied to STEP and received
devices from the program.
Although many of the interviewees expressed feeling
grateful for the material they were sent, they recognized
that the technology sent to them was limited and not
always reliable. One student shared needing a new laptop
once the pandemic started because their computer
was too old to handle the amount of use and time spent
online. However, she shared that the Lenovo ThinkPad
sent to her was not much better because it also took
a long time to start and was “glitchy”. Regarding the
internet hotspot that was sent, students felt that it did
not provide reliable internet. One student shared:
The signal is just really bad, and the hotspot
doesn’t always charge. I always have to keep it
plugged in because I’ll never remember how to
turn it on.
Another participant shared having to wait a long time to
receive their hotspot and not being able to access their
classes and coursework during that time.
4. Academic Conditions
The transition to online, remote learning created many
difficulties for students. The online platform for learning
created difficulties with connecting to other students
and professors, accessing academic support, and
utilizing campus resources.
As a result of the pandemic, students were unable to
establish organic relationships with other students.
One of our participants, Zoe, expressed how students
are “paying money to go to Cal for the community,
[and] the interactions.” For marginalized students,
higher education is an investment, and unfortunately,
enrollment during the pandemic provided little payoff.
As Zoe describes, Zoom school made it “very hard
to make connections with other students.” Another
student, Ella, described that establishing connections
during online learning felt unnatural and that it’s “weird
to study online with a group of people, rather than
being in a library together just talking.” One participant,
Gamora, described how she feels “more intimidated” to
make connections online because “sending a chat and
connecting through social media … could be awkward
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
11
Generation College Students
right like, that’s like that’s terrible. The fact you
know that being low income will kill you faster
right?
Thus, marginalized students also had to fight for their
mental wellness— with limited resources and no break in
learning in the academic rigor of attending UC Berkeley.
Students cited depression, anxiety, demotivation, and
death (the loss of loved ones) as they struggled to attend
Cal remotely. Students also
experienced an exacerbation
of their pre-existing
disabilities, such as ADHD
and PTSD.
First, the idea of “getting
through it” was all the means
one student described their experience with remote
learning. Zoe expressed:
I don’t want to get angry or feel negatively
towards the situation because I’m still in
school, so I still want to like you know, I’m trying
to push it towards positive because it’s still
something I signed up for to further my goals.
And so I’m trying to look at it positively, but you
know it’s very, very hard to not have negative
connotations with it. So I’m kind of trying to
stay neutral and be like just get through it.
However, the mere ability to concentrate made Zoe feel
like she was demotivated and instead was side-tracked
with household chores:
I feel like I have this internal monologue like
you know, you should do this, you should do
that and I feel so in the middle of everything! I’ll
put on the audible book to read for class and
then try to clean and I’m like ‘wait! What the
hell did they just say?’ and then I’m like pausing
and trying to go highlight and take notes or like
write down the page, so I can go back later and
reread…frustrating.
Ultimately, she said the intent of “just getting through it”
was really a matter of remote learning to be “madness,
like I’m operating chaos, and I just assumed everyone
else was doing the same thing.”
Another student, Alex, found her mental health
deteriorating with all that she faced. Although a difficult
decision, Alex withdrew from UC Berkeley altogether.
When asked what remote learning was like, they
struggled academically and many students experienced
difficulty asking for letters of recommendation. As
mentioned before, higher education is an investment,
and remote learning robbed students of the
connections, help, and academic resources they sought.
Furthermore, students experienced barriers with
academic resources on campus. Firstly, in general, as
Annie describes, there was a “lack of resources online
versus in person.” Academic
resources were not built
for the online format, so
resources were either
unavailable or less accessible
online. One participant
found that websites for DSP
or SLC services “are really
hard to navigate,” making it difficult for students to seek
the services they need in a timely manner.
Despite the barriers to resources with the pandemic,
there were some positive outcomes. Student-supported
programs like NavCal directed students to campus
resources and initiated those interactions. Natasha
comments that she “[made] more of an effort to”
seek campus resources “because [she had] the push
from NavCal.” Furthermore, Mario explains that DSP
accommodations were “a big resource,” and he could
get necessary “extensions on assignments.” Ultimately,
there were barriers to online learning, but students
commented that they did feel that the school was
“trying.”
5. Mental Health
Many marginalized students came to Berkeley at a
deficit and were already less-equipped— financially,
technologically, and housing-wise. Students in these
marginalized communities come from a history of
systemic neglect, and systemic oppression. At the onset
of the pandemic, UC Berkeley’s low-income students
not only scrambled along with non-marginalized
communities to preserve their physical health, but
unlike the other communities, some, like student parent,
Monty, found increased mental stress as her community
suffered higher rates of contracting COVID-19 :
Black and brown people continue to die at
disproportionate rates that, like my skin color,
“
Academic resources were not built for the
online format, so resources were either
unavailable or less accessible online.
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
12
Generation College Students
6 units rather than her usual 14 units to combat her
mental health deterioration. She explained:
This semester what I’m doing, it’s like I’m
focusing on my mental health more, rather
than just taking a lot of units, because I’m
still on track to graduate. But I guess I used
to be the type of person to always prioritize
my school and I never focused on, like, what
actually makes me happy.
Another student, Marc, who lives on campus felt COVID-
19 and online learning exacerbated his pre-existing sleep
disorder, he said:
I have a sleep disorder I can’t work in my room,
I mean that’s bad sleep hygiene anyways for
anybody, but particularly for me it’s like very
critical that I have a place to work that’s not my
room.
Marc also mentioned he found it distracting to focus in a
zoom setting which exacerbated his ADHD “like you have
a blender or something, so I gotta like focus while that’s
going on in the background, right? I have ADHD.”
Lastly, the following student, Natasha explained the
impact Covid-19 and zoom learning has on her:
So recently I lost my dad to COVID-19 a few
weeks ago, in that I like stopped going to
classes, I don’t really do my homework. Until
like last week I finally was like okay let’s … , which
is only like two weeks since that. So it didn’t
take too big of like an impact on my academics,
but in a way it has.
Marginalized students suffered a self-described mental
health deterioration impacted by the global pandemic,
COVID-19, which hindered their ability to engage
meaningfully in their online remote learning.
Discussion
This study examined the following research question:
how has COVID-19 affected the learning environments
and educational performance of college students in
marginalized communities? We found that COVID-19 has
placed marginalized students in a vulnerable financial
position because they do not have the technology nor
study environments to properly continue their studies,
resulting in loss of academic motivation and mental
health deterioration. As students who had already
experienced one virtual semester in Spring 2020, we
explained:
A struggle, I’ll say. So, I’m not in school this
semester, but I was last semester, and it was
really hard. To disconnect, you know, to detach
with school, home, and work, because I also
work. I’m also a full-time worker [Company
name redacted] I’m a [title redacted]
technician. And that was just really hard to
do, you know? And mostly hard because my
partner is also a student at Cal, at the same
time. So (it was) how were we going to do
Zoom meetings? Even right now I can hear him
in his meeting, and like it’s so distracting. You
know, like how, I don’t know, it’s really hard to
do two different things at the same time, um
but yeah, I think it was really hard and felt like it
wasn’t worth my time to do Cal that way.
Sage, in their second semester was diagnosed with major
depression which caused them to sleep a lot. This led to
the inability to get up on time and negatively affected
their academics, as indicated:
But a negative besides my commitment or
attention to my academics has been my mental
health. I definitely got diagnosed with major
depression and it’s been hard um sometimes I
don’t even want to get up. I sleep a lot.
Moreover, Ella summed up her mental health prior to
Covid-19:
So, freshman year, I was doing pretty good with
grades. I would always be going to the library,
and then I would just, I had like a better sense
of time management.
Prior to remote learning and campus closure, Ella
enjoyed the many campus facilities and found that she
was healthier until it all fell apart:
I was also more fit, like at nighttime, I would
go to like our RSF right after club meetings
to and just like workout. I was very organized.
Like even in the morning, I would wake up
and then right when I woke up, I like have my
morning routine, I would do my skincare and
then I would just go to like crossroads and then
eat breakfast. And then when it happened,
everything kind of just like fell apart.
She described, “my mental health, just like deteriorated”
when explaining her internal family struggles of having to
take on additional maternal responsibilities like feeding,
and cooking for her younger siblings. Today, she is taking
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
13
Generation College Students
which caused them to seek help only when necessary.
Students chose to figure out assignment questions
independently, which caused them to get lower grades.
Interactions with classmates quickly felt disconnected
and fragmented. Other classmates did not share their
videos and stayed muted throughout the class, making
it difficult for them to
connect. Students shared
that they felt alone in virtual
classes and in their personal
spaces due to lockdowns
and restrictions on seeing
others during the COVID-
19 pandemic. This led to
the deterioration of their
mental health due to existing
conditions such as sleeping disorders, ADHD,
depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These
psychological conditions were further aggravated by
isolation, academic stress, and financial stress.
Limitations
This study has some limitations. Results may not be
generalizable to all marginalized college students,
since our sample only included University of California,
Berkeley students. Furthermore, we relied on students
in our sample to self report on their status as first-
generation and low-income college students. Our
research team did not seek to further validate student’s
identities beyond self-reporting to maintain privacy
and minimize risk. Lastly, while our call for research
participants was distributed among multiple campus
organizations serving the marginalized student
community, all of our participants were members of
the student organization NavCal. NavCal serves first-
generation, low-income, and non-traditional students
learning the hidden curriculum of higher education. Our
research team members are also all current or former
members of NavCal. We have no reason to believe
that this created biases in our results, but wanted to
be transparent about our study sample. If anything,
we expect students who are not in NavCal to have
experienced the problems more severely.
Future Research Needs
Literature about marginalized students’ pedagogical
experiences with COVID-19 is limited, and investigations
about online learning overlook the value of physical
arrangements and learning spaces. There is reason
had observed the remote learning challenges during the
COVID-19 pandemic. As first-time student researchers,
we decided to use our opportunity to research and
give a voice to marginalized groups at the University of
California, Berkeley. We felt it necessary to investigate
the disparities experienced in the groups most
affected—low-income and
first-generation students.
Prior research shows that
low-income and first-gen
students were already four
times more likely to leave
higher education than those
who had neither of those risk
factors before the pandemic
(Pell Institute, 2008). This
motivates our investigation into how the COVID-19
pandemic might have further harmed the learning
of minority students. We conducted 21 interviews
with students who identified as first-generation and
low-income regarding finances, living conditions,
technology, academic conditions, and mental health.
Key Findings
The COVID-19 pandemic further threatened the finances
of marginalized students, which negatively impacted
their ability to afford adequate technology and study
environments. Students reported not having the
ability to afford necessities such as food and shelter.
Students sought different financial avenues to account
for their school-related expenses such as financial aid
loans, scholarships, credit cards, cost of attendance
adjustments, and the Student Technology Equity
Program (STEP). In addition to financial losses, students
did not have adequate living spaces with study spaces,
and they often shared difficulty concentrating and often
invested time in fulfilling household responsibilities.
Moreover, COVID-19 made it clear that technology has
become a human necessity or right to function in this
society. Students needed access to adequate internet,
monitors, technology specific to their majors. Reliant on
technology, grades quickly suffered if they did not have
the proper technology to complete the remote learning
semester.
Without appropriate living environments and having
scarce financial resources, students experienced
diminishing academic motivation and a deterioration
in their mental health. Respondents reported that
their interactions with professors and graduate
student instructors were intimidating and inorganic,
“
Without appropriate living environments
and having scarce financial resources,
students experienced diminishing academic
motivation and a deterioration in their
mental health.
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
14
Generation College Students
connect with students. To help foster connections, staff
and faculty members could be given tools for interacting
with students during remote learning. Perhaps faculty
and staff could be given examples of questions to
check-in and/or a list of resources for students. In
addition, professors’ office hours should be encouraged
and made more accessible. For instance, staff and faculty
members could contact students who are struggling
with their coursework to check-in, establish a plan of
action, and connect them to counselors, mentors, and/
or tutors.
to believe that inequalities in academic success are
worsening. Future research is essential in order to
identify marginalized students’ needs, so that institutions
can better support students from low-income and first-
generation communities. Possible future research needs
could be a more representative sample, similar studies at
other colleges, and whether the pandemic effects persist
even when classes go back to in-person.
Implications for University Practice and
Policy
Our project revealed gaps in university practices and
policies, and highlighted programs that have been
helpful to low-income, first-generation students. In
order for students to access the funding needed to
succeed in their academic careers, the campus needs
to simplify the financial aid bureaucratic processes and
consistently look for new ways to fund low-income
students. Given the fact that students are expected
to have certain pieces of tech, it inherently places
them at a disadvantage if they don’t have access to
these vital technological equipment. This could mean
having financial aid staff reach out to students to file
cost of attendance adjustments (COAA) or creating
step-by-step workshops rather than letting students
figure out complicated processes on their own.
Further, the financial aid office needs to prioritize
low-income, first-generation students by speeding up
the process of receiving funding and connecting them
to additional resources. Also, all students should have
the infrastructure (internet, tablets, desks, etc.) needed
for remote learning and beyond. The university should
offer the necessary technology to low-income students
at little to no cost. Programs such as STEP should keep
evaluating the quality technology that they loan students
and keep on improving it. Strategies that have helped
low-income, first-generation students are programs such
as NavCal which offers student-to-student mentorship,
social support, and assistance going through financial aid
including scholarship application support.
Additionally, the school needs to find ways to foster
relationships between staff, faculty members, and
students. During the pandemic many low-income, first-
generation students experienced food and housing
insecurity, bereavement, and mental health crisis and
needed extra support to get through the academic
year. However, the majority of our research participants
expressed that it was more difficult to connect with
faculty members and students during remote learning.
Faculty and staff should be making a conscious effort to
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
15
Generation College Students
Land Acknowledgment
We take a moment to recognize that Berkeley sits on the territory of xučyun (Huichin) (Hoo-Choon), the ancestral
and unceded land of the Chochenyo (Cho-chen-yo) speaking Ohlone people, the successors of the historic and
sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Muwekma
(Muh-wek-muh) Ohlone Tribe and other familial descendants of the Verona Band.
We recognize that every member of the Berkeley community has benefited, and continues to benefit, from the use
and occupation of this land since the institution’s founding in 1868. Consistent with our values of community and
diversity, we have a responsibility to acknowledge and make visible the university’s relationship with Native peoples.
By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold the University of
California, Berkeley more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
In addition, we would like to add and recognize that this country would not exist if it was not for the uncompensated,
enslaved labor of Black people. We honor the legacy of the African diaspora and Black life, knowledge, and skills stolen
due to violence and white supremacy.
We thank the Black Recruitment and Retention Center and Native American Student Development at UC Berkeley for
developing this acknowledgement.
Acknowledgments
We want to sincerely thank Dr. David Harding and PhD student Xavier Durham for their mentorship and support
throughout this research project. Thank you for the opportunity to carry out this research and for believing in us.
Thank you to NavCal and all our research participants.
Thank you to our amazing UC Berkeley librarians, Ann Glusker and Susan Edwards for their guidance.
About IRLE
The Institute for Research on Labor and Employment is an interdisciplinary institute at the University of California,
Berkeley that connects world-class research with policy to improve workers’ lives, communities, and society. IRLE
promotes better understanding of the conditions, policies, and institutions that affect the well-being of workers and
their families and communities by informing public debate with hard evidence about inequality, the economy, and the
nature of work.
COVID-19’s Impacts on Learning Environments and Educational Performance of Low-Income, First-
16
Generation College Students
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