College access does not begin or end with an acceptance letter; it continues throughout students’ college experiences, especially for first-generation, working-class Latinx students who are experiencing many college milestones for the first time. It is predicted by scholars that the rapid growth of the Latinx population will make them a large college applicant pool in the near future. These predictions show that retention efforts for Latinx students are an important investment for institutions of higher education. However, support for Latinx first-generation, working-class college students is often lacking at universities. In this conceptual chapter, we center on first-generation, working-class Latinx students of immigrant origin and the identity intersections experienced by individual students to equip administrators, academic advisors, and university data analysts with the knowledge to improve Latinx student success efforts through an overview of (1) academic advising, (2) data analytics, (3) social class, and (4) theories and frameworks related to the identity intersections of Latinx students.

This chapter puts forth an argument for the use of appreciative advising (Bloom et al., 2008) as a means of building vital relationships with students of immigrant origin and a potential framework to increase retention of this student population. This versatile framework is relationally oriented to foster micro-climates in which students can identify their goals and ambitions while also envisioning the path to achieve these goals. To successfully employ appreciative advising, it is critical to shift focus toward privileging these students’ experiences and diverse knowledges. Anderson et al. (2019) referred to this as exercising cultural curiosity and cultural humility, actions which disrupt power while creating openness and investment in students (particularly those on the margins). By combining these concepts with a funds of knowledge approach, which builds on immigrant students’ communal resources, knowledges, and experiences, collaboration between advisers and immigrant students can lead to developing dialogic spaces where appreciative advising can be actualized (Anderson et al., 2019; Witenstein et al., 2022).