Throughout my research, I’ve been reminded time and again why it’s essential to ground policy analysis in the stories of those most directly affected. I’ve spent the past several weeks analyzing legislation and financial aid policies in two very different states—New York and Georgia—and reading powerful narratives from students navigating higher education in both contexts.

At first, I struggled to understand what barriers might still exist in a state like New York, where access to higher education is relatively broad compared to a state like Georgia, where exclusion is often written explicitly into policy. Georgia’s restrictions seemed more straightforward to critique. But it was through students’ lived experiences that I came to see how implicit barriers persist even in “inclusive” states like New York.

One key theme in the literature I’ve reviewed is the legacy of Plyler v. Doe, which guaranteed K–12 access regardless of immigration status, but did not extend that protection to higher education. The impact of that limitation shows up in the stories I’ve read: the shock of encountering financial, legal, and structural barriers for the first time during the college application process. This pivotal moment reveals an implicit barrier shaped by policy, not through what is explicitly stated, but through what is left unsaid or deliberately excluded. 

And the only way to see beyond the silences found between the lines of the policy is to listen to those stories shaped by it.