Featured Research The Varied College Pathways of Latino Young Adults: A Narrative Study of Empowerment Theory Tracy Ara ´ mbula Ballysingh 1 Abstract School counselors are uniquely positioned to promote college going and improve lagging postsecondary matriculation for Latino men. Hipolito-Delgado and Lee’s empowerment framework guided this narrative inquiry to consider how school counselors (dis)empower Latinos via (in)access to college-going information. Findings revealed that participants experienced clear pathways or prohibitive roadblocks through the actions of school counselors as gatekeepers. Implications for school counseling practice and future research are situated within recommendations for creating more equitable college pathways. Keywords access to education, empowerment theory, Latinos, school counseling, social justice Who is encouraged to attend college and to which institutional type? In a recent survey, more than half of U.S. Latinx/a/o students reported that no one discussed applying to college with them (Meraji, 2017). As a rapidly expanding population of demographic importance, the 11% bachelor’s degree attain- ment rate for Latinx/a/os relative to a 23.7% attainment rate for Whites (Schak & Nichols, 2017) evidences a troubling and persistent achievement gap (Martin, Spenner, & Mustillo, 2017; Valencia, 2015; Vega, Moore, & Miranda, 2015). This gap is even more pronounced for Latino boys and men (Sa ´enz & Ponjuan, 2009; Santiago, Galdeano, & Taylor, 2015) whose ability to matriculate to college is shaped by complex social factors (Rodriguez, Rhodes, & Aguirre, 2015). The purpose of this study was to examine the educational trajectories of Latino youth attending a selective public flag- ship institution during their first and second years of college. The study utilized Hipolito-Delgado and Lee’s (2007) empow- erment framework for the professional school counselor to answer the following research questions: (a) As school leaders, how do school counselors empower Latinos to access college- going information and matriculate to a selective public flagship institution? and (b) As school leaders, how do school counse- lors disempower Latinos to access college-going information and matriculate to a selective public flagship institution? The research questions were situated within the extant literature, with particular emphasis on (a) the role of school counselors as advocates for equity, (b) systemic challenges related to school counseling in high school, (c) school-based challenges, and (d) college preparedness curricula. The study site was a selective public flagship institution nestled within a state that is home to a rapidly growing Latinx/a/o population approaching majority–minority status. The institutional selectivity is noteworthy because qualified racially minoritized students often overlook selective institu- tions and matriculate at rates far below their White peers (Car- nevale & Strohl, 2013). Similarly, less than 1% of children from the lowest income quintile attend elite institutions (Willen, 2018). Yet institutional selectivity correlates with col- lege completion for racial and ethnic minorities (Melguizo, 2008) and Latinx/a/os are affected by this most profoundly (Kang & Torres, 2018). Selective institutions reproduce social capital via access to rich and complex networks of college and career information embedded within those institutions (Ballysingh, 2016). Intergenerational mobility, access to alumni networks, institutional prestige, and long-term implica- tions for generational wealth are at stake (Harris, 2018). The empowerment framework and research questions in the present study yielded dichotomous findings, an important counternarrative (Yosso, 2006), and a subversive systemic dynamic. Although qualified Latino youth aspired to attend a selective postsecondary institution, they experienced 1 The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA Corresponding Author: Tracy Ara ´mbula Ballysingh, PhD, The University of Vermont, 210C Mann Hall, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. Email: tracy.ballysingh@uvm.edu Professional School Counseling Volume 23(1): 1-12 ª 2020 American School Counselor Association Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/2156759X19877146 journals.sagepub.com/home/pcx