Latinos in Higher Education Institutions: Slowly But Surely?

More Latinos seek higher education, but they still lag behind other racial minorities

by Nishi Parekh

Although enrollment rates for Latinos are high for their community’s historical rates, these do not compare to other races’ enrollment rates, according to studies.

Latinos have traditionally been stereotyped for not enrolling in or dropping out of higher education institutions; many of these Latinos seek vocational training instead. Due to budget constraints, familial constraints, or the lack of other necessary resources, Latinos may be interested in pursuing an education, but are consequently unable to do so. “Nearly three-quarters (74%) of 16- to 25-year-old survey respondents who cut their education short…did so because they had to support their family,” states an October 2009 study conducted by Mark Lopez, Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center.

Even with these hurdles the future shows promise. Over the past 20 years, Latinos have slowly been seeking more higher education, according to a 2007 study of the Pew Hispanic Center, which has extensively researched Latinos’ involvement in educational institutions. The Center’s study indicates an increase of “25 percent of Hispanic 18- to 24-year-olds” in 2004’s post-secondary enrollment; this is “an increase of 8 percentage points from 1980.”

President Obama encouraged students to stay in school and pursue their dreams in his speech to young kids on September 8. “You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job,” Obama said. “You’ve got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.” Speaking to all races, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds, he knows and advocates for the benefit of a good, solid education.

Yet, with all the encouragement and growth in registration, there still seems to be one anomaly. Compared to Latinos’ 25 percent in 2004, 42 percent of White 18- to 25-year-olds and 32 percent of Blacks of the same age group were enrolled in post-secondary education.

Even though enrollment rates for Latinos are higher than ever before in the Latino community, graduation rates are dwindling. According to Lopez’s study from October 2009, 12 percent of Latinos attain a Bachelor’s degree while 31 percent of the general population achieves the same degree.

Over 36 percent of Whites and almost 21 percent of Blacks ages 25 to 29 attain a Bachelor’s degree, while 16.4 percent of Latinos attain the same, according to a Pew Hispanic Center study.

“It’s unfortunate that we don’t see greater representation of graduated Latinos,” said a student who wanted to remain anonymous. “I’m glad that more and more are enrolling, but we need a way to keep them here. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

Latinos are receiving encouragement from every direction, like President Obama said just a few weeks ago: “At the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – none of that is an excuse…There is no excuse for not trying”.

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Posted by admin on Nov 24 2009. Filed under National News, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry