Young Hispanics are now the largest minority group on college and university campuses, with 2009–10 enrollments surging to an all-time high of 12.2 million students. But their graduation rates are less than half the national average. Raymund A. Paredes, commissioner of higher education at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, talks about how boards can help Latino youth start—and finish—college.
What is behind the surge of young Hispanics enrolling in college, from a rate of 13 percent in 1972 to 32 percent in 2010?
A number of factors are key. First, the Hispanic population has been growing rapidly nationally since the 1970s and especially since the late 1980s. Those children are now college age. Second, more Hispanic families are recognizing the value of a college education in the job market. Also, schools, community-based organizations, and local media are aggressively reaching out to Hispanic families and extolling the benefits of college. Colleges and universities in heavily Hispanic communities nationwide are working to attract students through outreach programs, college fairs, and the like. The expansion of need-based financial aid has been a factor.
Perhaps most fundamentally, poll after poll indicates that Hispanic families place a very high value on education, and for the first time, they now have the information and resources necessary to pursue this core value in large numbers.
What factors keep Hispanic graduation rates so much lower than those of their peers?
A lack of adequate academic preparation is probably the biggest factor. Most Hispanic families in this country are poor, and poverty correlates with attending underperforming schools that place little emphasis on postsecondary education, lack rigor, offer few Advanced Placement and dual-credit courses, and provide weak academic counseling. Family financial needs also force many Hispanic students either to “stop out” of college or attend part-time, which lowers graduation rates. The fact that so many Hispanic students are the first in their families to attend college also decreases completion; many Hispanic students lack support networks that helps them navigate college life.
How can boards help their institutions meet the needs of Hispanic students while making their institutions more accessible?
Like all underprepared students, underprepared Hispanic students need strong academic support programs such as tutoring and advising. Like other poor students, they often need financial aid and financial counseling about loans and accumulating debt to attend college and persist. Like other firstgeneration students, they need help adjusting to college life and making academic decisions. And like all college students, they want to feel comfortable and welcome on their campuses and to see other students like themselves.
What effective practices are in place in Texas that might be adaptable to other states?
Developing college-going, academically rigorous cultures in primary and secondary schools with large numbers of Hispanic students is fundamental. Often, these schools are the result of collaboration between public and higher education through local P–16 councils. Many colleges and universities have aggressive outreach programs to high schools with large Hispanic enrollments; they sponsor summer bridge programs for highschool students on their campuses or chapters of the National Advising Corps, which trains recent college graduates to serve as college counselors in schools with large minority enrollments.
In Texas, we have launched a statewide informational campaign called Generation Texas (or Gen TX) that promotes the idea that the current K–12 cohort will be the state’s greatest generation because of its educational attainment. This initiative seems to be making an impact. But the simple truth is that educators all over the country know how to recruit and retain students from all backgrounds. What is needed is a sense of urgency and a sustained commitment of resources.
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