Latino College Crisis

Only nine percent of young Latino adults have a college education, a figure that has stagnated since the 1970s as every other racial and ethnic group has seen increases.

Patricia Gandara, a University of California-Los Angeles education professor and a director at the Civil Rights Project, told reporters at the Education Writers Association that this was a critical issue, especially as the population of Latinos in the United States grows.

Gandara was joined on a panel by Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education, and Diana Natalicio, who is the president of the University of Texas-El Paso. Brown and Natalicio talked about solutions to the problem.

But first Gandara walked reporters through some of the facts, using her recently published book The Latino Education Crisis as a point of reference. Gandara said that the lack of Latinos getting a college education is adding to the United States falling behind other countries in the number of college graduates. The average education level of Latinos is rising, but with college “there is an absolute ceiling,” she said.

Gandara said that in order to reverse the trend, colleges must realize that generally Latino college students work and go to school part time. She also urged the audience not to frame the situation as one about immigrants, though they are part of the story. Second and third generation Latinos are actually struggling to get college degrees also. She called this backsliding.

“This population is not incorporating and integrating as other immigrant populations have,” she said. “I think it has a lot to do with changes in society. Today the same individuals who would have gotten jobs in the past and sent their children to college, are having a problem getting a foothold in the economy.”

That being said, there are some shining examples of programs and colleges that are making strides in reaching out to Latinos and helping them graduate. Brown’s newly formed organization profiles some of those programs on their website. She said high school counselors and colleges need to be more deliberate in making sure that students get information to help them navigate into and through college.

“These are first generation college goers and they are not going to get the savvy advice that goes on in middle class households around dining room tables,” she said.

Brown, who worked in the Clinton administration, also is interested in making sure that the Obama administration makes college more affordable for Latinos.

Natalicio’s university has taken many specific steps to help Latino students. Two thirds of the school’s students are Mexican and most of them grew up within 50 miles of the university and are working their way through college. One thing the university realized is that at the beginning of a semester students are really stretched between paying tuition and buying books.

“Because of cash flow issues, sometimes they just stop there,” she said.

To combat that, the university allows students to pay over five installments and also has a revolving emergency book loan fund.