Getting Past Enrollment

Many Hispanic students are entering college. But few graduate

By Mayra Rodríguez Valladares - Gonzalo Mario and Aurora Rodríguez always encouraged their five children to go to the university. “If you don’t go to college, you will end up killing yourself for minimum wage,” was always their mantra. Three of the five children listened. Rommel has a bachelor of arts in music; Teresa also obtained a B.A., as well as two masters from Ivy League universities; and Lorena obtained a B.A. and an M.B.A.

Celina took a few college courses. Ruby did too, as well as a stint in the U.S. Navy. Neither, however, finished college.

The Rodríguez family, a southern Texas Mexican American family, typifies many of the choices that Hispanic students face when they graduate from high school: They can enter the work force directly.

Enroll in the military. Enter a technical or vocational school.

Go to junior college or into a four-year university program.

It is a difficult choice to make, and many education experts agree that many Hispanic students face another large obstacle: Few believe that that they can control their destiny.

While Hispanics are entering college at a comparable rate to non-Hispanic whites and to African Americans, only about 16 percent of Hispanic high school graduates ages 25 to 29 had earned at least a bachelor’s degree by 2001. Scholars agree the challenge is not only to get high school students to enroll in college, but to increase their graduation rate. Few education scholars have focused on the college graduation rate of Hispanics. Most have done work on primary education and high school dropout rates.

As baby boomers retire from the labor force between now and 2025, the number of working non-Hispanic whites will decline by five million. The U.S. Census Bureau forecasts that the number of working-age Hispanics will grow by 18 million. Experts say it is not hard to predict that the jobs Hispanics get in the future will depend upon the education and training they receive today.

Some of the problems can be traced to lack of adequate funding.

Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami-Dade Community College and a leading Hispanic educator, believes that “the steady erosion of need-based financial aid is a national trend that has a significant impact on low-income Hispanics and other minorities. Last year, in Florida, $140 million was devoted to merit-based aid, which has been shown ultimately to favor the middle class; by contrast, only roughly $40 million was allocated to need-based aid,” he added.

Lack of money to pursue college, vocational, or technical training is one of the main reasons why most Hispanics are forced to work after high school, or to attend school on a part-time basis.

At the Rodríguez household, in McAllen, Texas, they talk about the importance of role models and proper counseling in getting more Hispanics into college. Lorena, one of the daughters who graduated from college, credits a high school counselor and her family for her achievements. “I had a wonderful counselor at McAllen Memorial High School named Virginia Lindville. I can’t give her enough credit for her support during difficult times. She really encouraged me to do well in high school and go to college. My parents and oldest sister were also very pro-education and counseled me to go to college.”

Not all are that lucky. Even with good counseling and family support, some fall through the cracks. Celina Rodríguez, who lives in Austin, Texas, and Ruby, who is in St. Helen, Michigan, are two who do not have university degrees.

Celina recalls that she “didn’t know how to listen to reason.” She believes that “both parents continued to try to guide me into a better life through discipline and education” but “... it fell on deaf ears.” Ruby remarked that she took college preparatory courses in high school and that she received excellent counseling in high school. She “attended college right after high school” and then realized that she “lacked the discipline to stay there.” She “joined the Navy instead.” By the time she had finished her tour of duty, she was married, had kids, and never went back to college.

The number of Hispanics enrolled in postsecondary education is actually high, according to Richard Fry, senior research associate at Pew Hispanic Center. His study, ‘‘Hispanics in Higher Education: Many Enroll, Too Few Graduate,” shows that “by some measures, a greater share of Hispanics are attending college classes than non-Hispanic whites.

However, most are pursuing paths associated with lower chances of attaining a bachelor’s degree.” Fry found that many Hispanics “are enrolled in community colleges, many also only attend school part-time, and others delay or prolong their college education into their mid-20s and beyond.”

Part-Time

Hispanics are more likely than students of other ethnicities to be part-time students. Nearly 85 percent of white non-Hispanic 18- to 24-year-old college students are enrolled full-time, compared to 75 percent of Hispanic students in that age group. The U.S. Department of Education considers part-time college enrollment to be a “risk factor” for dropping out before completing a degree. In the most recent DOE study, researchers followed a group of university part-time students for three years after initial enrollment and found that, after three years, one quarter of the students who initially attended full-time had no degree and were no longer enrolled.

Among students who initially attended part-time, nearly half had no degree after three years and had dropped out. The DOE report found that, “no matter what postsecondary course of study a college student is pursuing, and regardless of whether it is at a two-year or a four-year institution, part-time college enrollment is associated with a greater risk of racking up college credits with no degree to show for the effort.”

Two-year colleges

Hispanics are far more likely to be enrolled in two-year colleges than any other group. This includes technical and vocational schools such as nursing, dental hygiene, etc. About 40 percent of Hispanic 18- to 24-year-old college students attend two-year institutions compared to about 25 percent of non-Hispanic white and African American students in that age group. Traditional college-age Hispanics are not the only ones to rely on two-year schools. Hispanic college students over the age of 24 years old, also, are more likely than their peers of any other racial/ethnic group to be enrolled at two-year institutions.

According to Fry, “the percentage of Hispanic students who attend two-year schools grows as the students get older. More than 55 percent of Hispanic undergraduates over the age of 35 years old attend two-year colleges.” Attachment to family and community as well as economic need appear to be factors in Hispanics’ exceptionally high rate of enrollment in two-year colleges.

There are benefits to two-year community colleges. According to Padrón, community colleges can provide “a truly outstanding opportunity for Hispanics—as well as others—who might otherwise be excluded from higher education, not for want of individual drive, but for want of finance. Rather than being relegated to low-skill, low-wage jobs, community colleges offer such students the occasion to pursue worthwhile careers. “

Padrón enumerates specific advantages to community colleges. “On entering, students who require assistance in bridging the gap between high school and college are given a strong preparatory foundation on which to build. Students—Hispanics and non-Hispanics—are given excellent training that is effectively targeted at existing and expanding job markets. They are offered schedules that are more flexible, in a setting that is more in tune with the various responsibilities they shoulder, at considerably lower cost. Often, class sizes at community colleges are smaller, giving the student more individualized attention. Finally, many community colleges have honors programs as demanding as the strongest academic programs in the nation.” Also, community colleges often have agreements in place to help students at community colleges to attend four-year universities.

Fry’s Pew findings show that large numbers of Hispanics try to extend their education beyond part-time or community colleges, but still fall short of earning a university degree. According to The National Center on Education Statistics, despite benefits at two-year colleges, Hispanics’ predilection for these schools may adversely affect Hispanics’ chances of finishing with a degree. Agreeing with this assessment is the recent U.S. Department of Education report that suggests that Hispanic students are more likely to drop out if they begin their college studies at two-year colleges.

University completions rates

Almost 36 percent of white non-Hispanic high school graduates ages 25 to 29 earned at least a bachelor’s degree by 2001, compared with 20.6 percent of African Americans and only 16.4 percent of Hispanics. Students drop out for many reasons. Padrón cites “inadequate preparation for the transition from high school to college. Nationally, about 50 percent of incoming students require remedial training in basic skills such as math, reading and composition.” Also, “the pressures that students experienced in the K-12 system do not disappear upon entry into college.” Moreover, there are cultural expectations. Hispanics are often “expected to stay near the family.”

Often, students find the adjustment from high school to college a difficult one to make. Lorena Rodríguez, one who graduated, admits that in college “the main difficulty was adjusting to a different environment far away from home. I missed my family and friends. I also had difficulty imposing discipline on myself and was caught up in the ‘fun’ side of college.”

Undeniably, Hispanics also lag behind in the pursuit of graduate and professional degrees. Among 25- to 34-year-old high school graduates, approximately 4 percent of non-Hispanic whites are enrolled in graduate school. Only slightly less than 2 percent of similarly aged Hispanic high school graduates are pursuing post-baccalaureate studies. Only individuals with at least a college degree can hope to enter the mid-ranges of the labor force, much less of attaining anything higher.

Breaking the Cycle

Education experts fear that children of Hispanics who do not have a college degree are likely to perpetuate the cycle. Yet some do learn from their mistakes. Celina sees the economic benefits of obtaining a university degree. If she were to have children she would say: “Learn from my mistakes. Obtain a degree because, whether you use what you learn in school or not, the fact that you endured those years of college and obtained that piece of paper seems to mean the world of difference when it comes to prosperity.”

Her sister, Ruby, a mother of two pre-teen daughters, has also learned from the fact that she chose not to go to college.

“I have regrets about not acquiring a college degree,” she says. “ I encourage my children regularly to do well in school and eventually get a higher education.”

Lorena, who has a B.A. and M.B.A. from St. Edward’s University, says that she would tell her kids and nieces and nephews “that going to college is the best decision for any high school student to make. College is more than English and history. It’s about opening your mind to other worlds. It’s an amazing experience in and of itself.”