Hispanic Students Hungry for College: Some 98 percent of Hispanic high school students say they want to attend college, according to a new study. But according to the 2004 U.S. Census Bureau report, only 25 percent of Hispanics are currently enrolled at the nation’s colleges and universities. Activists are now trying to bridge that gap by addressing the factors that impede Hispanic students from fulfilling their dream of pursing a higher education.
The study, entitled the “College Preparation 2007,” was released this week in conjunction with a press conference and symposium to address college access issues. Activists and students at the symposium said the environment in which many Hispanics grow up in is simply not nurturing and fails to promote higher education as a viable option.
The Hispanic Heritage Fund, Excelencia in Education and the Hispanic College Fund called on the federal government to fund more college access programs for Hispanics.
“The environment that many Latino high school students experience is not as supportive as it needs to be in order to see college enrollment rates as high as their peers in other ethnicities,” said Ryan Munce, a researcher with the National Research Center for College and University Admissions, which conducted the study with the Hispanic Heritage Fund this year.
