Improving Outcomes of Latino Students Focus of Forum: Latino college students who have the support of their families, start college planning by the eighth grade, take three or more years of mathematics, and start at a four-year institution are more likely to finish college, according to a new report that suggests these attributes form a strategy for closing the college-completion gap between Latino and Whites.
The Educational Policy Institute’s study, “Latino Students and the Educational Pipeline,” was among the strategies educators, researchers, and policymakers discussed Wednesday at the institute’s national capital summit on Latino students and educational opportunity.
The problem: less than a quarter of Latino college students graduate with a four-year degree within 10 years of leaving high school – less than half the rate of White students.
“We have come a long way, but the mission to champion Hispanic success in higher education remains constant. The challenges go beyond success in higher education, we have to deal with public perception,” Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Association of College and Universities (HACU) told attendees.
