Posts published on August 22, 2012

Latino College Attendance Increases By 160%

San Francisco Chronicle

College enrollment has soared for Latino young adults in the last few years, by some measures reaching levels similar to those among young blacks, according to a study released Monday. Among Americans aged 18 to 24 with a high school diploma or equivalent, 46 percent of Latinos were enrolled in college last year, up from 37 percent in 2008, according to the report, by the Pew Hispanic Center. The report was based on data from the Census Bureau and the Department of Education. Black enrollment last year in the same age group stood at 45 percent, the first time the nation’s two largest minority groups were roughly even on that score in the decades that the information has been collected. Among whites, 51 percent of 18- to 24-year-old high school graduates were in college; 67 percent of Asians in that group were in college. The number of Latinos enrolled in college, which surpassed black enrollment for the first time in 2010, jumped to almost 2.1 million last year, from about 1.3 million in 2008. That is a product of a swelling Latino population as well as the increased rate of attendance. (more)