Latinx Student Assets, College Readiness, and Access: Are We Making Progress?

Sylvia Hurtado,Hector Vicente Ramos,Xochilth Lopez-Salgado,Edwin Perez

doi:10.3390/educsci10040100

Sylvia Hurtado, Hector Vicente Ramos + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10040100

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Journal: Education Sciences	Publication Date: Apr 8, 2020
Citations: 6	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract

While previous research has focused on the continuing educational disparities between the growing Latinx population and other racial/ethnic groups, this study focuses on the importance of the assets and enrichment opportunities that determine variability in Latinx student college access. Using the nationally representative 2009–2016 High School Longitudinal Study data, the authors employed multivariate analyses to study the effects of five asset bundles considered student endowments, including indicators of college readiness, on the number of college applications and the selectivity of the institution Latinx students decided to attend. The results indicate that differences in college readiness (high school GPA, AP credits) and material resources (Pell grants, student belief in parents’ ability to afford selective colleges) are the main predictors of not only being strategic in the college application process but also result in more selective college enrollment where students’ chances of college completion are higher. Asset bundles, however, do not completely explain social identity disparities based on gender and English language learner status. Further research is needed to advance asset-based models for Latinx students and the social mobility of students from low-income backgrounds and other social identities.

Highlights

Increasing the access and college readiness of students has become a central policy goal in theU.S, as the attainment of a postsecondary education is a catalyst for social mobility and necessary to meet the economic demand for an educated workforce [1]
We focused on Latinx students who graduated from high school or were college bound, 40.3% of which were from low-income families earning less than $35,000 a year
The results show that English language learners were significantly less likely to be attending a selective college than native English Latinx students (p ≤ 0.05)

Summary

Introduction

Increasing the access and college readiness of students has become a central policy goal in theU.S, as the attainment of a postsecondary education is a catalyst for social mobility and necessary to meet the economic demand for an educated workforce [1]. American higher education continues to be a vehicle of social stratification and inequality, and Latinx students (as well as other students of color) are not represented in higher education or in the nation’s most selective colleges, despite the fact that they will compose over a third of the workforce by 2050 [2]. There are 56.5 million Latinx people in the U.S, which accounts for 17.6% of the total U.S population. In 1980, Latinx people made up only 6.5% of the total U.S population [3]. This growth has made Latinx people the youngest and largest non-white ethnic/racial group in the United States [3].

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