Although a large proportion of American Latinos go to college, many of them do not receive their degrees, according to a report released last week.
The Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research organization based in Washington, D.C., conducted the study, which relied on monthly surveys conducted by the Census Bureau.
Richard Fry, a senior associate at the Pew Hispanic Center who wrote the report, offered a variety of reasons for his findings, including economic and cultural factors, language barriers and deficiencies in K-12 education.
A greater proportion of Latino high school graduates are currently enrolled in college than white or black high school graduates, the study showed.
Fry viewed this finding as encouraging news.
"One of the messages of this study is that there are large numbers of successful, highly-motivated Latino college students," he said.
Although Latinos attend college in large numbers, the study showed that Latino high school graduates earn college degrees at lower rates than every other population group.
Whether this finding is relevant to the University is unclear.
"I don't think that's the case at the University," Asst. Dean of Students Pablo Davis said.
Fry said he thinks many Latinos are not adequately prepared for college before enrolling.
The K-12 education that Latinos in predominantly Hispanic areas receive may be insufficient or inferior to that at other public schools, and this could partially explain the study's finding, Fry said.
Davis said early education inequalities could explain why some Latinos do not end up getting college degrees.
"The inequality in secondary and primary education is an important factor in explaining what happens later," he said.
Most K-12 education funds are generated by local property taxes, a system that leads poorer, predominantly minority schools districts to have below average financial resources.
The inequalities will continue as long as the property tax funding scheme continues, Davis said.
Fry said Latino students also may not be prepared because their parents lack the necessary education to teach them in the home.
"Clearly your parents have a role to play -- their experience, whether they went to college," Fry said.
Their capacity to pay for higher education also adds another limiting factor.
"On average Latinos do tend to have lower household incomes," Fry said.
The study also showed that many Latinos favor alternative forms of higher education, including two-year schools. The report noted that students who attend two-year schools are less likely to complete their degrees, meaning the lower graduation rates among Latinos is not necessarily surprising.
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