Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Latino students struggle to get to college degrees
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Last week I attended the Conference on Educating Latino Children at the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., where the findings of a study about Latinos and the college attainment gap were released.
Pew researchers conclude nearly nine in 10 Latino youths said a college education is important for success, but only half of them -- or 48 percent -- said they actually planned to obtain a college degree.
Vivian Sanchez Jones of Roanoke's Refugee and Immigration Services agrees there are barriers to Latino students seeking higher education. The biggest is financial, she said.
The only way immigrants who lack legal status in the United States can attend college is to pay out-of-state tuition, which Jones said many are unable to afford. She knows one Latino student who paid more than $800 for a single college course. The next semester he sold his car to pay for another class. He is taking classes one by one to work toward a degree.
"That's how important it is to him to have an education," Jones said.
Another reason college may not be a reality for Latino students is because of obligations to family, she said. That was the most important reason Pew researchers identified.
"There are a lot of students would like to go to college," Jones said. "They are also at an age where they need to help families. They are not forced to, but they have to go out and work."
Not being able to go to college sometimes discourages Latino students from graduating from high school.
"A lot don't get to finish high school or they finish at the top of the class and find they cannot even go to a college," Jones said.
That reality puts Jones, the school liaison for the agency of the Richmond Diocese of the Catholic Church, in a tough spot when it comes to encouraging young Latinos to stay in school.
"I tell them ... 'Even though you cannot go to college, if you finish here and you go to your country, there is always a demand for English speakers in Latin America,' " Jones said.
She is not giving up hope the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the Dream Act, will become a reality and allow Latino students to achieve higher education and citizenship. The federal legislation was introduced in 2001, and although it has never passed, it continues to garner support across party lines.
"I am not asking for financial aid, but for in-state tuition," Jones said.
Of the 2.8 million students who graduate from U.S. high schools each year, about 65,000 are undocumented, or so-called "illegal" immigrants.
In Roanoke's public schools, the Latino population nearly doubled between 2002 and 2008. Latino students accounted for 5.5 percent of the division's enrollment last year. It is not known how many of those students are here legally.
