Latinos less likely to get degrees

According to a new study by the Pew Hispanic Center, Latino undergraduates are half as likely to get a college degree by age 26 than White undergrads. This isn't limited to less-selective campuses.

"Even among the best-prepared students at top colleges with high graduation rates, Latinos lagged whites somewhat. According to the report, at the most selective institutions — a category including UCLA and UC Berkeley — 83% of Latinos graduate, versus 90% of whites, by age 26."

How does this affect affirmative action causes? Well, if the goal of affirmative action is to produce more Latino college graduates to match the state proportion, then colleges have to admit a percentage of Latinos much larger than the state proportion. Inevitably, this would never work. A better first step would be to fight the problems that are causing these dropouts (ie poor high school education) and to stress retention, not recruitment, in campus communities. Email This Post!