Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Hispanic college graduation rate lags

UNLV doing better than other universities, but need to do more acknowledged

Hispanic high school students learn about their heritage, leadership and college opportunities Friday at the Latino Youth Leadership Conference. About 60 students attended the five-day conference last week at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the Community College of Southern Nevada campuses. University system officials say they want to do more to graduate Hispanics. Photo by John Locher.

A year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled college affirmative action admission policies constitutional, a national study found universities nationwide are not doing enough to graduate Hispanics.

Although Hispanic students are entering colleges in equitable droves to their white peers, the Pew Hispanic Center found Hispanic college students nationwide were half as likely to graduate.

Nevada has the fastest growing Hispanic population in the nation, and UNLV's Hispanic graduation rates were more comparable to those of white students than the national rate. But university officials noted they have a long way to go to erase the gap between the two ethnicities.

"We need more success stories," said Tracy Cotton, executive director of UNLV's Center for Academic Enrichment Outreach. "We are trying to motivate them, to show them there are people who look like them who are CEOs of companies."

Of students who started in fall 1996 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 28 percent of Hispanics had graduated by their fifth year and 19 percent were still enrolled. Roughly 30 percent of white students had graduated by that point and 21 percent were still enrolled.

A year later, 30 percent of Hispanics from that class had graduated and 17 percent were still enrolled, while 39 percent of whites had graduated and 12 percent were still enrolled.

The UNLV data does not count students who transferred to different institutions.

The nonprofit center commissioned the Education Policy Institute, a nongovernmental research unit, to analyze Department of Education data that tracked a sample of 25,000 students from eighth grade to the age of 26. The survey tracked academic records, from 1988 to 2000, to assess high school preparation levels, and followed individual students' performance through college years.

"No matter where we go we can take equally well prepared white students and Latino students, and the whites have more success," said Richard Fry, the center's senior research associate. "All institutions of higher education have a responsibility and can do better with their Latino undergraduates."

Universities need to provide more educational and financial programs tailored to Hispanics to make them feel comfortable on campuses, the bulk of which have largely white student bodies, he said.

Adrian Mendoza, a 2001 alumnus of the Boyd Law School at UNLV, said colleges need to provide more cultural events to make Hispanics feel at home.

"You tell (Hispanics) about Greek Week and they have no idea what you're talking about," Mendoza said. "It's very Americanized and nothing Hispanics relate to."

Mendoza was co-chairman of the Latino Youth Leadership Conference which took place on college campuses in Las Vegas over the weekend. About 60 Hispanics from local high schools ate, slept and attended conferences on their culture, college success and leadership roles at UNLV for five days.

A language barrier prevents many Hispanics from finishing college, said Erick Lopez, 19, who attended the conference in high school and now helps lead it.

"They get put in remedial courses ... but they come from countries that are a lot more advanced," he said. "That hinders their education."

He talked about the Hispanic family culture that lacks the educational savvy needed to navigate the university system and obtain scholarships.

To bring first-generation and low-income students into the higher education system, Cotton's UNLV outreach program works with roughly 18,000 students at the kindergarten through 12th-grade level.

These are the "at-risk" students, a large percentage of whom are minorities and likely to never step foot on a college campus, he said.

The ones who do make it, who are eligible to enter UNLV's Student Support Service, undergo intrusive academic advising to ensure they're getting what they need. Roughly 82 percent of the service's students graduate in five years, Cotton said.

But the federally funded support service has enough resources to work with only 400 students at a time, leaving room for some to fall between the cracks.

Out of the top 100 schools with the highest Hispanic graduation rates, UNLV was ranked 83 by the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine for 2001-02.

The number of Hispanics receiving degrees at UNLV is higher than the national average. UNLV officials noted that although Hispanic students graduate at a slightly lower rate than white students, they keep enrolling.

"(Hispanics) seem to be persisting in terms of enrollment," said Kari Coburn, director of UNLV Institutional Analysis and Planning.

An increased focus on orientation programs that promote cultural resources to minority students has helped keep minority students in class, said Sunny Gittens, director for UNLV Student Involvement and Activities.

"Students that get involved are more likely to be satisfied with their collegiate experience," she said.

Six organizations on campus are devoted to Hispanic students.

But there is a problem with minority students dropping out of college.

Preliminary data on UNLV students suggests that Hispanics drop out at a higher rate but come back more often than white students, Coburn said.

"There is a great pressure for them to work," said Otto Merida, executive director of the Latino Chamber of Commerce. "Everyone in the family works. You have kids who are going to school that are also working full-time."

The state also needs to devote more resources to K-12 education to help prepare more minorities for college, he said.

Merida said that in the near future Hispanics and other minorities will comprise 50 percent of the state's population, and those communities need to prepare now and receive better jobs and education.

Hispanics compose 8 percent of the student population at both four-year Nevada universities. Hispanics make up roughly 20 percent of the state's population. Systemwide, Hispanics composed 11 percent of the student higher education population in 2002.

The University of Nevada, Reno awarded 1,619 baccalaureate degrees in 2003; 89 went to Hispanics, 1,214 to whites.

UNLV awarded 2,902 degrees in 2003; 250 went to Hispanics and 1,756 went to whites.