The Higher the Better: Latinos & Education
AOL exclusive by Rafael Prieto

Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing minority in the United States, and their children are expected to account for 25 percent of the nation's K-12 school population next year.

That booming growth, however, is accompanied by some alarming facts. Less than half of the Hispanic teens living in the United States finish the 12th grade, and even fewer go on to obtain undergraduate degrees.

This high dropout rate is casting a threatening shadow over the Hispanic community's future.

The "new economy" of the last decade improved Hispanics' outlook in general, according to a recent study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, but on average Hispanics continue to lag the non-Hispanic white population when it comes to their education.

While Hispanic children born in the United States are just as likely as whites to enroll in universities, less than half of those Hispanics obtain their college degrees, according to the Pew report.

The tendency to drop out of school is tied to a lack of financial resources and an often nonexistent support network that could encourage young Hispanics to persevere with their advanced education.

These days, a college degree and well-honed critical-thinking skills are required to succeed in key industries such as information systems, financial services, medicine, and transportation. Hispanics are underrepresented in these industries, in part due to a lack of technical training.

Efforts are underway to try to mitigate this trend. Secretary of Education Rod Paige recently signed an agreement where the government committed to increase cooperation with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).

However, immigration status and English fluency are additional barriers some Hispanic students need to overcome to enroll in college.

Some believe the Hispanic community would benefit the most if laws are changed so that the approximately 65,000 undocumented students who finish high school in the United States each year could obtain legal residency.

In the meantime, the U.S. Senate continues to debate the "Dream Act" and the House of Representatives debates the "Student Adjustment Act", which would require President Bush's signature to become law.

And while those bills are pending, most undocumented students must pay higher fees than residents and lack access to scholarships from the federal government or subsidies from state universities.

For more information, visit:

Research and Learn
The Hispanic Scholarship Fund http://www.hsf.net/
The Hispanic College Fund http://www.hispanicfund.org/