Title: Behind the Latino college degree gap - The Hechinger Report
Headings: Behind the Latino college degree gap
Behind the Latino college degree gap
Latinos are the least likely ethnic or racial group to get a college education, new report says
Jill Barshay

Content: However, Florida has large Cuban and Puerto Rican populations, many of whom come from well-educated families. Roughly 40 percent of Cuban Americans and 30 percent of Puerto Ricans have college degrees. By contrast, only 17 percent of Mexican Americans have college degrees, with many Mexicans emigrating from poor, uneducated regions in Mexico. Florida’s success with Latino higher education may have more to do with the particular Latinos who live in Florida than with how the state supports Latino students academically or financially. New York’s statistics are also confounding. More than a fourth of the state’s large Latino population has a college degree. That’s an impressive 9 percentage point jump since 2000, putting the state in first place for gains in Latino college attainment. However, the gap between Latinos and whites remains stubbornly high at 29 percentage points. The reasons why Latinos are struggling to obtain a college education are complex. Latinos are disproportionately poor, living in low-income communities where the schools aren’t preparing children for the rigor of college courses.