College Seems Out of Reach for Many Hispanic Students

The college-application process is hard enough. Between studying for admissions tests, writing essays, and filling out financial-aid forms, many students find it overwhelming.

Now consider how much harder it might be if English is not your first language, no one in your family has gone to college, and you don't have enough money to visit campuses, let alone pay tuition.

That's the situation for many Latino students. And experts and advocates say those barriers, in large part, explain why they trail other Americans in completing higher education.

Just 37 percent of adult Hispanics have completed some college coursework or an associate degree. This lags behind the postsecondary attainment of Asians, whites, and blacks, each of which have rates above 50 percent. That's not to say there hasn't been progress. Over the past decade, Latino adults' educational attainment has increased significantly, and the number of Hispanics with a bachelor's degree has risen 80 percent from 2.1 million to 3.8 million, according to research by Excelencia in Education, a Washington-based national nonprofit that advocates for Latino success in higher education.

"I do see progress and find great hope," says Deborah Santiago, a co-founder and the vice president of policy and research for the organization. "But we still have large gaps."