Q&A: Why Hispanics Choose Higher Education

• Published in: The Hispanic outlook in higher education 1995-05, Vol.5 (17), p.12
• Main Author: Chabolla, Elena
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Community colleges; Education; Ibarra, Robert; Minority & ethnic groups
• ISSN: 1054-2337; 2471-6448

[Robert Ibarra]: A full-range of Latinos -- Chicanos, Mexican-Americans, Salvadorans, South Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans -- men and women, and from different age groups. I'm trying to hit the locations where these populations are concentrated. I've already completed interviews in Arizona and California, and I'm setting up interviews in Texas. I'm going to Miami and New York, Washington, D.C., and the Midwest. I think that about covers it. I've also got a couple of interviews in Puerto Rico. I'm trying to get as many as I can. Ibarra: My proposal, "Insights Into the Latina Experience in Graduate Education," provides some background information. In 1990, there were 22 million Latinos, comprising 9 percent of the U.S. population. We've increased the numbers in academia, but the percentages in institutions of higher education are not increasing or are increasing very little. For example, Latinos constitute only 6 percent of the total enrollment in higher education. In 1992, only 3 percent of doctorates were awarded to Latinos. In 1991, only 4 percent of all full-time employees in higher education were Latino, and only 2 percent of them were full-time faculty. In administration, in 1991, only 3 percent of all full-time administrators were Latino. And that's only a 2 percentage point increase since 1981. These figures have barely increased by a percent over the last decade. And yet the population is growing by leaps and bounds. I hope to find out "What's happening? Where are we going? Why are there so few?" Ibarra: One of the things we need to focus on is how the various disciplines can address the kinds of issues that attract Latinos to their particular areas and successfully put them through their programs. There are some interesting patterns that are coming out of the project that suggest that the nature of the disciplines might turn off Latinos. There are reasons why Latinos are found primarily in the social sciences and the humanities. So the next step is a cultural change in higher education to look at what they're doing to attract the population. The third one, I'm hoping, is that some of the information can be used by Latinos getting into the graduate education system, helping them understand what it takes to get in and what it's all about. What is the graduate school culture like?