Latino students have reached a new milestone in the United States: A higher percentage of those who graduate from high school are enrolling in college compared with white graduates.
In the class of 2012, a record 69 percent of Hispanic high school graduates pursued higher education, compared with 67 percent of non-Hispanic white graduates, according to a report released last week by the Pew Research Center in Washington. In 2000, just 49 percent of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in college the next fall.
Overall, 66 percent of high school graduates of the class of 2012 enrolled in college, including 63 percent of black students and 84 percent of Asians.
Once they leave high school, though, Latino students tend to have a different experience from that of their white counterparts. According to the report, they are less likely to attend a four-year (versus two-year) college, enroll in a selective school, attend full time, or earn a bachelor’s degree.
