Securing a degree in higher education is still a sound investment in your future, but Latino students continue to lag behind other groups academically.
The Huffington Post said in a recent article that a worker with just a high school diploma is twice as likely to be unemployed as a worker with a college degree, according to the newest installment of the Face the Facts initiative by the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs.
Research shows that a bachelor’s degree can equal almost double a salary. Workers with a bachelor’s degree in 2011 earned an average weekly salary of $1,053, almost 60 percent higher than the $638 weekly salary for those with only a high school diploma.
Research also shows that unemployment among college graduates was at 4.9 percent last year, compared to 9.4 percent for workers with just high school diplomas.
According to Excelencia in Education, whites are twice as likely to hold college and university degrees than Hispanics. Among Latinos age 18 to 24, 14 percent has earned an advanced degree, compared to 8 percent of Latinos. Almost 25 percent of the nation’s college-age population will be Latino by 2025, according to the article.
Excelencia in Education says that Latinos may be struggling due to several socio-economic factors, including:
* Lack of financial resources.
* Generational impact. Hispanic students tend to follow in their parents footsteps and half whose parents never went to high school moved on to college. Studies show Hispanics have a higher drop-out rate than the general population.
* Poor Fundamentals. Latino neighborhoods tend to be overcrowded and receive a lower quality of education, according to standardized testing and school board evaluations.