Latino Youth Finishing College: The Role of Selective Pathways

The gap in the number of Latino and white college students who graduate with a bachelor's degree is wider even than the very substantial differences in high school completion and constitutes the greatest disparity in educational outcomes between the nation's largest minority group and the white majority. Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS) the report assesses the dimensions of the gap in bachelor's degree completion between Latinos and whites and some of the factors that contribute to it by focusing on the differing fates of young people who graduate from high school with similar levels of academic preparation. It finds that at several key junctures Latinos fall behind whites with similar qualifications. Even when they are on the same college pathway as white youth, they are less likely than their white peers to graduate. The best prepared Latinos fare worse than white youth of equal preparation, and the least prepared Hispanics fare worse than their least prepared white peers.