For Hispanics, Language Barriers can Complicate College

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From the New York Times, February 10, 2003

For Hispanics, Barriers Can Complicate College

By MIREYA NAVARRO

  In high school in the Bronx, Sonia Gil was an A and B student who never
doubted that she would someday be a college graduate. Her parents, a
factory worker and a homemaker from the Dominican Republic, had hammered
into their 11 children the importance of an education. But a decade later,
Ms. Gil has yet to complete a bachelor's degree. She attended a community
college, then dropped out to work full time. She enrolled again, got an
associate degree in liberal arts and transferred to a four-year college.
But she dropped out again.

At 27, Ms. Gil now goes to Lehman College every day to her job as a
secretary. With a baby due this month and still many credits away from
graduation, she is one more student contributing to a college graduation
rate for Hispanics that is the lowest among the major ethnic groups. "You
need to be there 100 percent," she said of the lessons she had learned in
her efforts to get a B.A. in social work, which continue. "If you're not
ready, you find yourself leaving school."

Only 16 percent of Latino high school graduates earn a four-year college
degree by age 29, compared with 37 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 21
percent of African-Americans, according to a recent study of census data
by the Pew Hispanic Center. Experts say that Hispanic students battle many
of the problems that other minority students do the lack of role models
and practical college advice at home, as well as inadequate preparation
from schools. But they also face additional barriers of language and
culture, particularly an attachment to the extended family, the experts
say. Latino teenagers often stay home while attending college, making it
all the more likely that they get caught up in their families' financial
needs.

"With living at home often comes the sense of having to contribute and be
one of the wage earners in the extended family," said Roberto Suro, Pew
center director. Ms. Gil, who lives with her fiance in the Bronx, said
that while her parents emphasized education, they balked at the idea that
she and her sisters would go away to college. "Nobody is going to be there
for you," they were told. And once she decided to take a year off after
high school, the pressure was on to start pulling her weight financially.

Hispanic students are more likely to go to college part time than
non-Hispanic blacks or whites. They are also more likely to attend
community colleges, lured by cheaper tuition, more flexible schedules to
accommodate outside jobs, and courses in fields like computer science and
nursing, which offer a quicker path to a paycheck. Going to school part
time, however, is often a prelude to dropping out, because these students
are less engaged in their studies, college administrators say. And while a
community college can be a vehicle to higher education, for many Latino
students the road begins and ends there.

Mariella Reyes, Christela Morales and Alejandrina Lizardo,
Mexican-American 18-year-olds and best friends from East Los Angeles,
started full time at East Los Angeles Community College last semester but
soon grew frustrated. They said the course work, and their classmates,
were too fast for them. All three dropped most of their classes but have
enrolled full time this semester to try again. Ms. Lizardo said she
realized now that "my teachers in high school didn't teach me anything."
After cutting back in school, Ms. Lizardo and Ms. Morales started
part-time jobs in stores. Ms. Morales, who restocks and folds merchandise
at a department store for $6.75 an hour, said that her job left no time
for homework. "But what's my option?" she said. "My family is not set with
money."

Some students complained about parents who came to this country to work
and want their children to do the same as soon as possible. In some
families, girls in particular are expected to marry young, or at least not
leave home until they marry. "My mother at first said, `You have to start
working like everyone else,' " said Estrellita Garcia, 20, a Spanish major
at California State University in Los Angeles.

"I told her `O.K., I'll start at McDonald's,' but without an education
you'd have a low-paying job all your life," said Ms. Garcia, who
transferred from East Los Angeles Community College and is a full-time
student. "Now she's more supportive, I guess." At City University of New
York, many students complain about a requirement that students pass exit
tests in basic skills before going on to junior year or getting an
associate degree. The test seeks to ensure that students graduate with an
acceptable level of academic literacy, including writing and speaking
English, but some critics say it is an artificial barrier and undermines
students who do not do well on tests.

"There are too many obstacles for the students," said Gisell Savinon, 23,
a former student at Hostos Community College in the Bronx who struggled
with English proficiency. She failed some of the tests repeatedly but is
now on her way to a four-year college. Colleges have come up with a host
of programs to entice and retain Hispanic students, from "Latino floors"
in freshman dormitories to orientation courses.

Institutions like the University of California at Los Angeles are also
aggressively working with community colleges to increase transfers,
something many private schools are doing to increase diversity. With the
right support, administrators at U.C.L.A. and other institutions noted,
graduation rates for Latino students are comparable to those for other
groups.

Rafael Cortez, 24, has hit the bumps that sidetrack many students, but he
has held on. Now a senior and sociology major at U.C.L.A., he plans to
pursue a master's degree in counseling. But it took Mr. Cortez a while to
get it together. He languished at a community college for four years,
attending part time while he worked. He said the minimum-wage job at his
father's factory eventually gave him a new perspective. "You see
hard-working people who are just stuck there," he said. "It made me
realize, this is what happens when you don't go to college."

The transfer to U.C.L.A. was "lonely and intimidating," he said. But he
now works as a peer counselor at East Los Angeles Community College,
trying to attract more transfers to U.C.L.A. The biggest difference
between those who drop out and those who go on, he tells his recruits, is
that those still in school "have made the decision that to make more money
and have a career, this is the way to do it. "It's just a matter of
actually doing it."