Latina/o Postsecondary Education: Trends in Racial/Ethnic Education Gaps and the Role of Citizenship in Access to Higher Education.

ABSTRACT: Black-Latina/o and White-Latina/o bachelor's degree gaps persist in the United States despite substantial increases in Latina/o educational attainment since the late 1950s. The Latina/o population has grown rapidly in recent decades and currently comprises more than 20% of the U.S. population; however, barriers to citizenship have grown in tandem and have limited access to higher education. Using data from the U.S. Census (1950-2010) and the American Community Survey (2015-2017), we examine trends in Black-Latina/o and White-Latina/o college completion gaps and factors that may explain them. We find that college enrollment differences explain the majority of the bachelor's degree gaps. We then decompose enrollment gaps by differences in enrollment by citizenship and find that if the Latina

SUBMITTER: Dyer S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10990005 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature