Ethnic diversity and Latino/a college access: A comparison of Mexican American and Puerto Rican beginning college students.

Abstract

University of Texas at San AntonioPrior research has indicated that there are differences among the diverse Latino/a ethnicgroups in their K-12 educational experiences, but little is known about variations intheir postsecondary experiences. Drawing on a conceptual framework informed by thetheory of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this research examined Mexican Amer-ican and Puerto Rican students’ college choice and enrollment patterns using theBeginning Postsecondary Students: 04/06 national data set ( n 1,620). Descriptivendings indicated several notable differences between the two ethnic groups, includingage and access to cultural, nancial, and academic capital. Most notably, MexicanAmerican rst-time beginning college students were almost twice as likely as theirPuerto Rican counterparts to start postsecondary education at 2-year institutions.Results of logistic regression analyses revealed that Mexican American and PuertoRicans’ decisions to enroll at a 2- or a 4-year institution were uniquely inuenced bystudents’ age, cultural capital, academic capital, and quantity and quality of collegesconsidered. Broader contextual factors that could enhance or hinder Mexican Ameri-cans’ and Puerto Ricans’ educational access to 4-year institutions, including citizenshipstatus and geographical location, are also addressed. Implications for promoting edu-cational equity among Latino/as and for promoting racial/ethnic diversity in postsec-ondary institutions are discussed.Keywords:

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