A new survey of current Latino college students and recent graduates found that while many see higher ed as a route to fulfilling major life goals, most have struggled with food insecurity and considered stopping out, among other challenges.
The survey of 3,000 Latinos between the ages of 18 and 35 was conducted by BSP Research, a research and polling firm, on behalf of UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. It was fielded online in English and Spanish, with extra focus on students from Arizona, California, Florida and Texas.
The results, released Tuesday, reveal that Latino students have positive views of college. The survey showed their top motivations for pursuing higher education were getting well-paying jobs, working toward more fulfilling careers and providing better lives for their families. And most respondents saw a college degree as important to meeting those goals.
But once they reach college, those students face a host of obstacles.
Eric Rodriguez, senior vice president of policy and advocacy at UnidosUS, noted that while a fifth of the country’s undergraduates are Latinos and their numbers are rising, their graduation rates still lag behind those of their peers.
The findings “reaffirm some things that we’ve long known about the barriers to completion that many Latino students are experiencing,” Rodriguez said at a news briefing. “But it also sheds new light” on these problems and shows they’re “much deeper than many of us have expected.”
Financial Barriers
The vast majority of Latino students, 94 percent, receive some form of financial aid, and 83 percent rely on two or more forms of aid to pay for college, the survey found.
Most respondents—85 percent—also reported lacking consistent access to affordable, nutritious food. Half had food insecurity issues “a few times a week” or “daily.” Those shares were even higher among certain student groups, including single parents (63 percent) and low-income students with family incomes between $30,000 and $50,000 (54 percent).
Yet only 45 percent of respondents who lacked food applied for federal food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Of the remaining 55 percent who didn’t apply, 45 percent—including many low-income students—believed they were ineligible for the program.
Meanwhile, most Latino students, 80 percent, work while in college; 49 percent said they hold part-time jobs and 26 percent work full-time.
Deborah Santiago, CEO of Excelencia in Education, an organization that seeks to improve academic outcomes for Latino students, said many of these students are stuck “having to balance the economic investment of higher education with … the day-to-day costs of living” and “the fragility of trying to do it all.”
“The fact that they’re choosing to work … and going to school shows the value of higher ed” to these students—“and their commitment,” she said. “And yet the structural issues can really challenge meeting that dream.”
Financial Aid Troubles
One of the structural issues the survey highlighted was students’ challenges in understanding and filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Three-quarters of respondents had filed the FAFSA while in college. But among those who didn’t, the top reasons they gave for skipping it were: they weren’t familiar with it; they didn’t believe they were eligible because of their age, family citizenship status or other factors; or they thought their family income was too high to qualify. But some of those students were mistaken: 22 percent of respondents with family incomes under $29,000 and 21 percent of those with family incomes between $30,000 and $50,000 thought those incomes made them ineligible.
Latino students were also particularly challenged by the fraught, error-ridden rollout of the new FAFSA. Among respondents who filled out the application for the 2023–24 academic year, 43 percent struggled with technical problems, including 52 percent of students who had previously stopped out of college and 46 percent who were already enrolled. Meanwhile, 77 percent of students with household incomes of $29,000 or below reported that technical issues with the FAFSA somewhat or strongly influenced their decisions about college.
“These FAFSA problems created strong barriers to accessing financial aid and accessing higher education because of the uncertainty that it created for students,” Anaís X. López, senior analyst at BSP Research, said at the briefing.
Political Climate
On a more positive note, most respondents reported feeling “comfortable” or a “strong sense of belonging” in college.
Fifty-three percent weren’t aware of recent attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts or free speech within higher ed, though 47 percent knew of at least one example, including administrators censoring students or professors, closing affinity centers, banning protests and eliminating DEI initiatives.
Among those who had heard of such efforts, 44 percent said they felt more motivated to get involved in issues they cared about, while 40 percent reported they were less motivated and 16 percent said it had no impact on their motivation.
However, Latino students expressed concern about last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court decision barring race-conscious admissions. Most respondents, 72 percent, worried the decision could mean fewer Latino students admitted to colleges and universities, while 60 percent reported fear that the decision would reduce diversity on campuses more broadly.
Respondents also widely supported certain policies, including tuition-free college and student loan forgiveness.
Consequences and Action Steps
All the barriers—financial and emotional—take a toll.
Two-thirds of Latino students said they had considered stopping out of college, and about a third did take a leave of absence. Those percentages were higher for single parents; 77 percent considered leaving college and 44 percent had done so. Among students with household incomes of $29,000 or below, 74 percent had thought about stopping out while 42 percent had done it. Most LGBTQ+ Latino students—71 percent—also considered leaving, while 39 percent actually left and 15 percent had yet to return. The most common reasons respondents cited for considering leaving college were mental health and emotional stress, loss of motivation, and an inability to afford the costs.
Santiago hopes surveys like this one result in concrete action steps from higher ed institutions to improve academic outcomes for Latino students. Those include efforts to help students apply for SNAP and other benefit programs, financial incentives for students who stay continuously enrolled and initiatives to lower college costs.
The focus should be on “not just where are we … but then, what do we do about it?” Santiago said. “What’s the institutions’ role? What’s policy’s role? Not just how do students accommodate a system that isn’t working for them, but how does the system meet them part of the way there?”