FACTS BEHIND HENA
HIGHER EDUCATION FOR A NEW AMERICA
• In 40 years, there will be more Latino children in the United States public schools than Anglo children.
• Last fall, for the first time, the majority of first graders in Texas were Latinos
• In 10 years, these children will be entering college
• Today, only 13 percent of Hispanics 25 years and older have a bachelor’s degree.
• Today, nearly nine out of 10 low-income, first-generation students leave college within six years and don’t have a degree
• In 8 years, the U.S. economy will need 22 million new workers with college degrees, but it is projected we will fall short by at least 3 million.
• Mexican Americans and first-generation students face unique challenges:
- Parental pressures to quit school and go to work
- Assimilation in classrooms and residence halls
- Lack of academic preparation
- An aversion to loans, even when one can demonstrate the return on educational investment
• 63 percent of OLLU’s students are Mexican Americans, five times the national average
• 60 percent are first-generation, twice the national average
• A study by USC named OLLU among the top 25 nationally for educating Latinos in STEM fields.
Sources: U.S. Census, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. News & World Report, Houston Chronicle, Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System, OLLU Office of Institutional Research, and the University of Southern California.