Executive Summary

Why is this book important to Latinos and to the staff of colleges and universities? First, to succeed in the United States and in the world economy, one will have to be highly educated. In fact, now that the world economy is based on an information society, a college education is a must. Technology will advance the future rapidly and create new opportunitites presently not known. College-educated persons will be better prepared to compete in such a society. Moreover, there is an advantage factor. Those persons who have a college education will earn more money over the span of their careers than those without a college education. As shown in this book, the latest reports (as of this writing, 1997) by the Census Bureau find that Latino men with a college degree earn about $11,000 more a year than do non-college educated Latinos ($31,635 versus $20,617). Throughout a forty-year working lifetime, this difference is over $440,000. Similarly, Latina women with a college degree earn roughly $28,550 a year, whereas women high school graduates earn only $14,747. Again looking at it from a working lifespan, this constitutes a difference of $550,000.

Second, it is important that an increasing number of Latinos go to college and graduate because up to this point Latinos have been badly underrepresentated, not just in the student body but also in faculty and administrative positions. Since the late 1960s, when Latinos began to be admitted into college in slightly greater numbers as a result of the civil rights movement, the national average of Latino enrollments has been about 10 to 20 percent. In 1999 the Educational Testing Service (ETS) reported that only 22 % were enrolled in college. Of this small number, between 60 and 80 % are enrolled in two year technical or community colleges. And the statistics get worse: of the low percentage of Latinos admitted to college, only about 5 to 10 percent graduate with a four year college degree. Again in 1999 ETS reported that only 8.9 % of this population group completed four years of college. Few go on to graduate education for a terminal and/or professional degree (4 to 5 %), and only about 2 to 3% successfully finish their program of study.

America needs well-educated Latinos; it is predicted that we are going to be the largest population subgroup and workforce of tomorrow. By the year 2004, the Census Bureau is estimating that Latinos in the United States will overtake African Americans in number and thus be second only to the white population.

Last, with the recent attack on affirmative action, it is becoming more difficult for Latinos to access a college education. Moreover, state financial support of public colleges and universities is diminishing. The cost of a college education is increasing. More people are applying to college because the total population is growing, and they see that a college education is critical for getting a good job. To make matters worse for Latinos and other persons of color, there is a growing change of attitude-a negative point of view, anti-affirmative action, anti-civil rights that puts the burden on Latinos to work twice as hard to be considered good enough or equal to Anglos. This may not seem fair, but it has been our situation for many generations. Yet the current generation of Latinos believes that our youth are up to the challenge and will be successful. This book is written to help you succeed.

The information in this book is provided to assist Latinos who are thinking about going to college. It will help you prepare, apply, find financial support, study, and pass the courses, and participate in extracurricular activities in order to graduate from college. The book is divided into four parts and is organized by steps. The information provided is current and highly useful. This is due primarily to the expertise and experience of all the contributing writers.

Part I: Preparing for College discusses the first three steps you need to think about and do in order to be admitted to college. Step 1 identifies ten new ways of thinking about colleges; these will get you psychologically ready to succeed in college. Step 1 also tells you about getting ready for the SAT or ACT exams. Step 2 provides helpful forms to fill out, tips to use, and a sample letter to write in your efforts to select a college. Step 3 gives information about how to qualify for certain types of financial aid, the application process, where you can get financial aid, and the different types of financial assistance. It also lists Web addresses and toll-free telephone numbers

Part II: On Campus has five steps that focus on how to get a good student and successfully meet the requirements of your program of study and, thus, graduate. Step 4 explains the usefulness of the college catalog, campus policies, and new student orientation programs, and also gives academic strategies for being a better student. Step 5 is a guide to being an active learner, manager of time, builder of a support group, eliminator of stress, setter of goals, listener and note taker, test taker, and writer of formal papers. Step 6 gives tips about services on and off campus, particularly via the computer and the Internet, and choosing mentors. Step7 provides information about your rights as a student on campus. Specifically, it covers class attendance, course syllabus and requirements, adding and dropping a class, requesting an incomplete grade, early withdrawal from class, and petitions for action. Step 8 tells about the three types of extracurricular activities: academics, athletic, and social/cultural. There are benefits and disadvantages from extracurricular involvement, but generally there are more advantage.

Part III: "How I Did It" provides vignettes from notable Latinos representing various backgrounds. All tell their story of how they made it through college. You, as a reader, should be able to relate to at least one of these persons. Their stories provide the messages that every one can make it, if they work hard and sincerely want to be a college graduate. As the great Latino labor organizer César Chávez would say when facing enormous challenges, "Si se puede!" It can be done.

Part IV: College and University Directory provides information about the top 50 universities and top 20 community colleges in the United States and top 5 Puerto Rican institutions that graduate the most Latinos. Also provided are lists of the top 10 universities and top 10 community colleges with the highest percentage of Latinos enrolled. These are the places that other Latinos have identified as good colleges to consider making application to. Read Step 2 when viewing these lists.

Just as the progess of each generation is dependent upon the achievements of the preceding generation, so too is the advancement of families and of individuals. That is, for many Latino families, previous family members were unskilled laborers, many of whom migrated to the United States from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central America, and South America. Other Latinos, like Cubans, were forced to leave their homeland because of political conflicts. In the past, each succeeding generation has been able to move up in social/economic status from unskilled to skilled, from low income to middle class. We, as a generation of the latter half of the twentieth century, opened the college doors for the twenty-first-century generation of Latinos. You, the new generation of Latinos, are now at a stage when you can join the ranks of the professionals in large numbers. But to reach this point, Latino youth will have to not just graduate from a four-year undergraduate program, but will have to go on and earn a terminal/professional degree. The college gates are now open. So it is your turn. Go through the door. And in so doing, work to make sure future generations of Latinos will get a better college education. Each Latino/a has not only a personal responsibility to him or herself and to his or her family but to society and future generations.