The purpose of the discussion was to focus on ways to sustain, replicate and expand such programs despite tough economic times.

The Dual Enrollment program has not been without its share of challenges, Free said.

For instance, the parents of many students viewed student loans strictly as a debt instead of an investment that will more than likely reap returns. Or they would pressure the students to return home and babysit or go to work to help their families.

“We hoped we would not find what we had heard,” Free said of a common observation that, among Latino families, family obligations often take precedence over post-secondary education. “We hoped it was a myth,” Free said. But it wasn’t.

Consequently, Free said, Nunez, the president at Eastern, will start to hold special meetings with parents of students in the program to emphasize the importance of not interrupting their children’s college experience, especially during exams.

Free also said, due to fiscal constraints, coordinators of the Dual Enrollment program are forced to target resources toward students who are likely to succeed in the program. Data show those students exclude students who placed in ESL in writing, and those who can’t knock out their remedial courses in one semester.

“We just don’t have the resources that they need,” Free said.

Still, the program has made a measurable impact on the graduation rate among Latino students, raising the six-year rate from 42 to 58 percent and the four-year rate from 23 to 31 percent, according to statistics Free shared at the workshop.

Other panelists at the “Growing Latino Student Success” panel included Rudy McCormick III, director of Early Academic Outreach and the College Academy for Parents at the University of Arizona.

McCormick said the initiatives are meant to engage Latino families and inform them about the higher education process when their children are still in middle school so that they take the right courses in high school in order to make it to college.