The researchers recommended focusing on three critical transition points, when Chicano students’ educational progress is most likely to get derailed. According to the study, Chicano high school students must be prepared for college, community college students must be ready to transfer to four-year schools, and undergraduates must be primed to make the jump to graduate school.
In California, 40 percent of Latinos who enroll in community colleges aspire to transfer to a four-year college or university. However, less than 10 percent of these students reach their goal of transferring to a four-year college.
“This is a tremendous talent loss to the state of California and the nation,” Yosso says.
Once at a four-year university, Chicano college students tend to experience higher levels of stress than other undergraduate students. They generally balance schoolwork with off-campus employment, which limits the students’ time to speak with professors during office hours, ask an academic counselor for guidance or participate in academic enrichment, tutoring or research programs.
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