The Clock is Ticking
With nearly 13 million Hispanics in the United States under the age of 18, America’s higher education system is bracing for an influx of new students.
By Kristin Bagnato
Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, and the recent influx of Hispanics has turned some states into “majority-minority” populations. Texas has announced that it has joined California, New Mexico and Hawaii in the club, with a 50.2 percent minority population.
According to March 2002 U.S. Census Department data, there are nearly 37.5 million Hispanics in the United States. That’s one in eight across the country. While the survey also found that two in five Hispanics in the United States were born somewhere else, that statistic will change drastically over the next generation, when the 34.4 percent of Hispanics who are under age 18 grow up and raise families.
So where does all this number-crunching get us? To postsecondary education. That 34.4 percent of Hispanic children in elementary and secondary schools now will soon be old enough for college. But will college be ready for them? If not, an enormous number of Hispanic youth will go underserved, which will surely have far-reaching consequences as these children grow up and join the work force.
