Latinos at community colleges

Abstract

Community colleges serve as the point of entry for the majority of Latinos in higher education, offering low‐cost, smaller‐scale educational opportunities in the communities where students live and providing the preparation for four‐year colleges and universities that may have been lacking in their K–12 education. The challenges to community colleges in providing services to Latinos are great, but their potential to facilitate the achievement of Latinos is vast.

Achieving a College Education: The Psychological Experiences of Latina/o Community College Students

“…This is consistent with other research on the attributes of community colleges that make them appealing for Latinos and other minorities: affordability, convenient class schedule permitting students to work, and open admissions (Martinez & Fernandez, 2004; Sullivan, 2007). Here are some typical comments by participants:

Well, it was the price, but also I didn’t want to jump into a university, because you know, I didn’t exactly know what I was getting into.

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The reliability and validity of the cultural congruity and university environment scales with Chicana/o community college students

“…The item response frequency and the consistent reliability coefficients together may suggest the measures are applicable to the experiences of Chicana/o community college students. Although the cultural experiences of Latina/o undergraduates and community college students differ (Martinez & Fernández, 2004), the results suggest scale equivalence (Quintana et al, 2001) for use with students at different education levels or types of institutions (e.g., 2-year community college vs. 4-year university).…”

Critical Resilience, Schooling Processes, and the Academic Success of Mexican Americans in a Community College

“…Community colleges play a major role in the success or failure of Latinos students (Fry, 2002;Kurlaender, 2006;Martinez & Fernández, 2004;Suarez, 2003). The question is no longer simply one of minority access, it is how to help students survive and thrive in an academic environment.…”