Latino Students Negotiation Paper

As the population of Latinos grows in this country so will the enrollment rate of Latino students. There is a growing trend of more and more Latinos attending colleges. However, there are still many barriers to success for Latino Students. While many still struggle making it to a university or college, retention is still a major concern. The goal of this paper will examine what the Latino student experience is for student entering higher education and what student affairs is doing to address these issues. The paper will first examine the experiences of minorities in education in order to gain a basic understanding. The paper will then examine what the current experience and issues that face many Latino students. The paper will also briefly …show more content…
Campus climate has a large effect on a student’s marker for success (Harper & Hurtado, 2007; Terenzini et al, 1994; Hurtado, 1994; Hurtado & Carter, 1996; Locks, Hurtado, Bowman, & Oseguera, 2008). Minority students can feel many different factors on a campus. Minority students have remarked that the only reason to stay at a certain university was in order to change its climate (Harper & Hurtado, 2007). If the campus is not welcoming or does not have specific programs or departments to deal with minority students, it can hinder retention. Minority students are more likely to leave school because of the transition adjustments than their white counterparts (Terenzini et al., 1994; Ortiz, 2004). While the general case for minority students can be bleak a closer examination for Latinos in college paints a very similar …show more content…
Close to 12% of Latinos are attending college (Torres 2003). Yet these students still face a varying amount of challenges. Culture seems to be the first challenge that most students seem to encounter. Latinos grew up in a bi-culturally and have to constantly navigate two different worlds (Torres, 2003; Torres, 1999). This provides to very challenging when Latinos make it to college. Latinos have to assert their identity and fight common stereotypes when they are in college. There is also an identity development process that can be very challenging for many students. A process that will be touched upon later in this paper. Language also proves to be a cultural factor in adjusting to college (Ortiz, 2004; Torres, 2003; Longerbeam et al., 2004). For some students, Spanish is a salient aspect of their identity. Latino student have to be able to speak Spanish in order to feel connected to their identity. This can prove to be difficult for Latino student that have difficulty speaking Spanish or are not fluent. For some Latino students, it can make or break their sense of belonging to a Latino student community (Torres,