Fewer Latino Students Select Four-Year Colleges

"I wanted a full experience of going to a four-year college," says Doris Gonzalez Gomez, 21, who currently attends Oregon State University. According to an unpublished analysis of federal education data by the Pew Hispanic center, Latinos are the least likely of any other major racial or ethnic group to attend a four-year college or university.

—Stephen Voss for Education Week

By Mary Ann Zehr

Washington

By attending Oregon State University rather than a community college, 21-year-old Doris Gonzalez Gomez has taken a step out of the norm for many Latinos to boost her prospects to earn a bachelor’s degree.

When Latinos go to college, they are less likely than any other major racial or ethnic group to attend a four-year college or university, according to an unpublished analysis of federal education data by the Pew Hispanic Center . That’s a concern to educators because students who start at community colleges are less likely than their peers beginning postsecondary studies at four-year institutions to earn bachelor’s degrees, which statistics show typically translate into better pay in the labor market.

Ms. Gonzalez is an intern this summer for U.S. Congresswoman Judy Chu, a Democrat from California. She’s among 30 Latinos selected by the Washington-based Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute to be interns on Capitol Hill this summer. All but one of the interns...