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How Latina & Latino Students in STEM Fields Pay for Their College Education Affects Their Success
As the Latino population grows, such students are increasingly a linchpin in state and federal plans to get more students trained in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, according to the latest report from the Center for Urban Education's three-year study documenting the institutional pathways Latinos take in earning STEM baccalaureates.
The report, "Tapping HSI-STEM Funds to Improve Latina and Latino Access to STEM Professions," argues that the achievement gaps at the baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels exist in large part because of finances.
"A lot of discussion about participation hasn't acknowledged that fact," Lindsey E. Malcom, one of the co-authors and an assistant professor at the University of California at Riverside, told the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Latino students are more likely than their peers to come from low-income families - and that affects not only the competing demands on their time and money but also the types of institutions they are most likely to attend.
An infusion of new federal monies - $100 million annually through 2019 - is slated to increase degree attainment in STEM fields at HSIs. The funding comes from the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA) that President Obama signed into law in March 2010.
To read the report, click here. The Chronicle of Higher Education prominently featured a story about the report on November 10, 2010. |
