Latina/o/x community college student engagement: a quantitative study of goal to transfer

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Date
2020-12
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Publisher
University of Alabama Libraries
Abstract

The Hispanic community within the U.S. has steadily grown over the last few decades. People identifying as Latina/o/x are already the largest minority population and are projected to become 29% of the U.S. population by the year 2050 (Salinas, 2015). Since 1980, the number of school age children within the Latina/o/x community increased from 8.1% to 25%. Additionally, the Latina/o/x student population in states such as California, New Mexico, and Texas has already accounted for more than half of all school children (Gandara, 2017). As these children approach college going years, it is reasonable to assume that the number of students seeking immediate college entry will increase. According to the recent data, 26% of enrolled students (the second largest ethnic population) at over 1,000 community colleges identify as Hispanic (American Association of Community Colleges, 2020). This confirmatory quantitative study sought to test a new hypothetical conceptual model of factors on first-generation and non-first-generation Hispanic community college students. It also sought to go beyond the benchmarks used in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), to test re-conceptualized CCSSE factors that increase likelihood of not a goal to transfer to a four-year institution. The results indicated that while first-generation students were more likely to indicated a goal to transfer and to have a higher overall GPA, non-first-generation students were more engaged in their community colleges. Further, factors of engagement were predictive of an intent not to transfer to a four-year institution.

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Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Keywords
Higher education, Hispanic American studies, Latin American studies
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