In 2011, the number of 18- to 24-year-old Hispanics enrolled in college exceeded 2 million for the first time and reached a record 16.5% share of all college enrollments.
Hispanics are the largest minority group on the nation’s college campuses, a milestone first achieved last year. But as their growth among all college-age students continues to outpace other groups, Hispanics are now, for the first time, the largest minority group among the nation’s four-year college and university students. Hispanics also made up one-quarter (25.2%) of 18- to 24-year-old students enrolled in two-year colleges.
In the nation’s public schools, Hispanics also reached new milestones. For the first time, one-in-four (24.7%) public elementary school students were Hispanic, following similar milestones reached recently by Hispanics among public kindergarten students (in 2007) and public nursery school students (in 2006). Among all pre-K through 12th grade public school students, a record 23.9% were Hispanic in 2011.
The new milestones reflect a number of continuing upward trends. Between 1972 and 2011, the Latino share of 18- to 24-year-old college students steadily grew—rising from 2.9% to 16.5%. During the same period, among all public school students, the Latino share grew from 6.0% to 23.9%. Read More