WASHINGTON - Hispanics between the ages of 16 and 25 are more likely to be in school or in the work force today than in 1970, but their aspirations of earning a university degree remain modest, according to two new studies from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Based on information gathered from a nationwide telephone survey, Pew concluded that although nine of 10 young Hispanics consider higher education to be an important stepping stone to success in life, only five of 10 plan to apply for college and pursue a university degree.

According to the Washington-based think tank, the reason for the gap between the value Latinos place on education and their more modest aspirations for finishing college is that many feel pressure to support their families financially, with some three-fourths of the respondents giving that as their reason for abandoning their studies.

Other motives include poor knowledge of English - cited by almost half of the respondents who gave up their schooling -, a dislike of school, and a sense that a higher education is unnecessary for the careers they want to pursue.

Yet eight of every 10 Hispanic university students characterized their experience at those institutions as "very good" and say they are receiving a high-quality education.

In one of the studies, titled "Latinos and Education: Explaining the Attainment Gap," the Pew Hispanic Center said "Latino schooling in the U.S. has long been characterized by high dropout rates and low college completion rates," adding that "both problems have moderated over time, but a persistent educational attainment gap remains between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites."

The survey found that "there actually are two different gaps in the educational aspirations of the young."

The first is between Hispanics aged 18-25 and the overall U.S. population in that same age group, with 48 percent of the former expecting to earn at least a college degree compared with 60 percent among the latter group.

The second gap is even bigger and is between young Latinos who are immigrants - more than a third of the total - and those who were born in the United States.

Less than 30 percent of immigrant Latinos aged 18-25 say they plan to pursue a college degree, while among the latter group that percentage rises to 60 percent.

The high value that young Hispanics place on higher education is due in part to the positive attitudes of their parents toward college, according to 77 percent of those surveyed.

Nevertheless, a majority of Hispanic adults over the age of 26 who were polled say Latino parents do not play a big enough role in their children's schooling. That was the reason given by 61 percent of those respondents for why Latino students do not perform in school as well as other groups.

The Pew Hispanic Center complemented the conclusions of the first study with another report, titled "The Changing Pathways of Hispanic Youths Into Adulthood," which said that Hispanics today are more likely to be working, going to school or serving in the military than their counterparts in earlier generations.

Whereas in 1970, 77 percent of Latinos were taking part in these "skill-building endeavors," in 2007 that percentage had climbed to 86 percent.

Hispanics' increasing involvement in school, the work world and the military has been mainly driven by the changes in the aspirations of young Latino women - nearly half of whom are enrolled in a college or university, compared with roughly one-third three decades ago.

In addition, the participation of young female Hispanics in the labor force grew from 40 percent to 54 percent between 1970 and 2007.

Even so, 19 percent of young Latino women were not in school or working in 2007. This is the result of motherhood in some cases, although birthrates among young Hispanic women have fallen steadily since 1970.

Census Bureau data show that 33 percent of Hispanics between the ages of 18 and 24 are enrolled in university. EFE

Source: laht.com