Pew Hispanic Center

Hispanic College Enrollment Spikes, Narrowing Gaps with Other Groups

24% Growth from 2009 to 2010

August 25, 2011

Driven by a single-year surge of 24% in Hispanic enrollment, the overall number of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college in the United States hit an all-time high of 12.2 million in October 2010, according to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

College-age Hispanics accounted for 1.8 million, or 15%, of the overall enrollment of young adults in two- or four-year colleges in 2010 -- setting records both for their number and share of young college students. More Hispanic young adults enrolled in college from 2009 to 2010 than young blacks and young Asian Americans. The number of young whites enrolling in college decreased during that period.

Rising educational attainment was a dominant driver of the enrollment trends for young Hispanic adults, over the long term as well as in recent years. Hispanic educational attainment rose sharply from 2009 to 2010: the share of Hispanic 18-to-24-year-olds who have completed high school increased to 73% in 2010 from 70% in 2009, and the share of young Hispanic high school graduates who are attending college increased to 44% in 2010 from 39% in 2009.

Read the full report at pewhispanic.org for more details on the factors behind enrollment trends among Hispanics and also for young blacks, whose college enrollment reached its highest level on record in 2010.