Hispanic students now have the second highest college enrollment rate, after Asian students, according to data released last week from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Data from 2012 shows that about 48 percent of recent Hispanic high school graduates that were not enrolled as graduate or vocational school students were enrolled incollege at the undergraduate level, compared to about 46 percent of white students and about 43 percent of black students. Asians continue to have the highest rate at about 61 percent.
Hispanic students now make up about 20 percent of the total undergraduate population of college students aged 15-24 nationwide.
UCLA also shows the same trend in its enrollment.
Hispanic students made up roughly 17 percent of the undergraduate population last year, according to a UC report. In 2011, only about 15.8 percent of undergraduates were Hispanic.
The increase in Hispanic student enrollment can be partly attributed to the recent increase in immigration from Latin American countries,said Alex Ortega, a public health professor and an associate director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.
“The first possible reason is the sheer population growth,” said Julie Siebens, a statistician for the U.S. Census Bureau.
Siebens added that the Hispanic population is on average younger than the white non-Hispanic population. As a result, more young Hispanic students are likelyto apply to college.
At the UC, however, Hispanic enrollment is still not representative of state demographics.
Proposition 209, a voter initiative passed in 1996, hasimpacted the UC’s ability to enroll students from underrepresented groups,Ortega said.
Proposition 209 prohibits state institutions, such as the UC, from considering race, sex or ethnicity in school admissions.
Hispanic and black enrollment at UCLA declined for years after the passing of Proposition 209.In 1995, black students made up 6.7 percent of freshmen entering UCLA, while Hispanic students made up 22.4 percent. In 1998, the black enrollment rate fell to 3.5 percent and the Hispanic enrollment rate fell to 11 percent.
To make up for the decline in underrepresented groups, UCLA has been trying other ways to increase campus diversity. UCLA can encourage underrepresented groups to apply to UCLA with scholarships and other concerted efforts, Ortega said.
UCLA Student Affairs and the UCLA Early Academic Outreach Program hold many programs for prospective high school students from underrepresented families. These programs may help underrepresented students perform well in school, including tutoring, mentoring and family workshops.
“While we are doing a little better to enroll more underrepresented students, we have not overcome the results of Proposition 209,” Ortega said.