Hispanic College Enrollment Surges

Pew Hispanic Center

The number of Hispanic college students increased 24 percent in one year, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released Thursday.

Hispanics age 18-24 now outnumber black students of the same age on college campuses. Nearly 350,000 more Hispanics were enrolled in college 2010 than in 2009, according to U.S. Census Bureau Data analyzed by Pew.

Pew attributed the gains more to rising educational attainment than population growth.

However, Hispanics earn bachelor degrees at a lesser rate than other ethnic and racial groups. Just 13 percent of Hispanic 25- to 29-year-olds had earned a bachelor’s degree, compared to 53 percent of Asians, 39 percent of whites and 19 percent of blacks in the same age group.

Hispanic graduation rates have reached an all-time high of 85.1 percent, Pew noted.