THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELECTED PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE HISPANIC PARTICIPATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

This study examined the demographic characteristics of a sample of Hispanic students enrolled at a Southwestern university. In connection with these data, the analysis proceeded to delineate the relationship between some selected personal characteristics and the reasons that influenced their decision to enroll in higher education. It was found that Hispanic students that come to the university directly from high school and those that transfer from community colleges were very similar demographically, linguistically and academically speaking. Moreover, the reasons that influenced their decision to continue their education at the university level were identical. Those were: (1) Training in your career interest. (2) Overall training. (3) Quality of course instruction. (4) Professional competence of professors. (5) Expense of the institution. (6) Intellectual stimulation provided by climate. At a deeper level, there were four main factors that underlied the dimensions for their reasons to enroll in higher education. Those were: Factor I "Democratic environment and facilities", Factor II "Internal and external cultural features", Factor III "Academic quality of the institution" and Factor IV "Social life of the institution." The statistical results of whether there were sex, socio-economic and language differences with the four factors, showed that the interaction of sex and language background of the respondent had an effect on "Democratic environment and facilities." The effects of socio-economic index and the language spoken at home were found significant on "Internal and external cultural features." The best predictor for the four factors was the socio-economic index. Based on these results, it is recommended that research efforts be expanded to Hispanics in other geographical areas, other levels within higher education and to students of other ethnic groups.