| Bachelor's Degrees Earned by U.S. Hispanics | |||
| Top fields of study |
1988 |
1998 |
Percent change |
| Business |
6,987 |
12,487 |
78.7 |
| Social Sciences |
3,618 |
8,167 |
125.7 |
| Education |
2,293 |
4,369 |
90.5 |
| Engineering |
2,458 |
3,719 |
51.3 |
| Health professions |
1,386 |
3,324 |
139.8 |
| Biological/life sciences |
1,254 |
3,207 |
155.7 |
| Source: American Council on Education, "Minorities in Higher Education 2000-2001" | |||
But Ms. Martinez Tucker worries about the growing weight of economic factors. One of the most critical problems is the rise in higher-education costs, especially as a percentage of household income.
Over the past two decades, she says, the cost of putting one child through college has grown proportionally higher for low-income households than for middle- and upper-income households. In 1979–1980, the cost to send one child to college represented 39 percent of a low-income household’s annual income, compared with 12 percent for middle-income and 5 percent for upper-income households. Twenty years later, the cost to send one child to college represents 61 percent of the annual income of a low-income household, compared with 17 percent for middle-income and 5 percent for upper-income households.
“It is the lower average income that affects the lower per capita spending by Hispanics on education,” says Adela de la Torre, director of the Mexican American Studies & Research Center at the University of Arizona. “I would suspect as you look at the distribution of educational spending across the spectrum of income levels, you will see similar spending patterns on education for white non-Hispanics.” Ms. de la Torre sees the problem surfacing long before college, however. “There have been countless studies that show that as education increases for Hispanics, so does income,” she says. “Thus, as we correct the K–12 pipeline, particularly for those at the lowest level of the income stream, the marginal return on educational income spending should increase.”
The consequences of Hispanic academic achievement ripple far beyond the U.S. Hispanic community. Mr. Flores of HACU says improvement in educational attainment among Hispanics, including those in the middle class, is essential for the entire U.S. economy, which will increasingly rely on the Hispanic work force.
“We have to invest more in education so our economy competes well with the rest of the world,” Mr. Flores says. “Society expects us to get more education to be competitive.”
