Higher education: understanding the identity and retention of Latino(a) students

The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes of the undergraduate Latino(a) students currently enrolled at Rowan University during the 2012 spring semester. More specifically, the two-part study focused on how they identify as Latino(a), their experiences at Rowan as Latinos, their views on Latino(a) role models, the influences that encouraged/motivated them to continue their college journey and their views of the services and programming that can help them graduate. Student attitudes were gathered through a mixed method, a survey administered to 437 undergraduate Latino(a) students and individual interviews were administered to six Latino(a) students from the United Latino Association. Results of the survey and of key themes revealed that their experience while in higher education was satisfactory, while a comparable number of students were uncertain. Latino(a) mentors/role models are important in higher education, family and parental influence are very strong among the Latino(a) students, and Rowan University programming/services can encourage/motivate Latino(a) students to graduate by offering more financial aid support, scholarships, more activities on Hispanic culture, networking, and clear communication.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. Higher Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Services, Administration, and Higher Education

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Jimenez, Nelcy

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sisco, Burton

• Hispanic Americans--Education (Higher)
• Higher Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/223

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rdw.rowan.edu:etd-1222