Factors associated with Latino/a retention and GPA at a predominantly White university

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: Society's increased dependence on higher education has put many people of color at a disadvantage, as they continue to be disproportionately underrepresented in academia despite efforts to increase diversity and enrollment of Latino/as in public universities (Jones, Castellanos, & Cole, 2002). The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Latino/a students at a predominantly White university with a high Latino/a retention rate. Also explored, were the relationships between social support, sense of belonging, familismo, and the university environment and how they impact retention and grades. Data was gathered from 93 Latino/a undergraduate students.

Findings and Conclusions: Descriptive analyses, correlational analyses, t-tests, and a two-way factorial ANOVA were utilized to get a thorough picture of Latino/a students at the southwestern public university at which the study was conducted. Of the participants who completed the Fall 2008 semester, 87% of participants completed the Spring 2010 semester. Participants were highly homogenous and most were highly acculturated, had high sense of belonging and social support, and perceived the university environment as welcoming. The majority of these students were not first-generation college students and had at least one prior generation born in the US. On average, Latino/a students not born in the US had the lowest GPAs and made up 36.4% of the group who did not complete the Spring 2010 semester. This study calls attention to the need for further research on retention in a more diverse sample of Latino/as.