DEGREE ELUDES LATINOS 24% FEWER GET THROUGH 4 YEARS.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Latinos lag far behind non-Hispanic whites in completing bachelor's degrees, an achievement gap even larger than the high school graduation gap between the two groups, according to a national study released Wednesday.

The study by the Pew Hispanic Center found that many Latinos who are equally as qualified for college as their non-Hispanic white peers fail to complete university studies because they pick less-challenging schools and live at home rather than on campus, among other factors.

Surprisingly, the quality of Latinos' high school education was not a key factor.

``Colleges and universities are simply not succeeding with Hispanic students to the extent that they are with white students. And inadequate secondary preparation is not to blame,'' said Richard Fry, senior research associate at the center and author of the report, ``Latino Youth Finishing College: The Role of Selective Pathways.''

Fry said Latinos - especially highly qualified students - should not settle for community colleges, where they significantly reduce their chances of getting bachelor's degrees.

``Latino students need to become more aware that if they want a bachelor's degree, they're probably better off at a four-year school.''

The extensive study - based on U.S. Department of Education data - tracked 25,000 students nationwide from 1988, when most were in eighth grade, to 2000. Researchers found that 47 percent of whites who entered college got bachelor's degrees, compared with just 23 percent of Latinos - a gap of 24 percentage points.

Nationally, 82 percent of non-Hispanic white students graduate from high school in four years, compared with 67 percent of Latinos - a 15 percentage-point gap.

Even among the best-prepared Latino students who attend select or more challenging universities, only 60 percent earn a bachelor's degree, compared with 80 percent of their best-prepared white peers, Fry said.

Philip Handler, vice provost for academic affairs at California State University, Northridge, which is about 25 percent Latino, said he wasn't surprised by the results.

And even though Latino graduation rates at CSUN rose nearly 200 percent from 1990 to 2000, Handler said the university community still needed to work harder.

``The effort we're making is to improve the graduation rate for all our students,'' Handler said. ``We're not satisfied with our current graduation rate, but we're working hard.''

Jose Huizar, Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education president, said that while Latino students are more likely to attend crowded high schools, they can catch up academically in college. A bigger problem is that many of them struggle to pay tuition.

State budget cuts have impeded the district's ability to offer outreach programs to help students get to college, improve student-teacher ratios and provide more high school counselors who could steer promising scholars to top schools, Huizar added.

``It begins early. ... Counselors have to begin guiding all students, regardless of racial or economic background, to some of our most elite universities,'' Huizar said.

But Fry said the study found that college selection plays a larger role in graduation success than high school instruction. Researchers found that Latinos are more likely to attend community colleges, which often have lower graduation rates than more selective colleges and universities.

Also, Latinos might not be aware of the steps necessary to gain admission to the more selective colleges and to secure financial aid to pay for the higher tuition.

Nearly 66 percent of Latino high school graduates attend community colleges, compared with 45 percent of white students. But white students who begin at community colleges are nearly twice as likely as Latinos to finish a bachelor's degree, according to the report.

And while the high school dropout rate for Latinos remains high, the study found that most Latinos who graduated from high school - 57 percent - were at least minimally qualified for a four-year school.

Another nonacademic factor inhibiting the college-completion rate for Latinos was home life, the study found. Latino undergraduates are nearly twice as likely as whites to have children or elderly dependents, and they are more likely than their non-Hispanic white peers to be single parents.

They also are more likely to delay starting college and to attend part time, rather than full time.

Other studies have found that living on campus enhances bachelor's degree completion rates, but Latino four-year undergraduates are much more likely than their white peers to live with their parents, instead of on campus.

``The positive news is a lot of Latino families today know that finishing high school isn't enough,'' Fry said. ``There are large numbers of these kids going on to college. In terms of access to the real leadership positions in society and the better, managerial, professional jobs, increasingly you need a college degree.''

For more information about the study, go to the Web site, www.pewhispanic.org

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

LAGGING BEHIND

A Pew Hispanic Center study found Latinos lag far behind whites in completing bachelor's degrees - an achievement gap even larger than the high school completion gap between the two groups. Here are some of the findings:

--Non-Hispanic white students beginning at community colleges are nearly twice as likely to get a bachelor's degree as Latino students beginning at community college.

--Latinos at all levels of college preparation are more likely to enroll in community colleges than in universities.

--Among the best-prepared college students, nearly 60 percent of Latinos chose nonselective or less-challenging schools, compared with 52 percent of whites.

--Among minimally qualified college students, 16 percent of non-Hispanic whites finished a bachelor's degree compared with just 7 percent of Latinos.

--Among highly qualified students, Latinos enroll at top universities at the same rate as their white peers.

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LAGGING BEHIND (see text)