New Study Finds That Latinos Are Critically Lacking in Financial Aid Awareness
By Susan Corsini, The Sallie Mae Fund

Awareness of financial aid options is critically lacking in the Latino community, and that lack of awareness has a direct impact on college attendance. That is one of the key findings from a new survey conducted by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California and commissioned by The Sallie Mae Fund.

By 2050, one in four Americans will be of Latino descent, according to U.S. Census estimates.
At 13 percent of the U.S. population, Latinos now make up the largest and the fastest growing minority group. While nearly 90 percent of survey respondents indicated that a college education is “very important” for success in today’s world, Latino enrollment in college is lagging far behind the population at large. If the current status of Latinos in higher education continues, this country could face serious socioeconomic challenges in the years ahead.

The survey findings corroborate results from a Harris Poll®, commissioned by The Sallie Mae Fund in 2002, which revealed that knowledge about financial aid is a key predictor in determining the likelihood of college attendance among various ethnic groups.

The study (the largest to date on Latinos in higher education) found that there was a direct correlation between awareness of financial aid and college attendance. In fact, 75 percent of those who had not gone to college indicated that they would have been more likely to attend if they had better information on financial aid. In addition, 77 percent of those who were in college were at least familiar with some financial aid options, compared to only 50 percent of those who were not.

“College aspiration is high within the Latino community, but financial aid knowledge is the missing link,” said Harry Pachon, Ph.D., president of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute. “The Sallie Mae Fund’s initiative is most welcome at this critical time."

According to the study, many Latino families are not adequately planning for college prior to the end of high school. More than two thirds of Latino parents did not receive any financial aid while their child was in K-12 and more than half (56 percent) of the young adults who were not attending college indicated that they had not received any financial aid information in K-12. Strikingly, 75 percent of young adults who had not gone to college indicated that they may have attended college if they had better college financial aid information.

Nearly 65 percent of Latino families prefer to learn about financial aid from face-to-face interactions (for example, workshops or meetings with high school or college personnel).

The survey also found that most Latino parents (51 percent) would prefer to learn about financial aid in Spanish, while most Latino young adults (62 percent) would prefer English as a communication medium.

The survey findings affirm the direction of The Sallie Mae Fund’s outreach initiatives launched in 2003. These existing initiatives have been expanded to help raise awareness of financial aid and tailor financial assistance toward educational access for Latinos.

In addition to these initiatives, The Sallie Mae Fund provides a toll-free number (1-866-858-7166) and Web site, www.thesalliemaefund.org, for students and parents to order free financial aid guides in English and Spanish.

For further details on the study, or to find out about The Sallie Mae Fund’s outreach initiatives, visit www.thesalliemaefund.org.