Although Hispanic students are attending and graduating from college in greater numbers, much of this growth is linked directly to their population growth. Other research has looked for ways to address these problems. For most Americans, however, the educational gateway to opportunity is a 4-year college degree.
Communication problems abound.
The problems range from the anxiety of breaking close family ties to the loneliness and tensions inherent in finding their way in large, impersonal, fast-paced institutions. Students often feel alienated, discouraged, and overwhelmed. Both found that Mexican-American students who made better grades and received more precollege encouragement tended to earn some form of credential. In Flores' study, Hispanic-American students who were competent members of both the social and academic communities tended to persist to degree completion. The gender gap currently seems to favor Hispanic women.