Number of Hispanic Serving Institutions falls as pandemic cuts Latino enrollment
“Latinos were vulnerable because a large share work in what are considered ‘essential jobs’ and could not work from home. In 2020, Latinos also saw staggering unemployment, although that has since improved.
For some students, the toll the pandemic took on wage earners in the family shifted the responsibility to them to bring income home or made attending a college or university unaffordable.
Some students told Excelencia they left school to avoid putting elderly family members with whom they lived at risk.
‘Most Latino students go to college in the state in which they live and over a third live at home anyway, and familial responsibility and the ability to support was a factor,’ Santiago said.
‘The tradeoffs between work and education are very real for a lot of these students,’ she said.”