Organizations push to decrease Latino gender gap in higher ed
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More Latin American students are entering college than ever before, yet the number of Latino males pursuing higher education degrees is dropping compared to their female peers.
Several organizations teamed up on the University of Texas campus Friday to help close that gender gap. Fathers Active in Communities and Education (or FACE) and Project Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success (or Project MALES) helped bring nearly 50 Latino students and their fathers to Austin.
They met UT professors, learned about research and saw college life for themselves.
"We hold it up as this thing, this goal that can be very abstract. And I wanted to get them to think more proactively about what it will take for them to get into college and then succeed once they get there,” Project MALES director Victor Sáenz said.
Research shows the gender gap has increased steadily in the last four decades. The difference in Latino and Latina college attendance is now more than 56 percent.