Comments on: College Choices: Parental Involvement and Latino Students

By: HispanicPundit

HispanicPundit — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:00:14 +0000

Good point TacoSam. Just to clarify, I didn’t mean parental support as in financial support of any type or tutoring. I meant parental support as in having a heavy hand in stressing how important education is. Whether it be talking to teachers, attending PTA meetings, whatever, just an overall strong and clear message of the importance of education.

Much more so than, “mijito, you gotta finish school”, which is typically the case with most of my non-college friends (and with myself, no strong education message in my household).

By: Taco Sam

Taco Sam — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:51:02 +0000

Very interesting topic. I and a lot of my friends somehow made it through college and grad school with virtually no parental support. No guidance, really. We had to figure it out on our own. It would have been nice to have parental support, but it wasn’t in the cards.

My compadre says that his parents only help to him was sometimes sending him canned food while he was at UCLA.

By: HispanicCREO

HispanicCREO — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:11:47 +0000

I agree with all of you, but I also think that it is necessary to push the debate further. What does it actually mean to be “supportive”? What types of support are necessary to ensure the students’ success?

Even in elementary and secondary school studies, different forms of “support” have different effects. If we were able to conclusively determine WHAT forms of support were most effective, we would be able to actually teach these to parents so that they could help their children in college.

In conclusion, yes, it is important for parents to support their children - but the kinds of support that they give are also important.

By: adriana

adriana — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:57:47 +0000

It isn’t often I agree with you… but this is a no-brainer. While there isn’t much research on the degrees of parental involvement with college students, you do find that there is a certain expectation within certain households about post secondary achievement. If families are supportive and can understand the sacrifices (financially and socially), their college students will increase their chances to persist and graduate.

By: Spanglish Gringo » Blog Archive » Despite what you might think, kids want this from their parents

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:34:04 +0000

[…] From HispanicPundit.com, this post on parent involvement in college for Latino students. It’s no secret that parental involvement increases academic performance in elementary and secondary schools, but scant research has been conducted to evaluate the effects of parental involvement on the academic achievement of college students…. Today, 49% of Latino college students are first generation college students - which means that their parents need information and support about how to navigate the college system and help their children be successful in higher education. Share This […]

By: HispanicPundit

HispanicPundit — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:23:43 +0000

Something I have noticed when talking to successful latin@s that excelled in college is that they almost all had a strong form of parental involvement. Often one parent that is a school teacher or an educator of some sort. Such a common theme that I am now surprised to find those who tell me otherwise.

When that research is eventually done on how students parents impact their college achievement I would not be surprised if the correlation coefficient is greater than 0.8.

By: cindylu

cindylu — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:05:38 +0000

You’re right, there’s not that much research out there on how students’ parents impact their college achievement. There is a lot on their role in the college choice process — whether they go to college or not. I have friends who have studied this and they generally find that the parental support for Latinos isn’t about picking their classes or advising them academically, but more like simply being there.

My parents’ support came both financially and emotionally.