LATINO COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA: THE MONTGOMERY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

Due to increased enrollment of students from other lands, community colleges in the United States have rapidly acquired a multinational, multiethnic, and multiracial identity. They play a critical role as gateways to the baccalaureate degree for low-income, minority, and first-generation students. In the case of Latino students, there is every indication that the “Latin Americanization” of community colleges will grow: more Latino students are considering community colleges as their most viable option, constituting fifty-five percent of the members of this group enrolled at the undergraduate level in the nation. Furthermore, nearly one-half of all undergraduates at public institutions in the U.S. attend a community college

This trend has presented community colleges with philosophical and operational questions that challenge the creativity of both administrators and instructors. Our presentation will describe the characteristics of Latino students at community colleges, with particular emphasis on those enrolled at Montgomery College (MC), a suburban community college in Maryland with students from over 170 countries. We will discuss the role of MC in increasing access to higher education by Latinos in the Washington Metropolitan Area. We will also analyze the educational outcomes of both immigrants and U.S.-born Latino students in different sub-baccalaureate programs at this institution and assess the factors that affect their educational attainment. Finally, we will briefly make reference to how the mission statements of MC have varied over time in response to the increasingly cosmopolitan character of this region.