Hispanic Community College Students

This chapter provides an overview of the scholarship on Latino/ community college students. Prior investigative studies and reports that exist on Hispanic community college student outcomes reveal few theoretically based findings, particularly in terms of the relationship between outcomes such as persistence or transfer, and access to social capital and college experiences within the community college environment. A theoretical framework used to examine Hispanics in community colleges is Amaury Nora&s;s Student Engagement Model that considers a diversity of constructs that are thought to contribute in some way to student persistence. Utilizing asset-based theoretical frameworks in studying Latino/a community college experiences and successful completion in developmental education courses, Acevedo-Gil and colleagues also highlight the importance of institutional agents. Immigrant students from diverse backgrounds and characteristics who attend community colleges have benefitted from advising, which plays a vital role in meeting individual needs and rates of progress.