More than 2,000 miles from his native Yucatan, Angel Ku, 22, spends most weekdays looking for new treatments and better diagnostic tools for epilepsy.
Working with researchers at the University of California (San Francisco) Institute for Human Genetics, the molecular biology intern from San Francisco State University is cloning genomes and studying genetic factors. “That’s really exciting,” Ku said.
Ku’s involvement in the research is important both scientifically and symbolically. He’s making an impact in science while, like thousands of other immigrants, his commitment to higher education is a way to boost income, improve his social status, and make an impact in his adopted nation.
Son of a restaurant line cook and housekeeper, his attainment will leapfrog that of his parents, only one of whom completed high school.
ADVANTAGES OF EDUCATION
A college degree boosts people’s lifetime earnings by as much as 84 percent, according to a 2011 study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.
In particular, education among immigrants like Ku and second-generation Americans has led to modest gains in the past decade.
In the 1999-2000 academic year, people either native to another country or born in the United States to at least one foreign-born parent made up 19 percent of all the undergraduates. Seven years later, the percentage jumped to 23 percent of America’s 22.3 million undergraduates, according to a July Education Department study that excluded foreign students with visas.
That the majority of these undergraduate immigrants and second-generation Americans are Hispanic and Asian is not surprising. Today’s immigrants are primarily from Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean, reflecting a shift from the late 1960s when immigrants from Latin America began to outnumber those from Europe.
Given such changes, educators have sought a deeper understanding of those seeking to enroll in undergraduate programs, said Laura Horn, program director of postsecondary education at MPR Associates, the research firm commissioned for the Education Department report. “Demographics are so important because they’re defining the population,” she said.
Data are now being collected for a follow-up study that may reveal a more-nuanced correlation between the length of residency in the U.S. and years it takes immigrants and second-generation Americans to matriculate.
Such analysis could help explain differences between Hispanics and Asians. Enrollment in community colleges for both first- and second-generation Hispanics is stable at 36 percent, while the generational difference for Asians jumps from 38 percent to 55 percent, according the report. Horn says the answers may be found in cultural and family factors.
Hispanic families, she said, may encourage their children to stay closer to home. Asian immigrants may also be better prepared after one generation in the United States to enter a four-year university, Horn said.
John Moder, senior vice president of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, agrees. “Hispanics—both families and students—are more close-knit and committed to staying closer to home.” Community colleges are both cheaper and more-conveniently located for those preferring or needing to live at home.
While community colleges provide a common pathway for immigrants to attain higher education, according to the study, there are also risks.
Immigrant students may encounter “administrative hurdles” which can prolong or stall a desired transfer to a four-year university. In California, a severe 2011 funding cut of $502 million to the community college system has led to classes filling quickly in key subjects like math and English, which are prerequisites for transfers.
Further, tuition costs have skyrocketed, often forcing students to stop temporarily or drop out entirely, Moder said.
SOCIETAL BENEFITS OF COLLEGE
The benefits of improving higher education rates for immigrants and their U.S.-born children are clear to Jill Casner-Lotto, director of the Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education. “We’re not just talking about personal success,” she said, “but also looking at the overall contributions to the economy.”
With more education, these groups are more likely to participate in civic organizations. “They become good citizens. They care about their community and they’re contributing to our tax base,” she said.
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