Hispanics now largest minority group among U.S. 4-year university students

Hispanics are now the largest minority group among the nation’s four-year college and university students. And for the first time, Hispanics made up one-quarter (25.2%) of 18- to 24-year-old students enrolled in two-year colleges, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

In public schools, Hispanics also reached new milestones. For the first time, one-in-four (24.7%) public elementary school students were Hispanic, following similar milestones reached recently by Hispanics among public kindergarten students (in 2007) and public nursery school students (in 2006).

Among all pre-K through 12^th grade public school students, a record 23.9% were Hispanic in 2011.

Population growth alone does not explain all the enrollment gains as high school completion rate among Hispanics is also at a new high. According to the Pew Hispanic analysis, 76.3% of all Hispanics ages 18 to 24 had a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) degree in 2011, up from 72.8% in 2010. And among these high school graduates, a record share—nearly half (45.6%)—is enrolled in two-year or four-year colleges.