Factsheets

In 2020, 21.8% of U.S. undergraduate college students were Latino, the second largest ethnic group enrolled at the undergraduate level. While the number of Latino college students is increasing overall, these students continue to be overrepresented in open-access and community colleges and underrepresented in four-year institutions.

• Thirty-six percent of Latinos aged 18–24 enrolled in college in 2020, decreasing the enrollment gap between Latino students and Whites to 5 percentage points, compared to a gap of 11 percentage points in 2010.
• 3,689,700 Hispanic students (20.3% of all students) were enrolled in postsecondary education in Fall 2020, down from 3,785,900 in Fall 2019.
• Between 2000 and 2020, Hispanic post-baccalaureate enrollment increased by 207% (from 110,800 to 340,900 students).
• College enrollment rates for Hispanic men increased from 2010 to 2020 (28% vs. 30%) while rates for White men decreased in that same period (41% vs. 37%). Though enrollment rates for White women did not change substantially from 2010 to 2020, Hispanic women enrollment rates increased by 6 percentage points (36% to 42%).
• According to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey, 69% of Latino students enrolled in public institutions in 2016, a higher percentage than any other race/ethnicity group besides Native American/Alaskan Native:
  • 28% attend public four-year institutions
  • 41% attend public two-year institutions
  • 10% attend private non-profit institutions
  • 11% attend private for-profit institutions