College persistence, resiliency, and factors contributing to the Latina collegian experience

Disparities persist among college attendance and conferred degrees for Latinas in the United States. College enrollment is on the rise for Latinas; however, completion rates remain disproportionately lower. If educational outcomes are to improve for the Latinx community, the number of support systems for this population must increase at the university levels from a strength-based approach. The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with college persistence and resilience at four-year institutions among Latinas. This is a cross-sectional study of factors associated with college persistence and the resilience of Latina undergraduate students at four-year institutions. The study sampled and compared levels of resilience among Latinas enrolled in their third and fourth year of college versus those who dropped out in their first or second year. This study analyzed the online survey responses of 308 Latina females that enrolled in college during the fall of 2014. Results from the bivariate and multivariate analysis indicated that college persistence was higher among younger students (18-21 years old), bilingual students, single students, those who had awards/scholarships, and those who belonged to a student and/or community organizations. The study findings for resilience indicated that belonging to student organizations and father’s education were significant individual predictors for Latinas. The significant sociocultural variables included sense of belonging, acculturation—mainstream culture subscale, and acculturation-heritage culture subscale. Having high levels of resilience was statistically associated with the university environment. It is recommended that higher learning institutions develop culturally appropriate supportive interventions to increase Latina graduation rates. Further research is needed to examine how hiring more Latinx professors to mirror the student population can improve the campus environment. Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference