After jumping 24 percent in just one year, the number of 18- to 24-year-old Hispanic students attending college in the United States hit an all-time high of 12.2 million in October 2010, Richard Fry of the Pew Hispanic Center reports The number of Hispanic young adults enrolled in college grew by 349,000 between 2009 and 2010, compared with increases of 88,000 young blacks and 43,000 young Asian Americans and a decrease of 320,000 young non-Hispanic whites.
The increase in Latino enrollment is partly due to population growth–the number of 18- to 24-year-old Hispanics increased by 7 percent from 2009 to 2010–and partly a reflection of educational advancement. Nearly 32 percent of all Hispanic young adults in that age group were enrolled in college in 2010, more than double the level of participation in 1972.
