Throughout the country, Hispanic women are less likely than their non-Hispanic peers to be enrolled at a college or university. When Hispanic women attend college, they are less likely to graduate. The barriers to higher education they face, which include family expectations, financial obligations and legal restrictions, are well documented.
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Dr. Josie Tinajero knew from personal experience that Hispanic women are underrepresented at college. As a girl, she watched her older sisters, cousins and neighbors drop out of school. In the mid-1970s, Tinajero was one of just a handful of Hispanic undergraduate women studying at the University of Texas El Paso.
In 1986, after completing a doctorate degree in education at Texas A&M, she returned to UTEP as an assistant professor. While she had been away from the school for 10 years, she didn't take notice of the woefully low college enrollment for Hispanic women.
"The population of El Paso is 80 percent Hispanic," she said, "but only 8 percent of our Hispanic women go to college." Deeply troubled by the status quo, Tinajero decided to do something about the low college enrollment trend.
The under-representation of Hispanic women at college is not a problem limited to El Paso. Throughout the state of Texas and around the country, Hispanic women are less likely than their non-Hispanic peers to be enrolled at a college or university. When Hispanic women attend college, they are less likely to graduate. The barriers to higher education they face, which include family expectations, financial obligations and legal restrictions, are well documented.
In Texas, programs that encourage Hispanic students to go to college are as ubiquitous as they are ineffective. Tinajero knew that if she wanted to see change, she needed to find a way for students to internalize the importance of college. Capitalizing on unique insight into Hispanic family dynamics, she came up with an innovative plan: she'd include mothers in her college preparation program.
"The most important role models for young girls, especially in the Hispanic community, is found with the family system," she said. "Hispanic mothers have a huge impact on how their daughters make decisions."
Tinajero's insight is important in light of research on the impact parents have on their children's propensity to enroll in university. Children whose parents understand and emphasize the importance of higher education are more likely to enroll in college, according to Susan Auerbach, a professor of education at California State University Northridge.
While many Hispanic parents want better lives for their children, the world of higher education and how to prepare for it is foreign to them, according to Cecilia Rios-Agular, a professor of education at Claremont Graduate University in California. Parents want to help their kids go to college, they just don't know how, Rios-Agular said. Tinajero's program shows them a way.
Tinajero's approach
