Campo or College? An Analysis of the Cross-Generational Assimilation of Latino Immigrants Into U.S. Higher Education

Abstract

This paper investigates the cross-generational integration of Latino immigrants into U.S higher education. Using a new NLS data set the paper estimates the probability of first, second or higher generation Latino immigrants pursuing college education. Results provide evidence for a rapid assimilation process into US higher education. While only some eight percent of the parents of first generation immigrants finished college, the chances of pursuing higher education for their children increase to around 52 percent when the latter enter the United States. Cross-generational integration continues, although at a lower rate, since the probability increases to around 55 percent for the second generation. However, although the second generation has higher chances to pursue college education than African-Americans, the probability gap to white Americans is still considerable. A white American’s chance to go to college is almost 10 percentage points higher. The analysis further unveils that enrollment probabilities are biased towards women. Education of parents remains the most important factor in explaining college attendance. I further find evidence that first generation immigrants initially face an information asymmetry resulting in underestimating the return to higher education. In time, the information asymmetry diminishes and educational choice behavior shifts increasingly towards higher education.

JEL classification: C25, I21, J15

Keywords: Second Generation Immigrants, educational choices, probability and grouped regression models