9 in 10 Hispanics see a good education as necessary for Immigrants.

Telemundo announced the results of the newest Ipsos-Telemundo poll, which explores the perceptions of Hispanics about education.

The study conducted among Hispanic adults living in the United States shows that this increasingly growing demographic group considers education to be very important.  Among the 434 Hispanic adults interviewed, nine in ten (89%) subscribe to the belief that a good education is necessary for Hispanic immigrants in the United States to improve their standard of living – including 73% who completely agree.  In comparison, just eight percent disagree. 

In fact, over three-quarters (78%) of Hispanics interviewed say that being able to provide their children with a good education is one of the main reasons why Hispanics emigrate to the United States.  Hispanics who feel more comfortable communicating in Spanish are even more likely to agree with the statement than are those who prefer communicating in English (83% and 73%, respectively).

Other top line results include:

Hispanics Have High Hopes for a Better Education in the U.S.   

Part of the reason why education is perceived as a motivation to emigrate to the U.S. is the generalized belief among those surveyed that “children of Hispanic immigrants receive a better education in the United States than they would in their parents’ country of origin,” with 79% of them agreeing with that statement – including 59% who completely agree.  Similarly, eight in ten (78%) also agree that children of Hispanic immigrants have more opportunities to go to college in the United States than they would in their parent’s country of origin – including 56% who completely agree.

In fact, most Hispanics (81%) expect for their children or children in their family living in the U.S. to achieve at least a degree from a four-year college, including almost half (48%) who expect that they will achieve an advance degree such as a Master’s or an MBA (17%) or even go all the way to attain a doctorate or a PhD (31%).

While Hopes for College Education are High, Important Barriers Remain

While Hispanics living in the U.S. overwhelmingly appreciate the importance of education and hope for their children at least to graduate from college, the reality is that Hispanics are less likely to go to college than are young adults from other ethnicities.  With this in mind, survey respondents were asked to select the three top reasons which, in their mind, prevent more young Hispanics from attending college. 
From a list of nine options provided, all three most commonly mentioned reasons are financial, including: the cost of college being too high (mentioned by 44%), followed by needing to work full time to provide for themselves or their families (36%), and lack of access to financial aid or student loans (32%). 

However, the study found that there are also key non-financial reasons that may act as barriers preventing Hispanics from going to college, including: immigration status (mentioned by 31%), lack of support from peers/family (27%), and lack of knowledge on how to go about it (25%).  In addition, one in five also selected the lack of motivation (19%), 13% selected insufficient English proficiency, and 12% lack of basic education needed to qualify.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos-Telemundo poll conducted from August 26 – September 19, 2010 with a nationally representative sample of 434Hispanics aged 18 and older, interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Hispanic Omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 4.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population of Hispanics in the U.S. been polled.