Priced Out: A Closer Look at Postsecondary Affordability for Latinos

A key barrier to college access and completion for Latinos is financial. Latino families experience the college affordability landscape in dramatically different ways than White and Asian families, whose needs may well be met by their own ability to pay for college and by existing federal, state, and institutional aid. Latinos, however, are being priced out of college because this cohort is disadvantaged by high rates of poverty, limited financial, academic and social capital, high levels of unmet financial need, high risk of accruing unmanageable debt, and financial illiteracy. Consequently, this article aims to illuminate the importance of college affordability for Latino students and families, to highlight the extent of borrowing and debt for Latinos, to identify challenges to accessing financial aid, and to provide federal policy recommendations that can facilitate Latino student financing of higher education.