1. A Case Study of
Miami University’s
Efforts to Recruit,
Develop, and Retain
Latin American
Students
By Mariah Torres and
Daniela Santisteban
2. Fastest growing demographic in
the US
While enrollment rates are
improving there is still issues to
address.
Completion rate (13%)
3. At Miami, 2.8% of study body is
Latino
But enrollment has only increased
from .58% in the past 6 years
Highest graduation rate of Latinos
among all public universities in the
state of Ohio.
4. Primarily focused on community college
and Hispanic Serving Institutions
Factors that were most pertinent to Latino
college students in each segment
included:
Recruitment: pre-collegiate preparation,
family relationships, and financial support
Development: the ability to contribute to the
educational institution, social integration, and
faculty interaction
Retention: social integration and competent
or improving academic performance
5. 1) Miami University’s methods to attract students
are not culturally attentive to Latinos, creating a
smaller Latino enrollment pool than expected.
2) The support system provided by Miami University
for Latinos does not fulfill their desired emotional,
social, and academic satisfaction and
development.
3) The lack of attention geared toward Latino
students by Miami University has led to low
retention rates for this minority group.
6. Interviews Survey
• Associate Vice President • 19 responses
of Institutional Diversity
• Assistant Director of • Predominantly
Diversity Affairs and from LAS and
Coordinator of Diverse Spanish
Student Development
departments
7. Interviews Survey
• A junior student • 62 responses
• A senior student • All students surveyed
• Two transfer students were of Latin American
• 2006 alum descent
• 15% representation of
Latin American
community
• 72.6% female
Percentage of students that identified as Latin American
8. Student Motivating Factors
1 (Not 2 3 (Somewhat 4 5 (Highly
Motivating) Motivating) Motivating)
Scholarships
39.3% 11.5% 9.8% 9.8% 29.5%
offered to
Latinos
Senses of
45.9% 29.5% 18.0% 3.3% 3.3%
Latin
American
Community
Recruiters
52.5% 19.7% 19.7% 1.6% 6.6%
targeted
towards
Latinos
Miami Latino
44.3% 23.0% 16.4% 9.8% 6.6%
Organizations
9. 66.7% of students that identify as LA thought
that scholarships were highly motivating
Only 16.2% of students that do not identify as
LA, thought that scholarships were motivating
Faculty also indicated this was the only
somewhat motivating factor towards recruiting
LA students.
11. Student rated development factors
Student 1 (Low 2 3 (Average 4 5 (High
Degree) Degree) Degree)
An adviser and/or mentor 48.3% 19.0% 19.0% 8.6% 5.2%
that is accessible and that
can discuss Latino related
issues or concerns
Organization(s) targeted 19.0% 20.7% 31.0% 22.4% 6.9%
towards meeting Latinos
social needs
Events focused on Latin 15.5% 10.3% 36.2% 31.0% 6.9%
American celebrations or
culture
A Latin American community 37.9% 34.5% 20.7% 5.2% 1.7%
or presence
Academic resources 41.4% 32.8% 15.5% 6.9% 3.4%
specifically for Latinos
12. 58.8% of surveyed faculty said that they had
been approached by a Latino
76.5% of faculty surveyed had not been
trained to address Latino student needs
VP of Institutional Diversity: There is no
advisor designed for Latino students
13. Students more disappointed in lack of
diversity rather than lack of Latin
American community.
Latino targeted opportunities still
lacking: there is not hierarchal form of
communication to contact Latino
students
Lack of contact between existing Latino
organizations
14. Satisfaction Rates
Students Faculty
Satisfied Satisfied
31% 27%
Not
Satisfied Not
69% Satisfied
73%
15. Students that thought about transferring
80% 73.30%
70%
60%
50%
40% 27.60%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Actual student
consideration
consideration
thoughts on
Faculty
16. Hypothesis 1: Supported
Miami University’s methods to attract
students are not culturally attentive to Latinos.
Hypothesis 2: Supported
The support system provided by Miami
University for Latinos does not fulfill their
desired emotional, social, and academic
satisfaction
Hypothesis 3: Not Supported
The lack of attention geared toward
Latino students by Miami University
has led to low retention rates
18. Additional interviews
o Student that has dropped out
o Student that commutes
Expanding future research beyond the
isolated campus of Miami University for
comparative studies
Conduct longitudinal studies with a
sample Latino population
In our survey we provided the students with different motivating factors from our secondary research and asked them to what extent each influenced them in their decision to enroll at Miami University. As you can see, every single factor: Scholarships for Latinos, a latinamerican community, recruiters, and latino organizations, were most frequently rated as not motivating. Only scholarships had a moderate amount of respondents label it as a motivating factor. This can be attributed to whether they identified as Latino students to Miami when applying.
While in our secondary research family played an integral roll in student decisions in higher ed, at Miami only 30% of students thought so.
We asked students to in the survey to rate on a scale of 1-5 to what extent Miami provided different developmental factors that we found relevant in our research. Most students rated the factors to say that Miami University provided all developmental categories on average to a lower degree than to a higher degree. The lowest rated were: provision of an advisor, a latinamerican community, and academic resources for latinos
While….. Faculty were approached by latino students, showing a need for guidance, ____ % of them had NOT been trained to serve these students needs as Latinos.
Interviews indicated no intentionsof students transferring because of their dissatisfaction with Miami’s effortsIn our survey we asked students if they had ever considering transferring from Miami because the university was not addressing their needs as Latinos. We also asked faculty in their survey if they thought that Latino students considered trasnferring out of Miami for these reasons. This goes to show that Latino students are more satisfied with Miami universities initiatives than third parties might assume.
1st HypothesisNo focus on family, lack the dissemination of availability of financial assistance2nd hypothesis The school still needs to figure out a way to create a network of social integration with an organized communication system and provide mentors for students