Community Colleges Overwhelmed By Rising Latino Student Population

 More and more Latinos are going to college. A recent study from the Pew Hispanic Center shows that, for the first time, Latinos have surpassed whites in college enrollment numbers and more than half of these students are enrolled in community colleges. One college in Southern Nevada is struggling to meet the needs of its Latino student body.

Carlos Ezeta is an academic counselor in the School of Business and Hospitality at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. He talks with 21-year-old student Karen Espinoza. She is upset and feels that her three years at CSN may have been wasted.

“Why are you crying?” he asks her.

Espinoza tells him she wants to be an immigration lawyer. But she is worried she will never make it out of community college to a university. Espinoza works full-time in an insurance agency. She has been buying her younger sisters clothes, school supplies and taking them out to eat. Ezeta reminds her of how she has helped support her family. He tells her she is the oldest and is setting an example for her sister who is about to start college.

“When she graduates, she’ll say, ‘you showed me how it’s done. You bought my Levi’s, my back pack.’ You’re doing well,” he tells her. “You’re on the right path, don’t lose your focus.”

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