Cuban-Americans' perceptions of college-going and the intention to persist at the university

Hispanic students, as well as other minority students, have traditionally done poorly in public schools in the United States. The prevailing characteristics for these students have been high drop out percentages, low academic levels, low self-concepts, and overall low achievement (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1981). For many years, these students have been labeled, "culturally deprived" (Grebler, Moore, Guzman, 1970). Another label that has become rather popular in identifying these students is "slow learners" (Garcia, 1977). The issue of poor retention and achievement rates for minority students has become a significant issue at the higher educational level as well. Hispanic dropouts at the university level have frequently been characterized in educational research as students who: 1) are members of a low socioeconomic group; 2) are low academic achievers; and 3) generally have a low self-concept (Foshee, 1974; Kilpatrick, 1973). Nevertheless, there are Hispanic college students who while members of depressed socioeconomic groups do indeed graduate. Even though these students experience academic as well as language difficulties at the university level, they persist in their effort to graduate. The purpose of this research was to examine the pre-and post-matriculation interactions of Cuban-American college students, from their point of view, in an attempt to better understand how the process of "staying in college" occurs. A framework developed by Attinasi (1986) for Mexican-American students was used as an initial conceptual guide. [...]