Race, Class, and Choice in Latino/a Higher Education

Sarah M. Ovink is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA. Her research on education, gender, race/ethnicity, and immigration has appeared in a number of academic journals, including Gender & Society, Social Science Research, and Research in Higher Education.

This book is an in-depth study which examines the lives of fifty ambitious Latino/a high school seniors in the San Francisco East Bay Area, following their entrance into college and career pathways over several years. This book examines the social forces that contributed to near-universal college attendance among these mostly low-income Latinos/as, all of whom attended fairly typical public schools. In an era of increased economic insecurity, decreased funding for schools, and rising college tuition, this book provides a balanced look at the individual choices and systemic constraints influencing today's "college-for-all" orientation, while pointing the way toward possibilities for making college pathways smoother for all.