Nearly two-thirds of Latino college students have considered leaving school, and close to a third actually did, according to a new survey from UnidosUS that identifies financial pressure, work demands, and mental strain as forces pushing students away from a degree.
The survey, conducted for the Washington-based civil rights and advocacy organization by Hart Research, found that 65% of respondents had thought about leaving college. That figure includes 32% who did leave. Of those, 23% later returned either full- or part-time, while 10% have not come back.
The findings arrive as Latino students continue to express strong faith in higher education. Roughly 76% said a degree is worth the cost because it improves the odds of landing a good job and earning more over a lifetime, compared with 24% who said it is not, citing debt and a lack of job-specific skills.
“We often hear about the data about Latinos — the access gap and the retention gap — but what that data doesn’t tell us is why Latinos are making the decisions they're making,” Jenny Muñiz, UnidosUS director of education policy, said during a virtual briefing for reporters and partners on the findings. “We don't make assumptions. We ask them directly.”
Hart Research surveyed 1,566 Latinos from ages 18 to 35 who were enrolled in college or had attended within the past four years. The online poll was fielded Sept. 3 to 17 — with larger groups of respondents from Arizona, California, Florida and Texas — and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It is the second such survey UnidosUS has conducted.
Students at public two-year colleges were the most likely to have left school, at 42%, compared with 27% at public four-year institutions and 32% at private nonprofits. Household income also tracked closely with attrition: 37% of students from households earning under $30,000 and 39% of those earning between $30,000 and $50,000 had stopped out, versus 22% of those from households above $100,000.
Students with dependents (39%), single parents (36%) and LGBTQ+ students (38%) were also more likely than their peers to have left.
Confidence in a degree’s value appears to erode among those who walk away. Abigail Davenport, a partner at Hart Research, told briefing participants that 82% of continuously enrolled students called college worth the cost, compared with 53% of those who left and did not return.
Asked in an open-ended question why they considered leaving or did leave, respondents most often cited the need to work (25%), stress and mental health concerns (23%) and worries about paying for school (21%). When presented with a list of possible factors, 81% rated mental health or emotional stress as at least a somewhat important reason, including 48% who called it very important.
“There's clearly some overlap in the stress that’s created, at least in part, by the financial challenges and obstacles they face,” Davenport said.
Eight in 10 students reported holding a paying job while enrolled — 50% part-time, 26% full-time and 4% both. Among those who worked, 80% said the job hurt their academic experience: 56% had less time to study, 31% took fewer classes and 24% passed up internships or other positions tied to their intended careers.
“Having a job while in college is absolutely the default for Latino students,” said Aileen Cardona-Arroyo of Hart Research, who presented the financial findings.
Basic needs insecurity was widespread. Some 82% of respondents reported experiencing food insecurity at least sometimes. Meanwhile, 77% reported housing instability, either struggling to cover rent, mortgage or utility payments or worrying about losing stable housing, with 34% saying that happened often.
“Worrying about finances, whether that's housing or food, is really not the exception but the norm for a lot of students,” Cardona-Arroyo said.
Many students are also not tapping campus help that exists. Among those reporting high food insecurity, 35% said their college offers food assistance but they had not used it. Asked why they had passed on such aid, 40% said they wanted to handle their own needs, 32% said they did not know how to access it and 27% said they felt embarrassed or uncomfortable.
Family emerged as both a source of strength and of strain. About 84% said they felt responsible for succeeding academically to honor their parents' sacrifices, and 75% said their family's emotional support helped them. But 52% carried significant family duties during college, including serving as a primary contributor to household expenses (22%) or as a primary translator for legal, medical or financial documents (16%). Approximately 57% reported feeling guilty when schoolwork kept them from helping at home.
Among students who stayed enrolled or returned after leaving, the most commonly cited reasons for doing so were access to online, asynchronous or flexible class schedules (41%), additional financial support (38%) and flexible work hours (37%).
The survey also found broad disapproval of the Trump administration’s higher education agenda, with opposition climbing when policies were explicitly attributed to President Donald J. Trump. Using a split-sample design, Hart asked half of respondents about the policies with Trump’s name attached and half without.
With Trump identified, 76% disapproved of revoking international student visas, 73% opposed reducing federal funding for colleges with large Latino enrollments and 72% objected to restricting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Large majorities also disapproved of efforts to stop states from offering in-state tuition to undocumented students (69%), to narrow employer eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (67%) and to close the U.S. Department of Education (66%).
Nearly half of respondents (49%) said the administration's immigration policies are harming Latino students’ sense of safety, and 46% said those policies are hurting students' mental health, according to findings presented at the briefing. Still, direct campus impact was less widely recognized: while 57% had heard of at least one listed development — such as restrictions on classroom topics or canceled DEI programs — occurring at their own institution, no single item was reported by more than 22% of students.
Respondents said Democrats (54%) rather than Republicans (20%) are better equipped to handle issues facing college students; 19% were unsure.
The survey further found that artificial intelligence has become a fixture of coursework, with 61% of students using AI tools at least a few times a month. Men (70%) reported heavier use than women (56%).
Princessa Rodriguez Serra, a senior at the University of Colorado Denver, told briefing participants that her own six-year route to a bachelor's degree illustrates many of the survey's findings. A first-generation student from an immigrant family, she said she was admitted to the University of Colorado Boulder but could not get a clear picture of tuition and costs without first paying an acceptance fee her family could not afford.
She instead enrolled at Front Range Community College, where a Pell Grant and Colorado’s College Opportunity Fund covered most of her tuition, but she spent three years there juggling coursework with caregiving and contributing to her household's income. After transferring to CU Denver with little advising, she said, she lost a transfer scholarship after one semester because she was no longer on pace to graduate within two years. She also withdrew from courses for personal and mental health reasons. She now expects to graduate this academic year.
“A lot of students I've seen fall between the cracks,” she said, urging policymakers to strengthen support for transfer students.
Magin Misael Sanchez, UnidosUS senior policy analyst for higher education, said the results show students remain “clearly aspirational” even amid growing public skepticism about higher education's value, but that too many face barriers between their goals and a diploma.
“If policymakers and institutions are serious about improving degree completion, we have to recognize that college affordability is more than just tuition,” Sanchez said. “It's the full cost of attendance and persistence through college.”
