Asian populations have increased rapidly for two reasons. First, there have been record numbers of immigrants. Second, there has been an increase in the number of U.S.-born children of Hispanic parents (Kirschten, 1999, p. 105). At the moment, Hispanics comprise 11.4 percent of the population and are expected to pass African-Americans as the largest ethnic group in the country during the next decade (U.S. Bureau of Census, 1996, p. 1).
Linda Robinson believes that the term Hispanic is actually a misnomer, or at least a problem, because it disguises the fact that this is such a diverse group of people. Yet, it is the fastest-growing demographic in the United States, increasing four times as fast as the rest of the population. Robinson noted that Hispanic people will comprise one-quarter of the population by the year 2050 (1998, p. 27). They are differentially dispersed throughout the country and include many different subpopulations. For example, Hispanics are 30 percent of the population in California and are primarily immigrant Mexicans, middle-class Mexicans, barrio dwellers, and the Central Americans of Pico Union. On the other hand, the subpopulation in Texas includes many Mexican-Americans who have been in the country for generations, having developed a blended Tex-Mex culture. Other groups include the Texas Guatemalans. In other words, there is diversity even within one ethnic population.
It is difficult to assess how many immigrants actually are participating in higher education at this point. Harklau (1998, p. 651) looked at the numbers, noting that there were over half a million immigrants from 15-17 years of age in the United States in 1990, with 65 percent of immigrants from 18-21 in school at that point. Thirty-seven percent of Hispanic high school graduates (many of whom were first-generation) were attending college in 1992, along with 637,000 Asian-Americans, or 7.7 percent of all Asian-Americans (U....