‘The Enduring Gap’ podcast explores problems and solutions related to Latino higher education

San Antonio is majority Latino, but white adults there are more than twice as likely to have a college degree. A Texas Public Radio reporter investigates the roots of that gap.

By Camille Phillips, Texas Public Radio; radio interview produced by Laura RiceMarch 17, 2022 1:03 pmEducation, Partner Organizations, Race & Identity, Texas Public Radio, The Texas Newsroom

Camille Phillips / Texas Public Radio

A student walks across the Texas A&M University-San Antonio campus in February 2020.

Listen to an interview with “The Enduring Gap”‘s creator, Camille Phillips, in the audio player above.

From Texas Public Radio:

Even though San Antonio is majority Latino, white adults are more than twice as likely to have a college degree. Just 17% of Latino adults in San Antonio have a bachelor’s degree.

San Antonio is 64% Latino. If we can’t get this right, no one can. And there’s a lot at stake if we don’t.

At the beginning of 2021, TPR asked thousands of local students about their college experience. Their responses paint a stark picture of the challenges San Antonio’s Latino students face, from paying tuition to simply putting food on the table, especially during the pandemic.

We took their stories and insights to their college leaders and asked them what they were doing to support Latino students.

Coming soon from Texas Public Radio, this is The Enduring Gap, a limited series exploring the Latino college gap in San Antonio, what can be done to close it, and what the rest of the country can learn from it. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Here’s a sneak peek at Episode 1:

“The cost of the status quo”

Camille Phillips / Texas Public Radio

A mariachi band serenades UTSA graduates during a May 2021 commencement drive.

During graduation week at the University of Texas at San Antonio, graduates in t-shirts and stoles, dresses and caps, gather on one end of campus for a commencement drive. They ride to the other end of campus in cars and truck beds decorated in the university’s signature orange and blue. Along the way, they’re cheered by family and friends and serenaded by a mariachi band.

No San Antonio celebration would be complete without mariachi music. Mexican culture and history are a big part of the city’s identity.

And yet, even though more than half the undergraduate enrollment at UTSA is Hispanic, just 17% of Latino adults in San Antonio have a bachelor’s degree. Our largest population is the least likely to have a college degree.

From Texas Public Radio, this is the Enduring Gap, a limited series exploring some of the reasons more Latinos in San Antonio don’t have college degrees.

San Antonio’s statistics mirror national education trends, but we’re 64% Latino. If we can’t get this right, no one can. And there’s a lot at stake if we don’t. Until we do, most of our neighbors won’t have the credentials they need to earn a comfortable income.

So why aren’t we doing better?

A big part of the problem is that a lot of college students’ stories don’t end with a cap and gown.

A lot of students end up dropping out instead, or saying “I’ll finish my degree someday.” Nearly 40% of students who start college in the United States don’t have a degree six years later.

In this episode, we’ll talk about San Antonio’s long-standing educational inequities, and how the standard way of measuring and supporting student success isn’t working. Episode 1: The Cost of the Status Quo.

The Enduring Gap podcast is made possible by an Education Writers Association fellowship. EWA fellowships support ambitious education journalism projects.

For more information on the college access survey the podcast series is based on, read our stories here.”

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