Male Students of Color From Different Backgrounds Face Similar Hurdles

They come from different cultural backgrounds, but male students of color, of any race, often face the same challenges in college.

That’s what the authors of a College Board report released on Monday, “The Educational Experience of Young Men of Color,” concluded from interviews with and data collected from 92 male college and high-school students across the country.

The students, who were designated in the study as African-American, Native American, Asian-American or Pacific Islander, or Hispanic or Latino, attended high school, four-year colleges, two-year colleges, or nontraditional or for-profit institutions, and they varied widely in age. But with great frequency they reported dealing with stereotypes, with the pressure to support their communities or families, with money problems, or with a feeling of alienation from their campus.

The report also challenges the common assumption that male students of color are predisposed to avoid seeking help, educational or otherwise. While that assumption is not untrue, said John Michael Lee Jr., policy director of the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center and one of the report’s authors, the students may also neglect to seek help because they are not aware of what resources are available, especially since many of them are the first in their families to attend college.

Christen Pollock, the College Board’s vice president for advocacy, said she was struck by what researchers found when they looked at the paths taken by the students who did not pursue more education after high school. More than 50 percent died, were incarcerated, or were unemployed before they were 24 years old, she said.

“These statistics show that postsecondary education is more important than ever,” Ms. Pollock said.

The report offers several suggestions for improving outreach to the students. Mr. Lee said that colleges with multicultural centers that reach out to students and familiarize them with campus resources tend to have very high retention rates.

“There are a lot of college-completion goals out there,” said Ms. Pollock. “But unless we pay attention to these students, not one of those goals is going to be met.”