Laotian Americans, The Twin Cities, And Getting A Scholarship

Sunday, January 10, 2010

There's a great read down by Bryan Thao Worra on the state of Laotian Americans and higher education including getting your hands on those scholarships:

In many ways, it's time for high school seniors to start preparing for college and applying for scholarships. For Laotian Americans and other refugees from Southeast Asia rebuilding our lives in the US, this is particularly important for the long-term success of our communities.

For the ethnic Lao, for example, Census 2000 figures suggest that while many in our community successfully graduated high school, few attended or graduated college. In a 2006 study by the Asian American Justice Center, research indicates that in education, Lao in Minnesota lag behind at least seven other Twin City Asian American groups: Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Asian Indian, Filipino and the Japanese.

Compared to all Twin City adults, only 17% of Lao adults have a 2-year college degree or better compared to 43% of all Twin City adults. Further, 42% of Lao adults have less than a high school education. Compare this to just 9% of all Twin City adults. There are many factors that go into this.
Read it in full down at his blog.