The continual rise of student loan debt seems to show the world that students are willing to do whatever it takes to become successful in life. However, when they have completed the requirement for the degree many question if the whole journey was worth it. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine the potential influence that might lead Latino high school students' plans on pursuing higher education. The target sample for this study consisted of 189 students. The Factors Influencing Pursuit of Higher Education (FIPHE) Questionnaire (Harris, 2009), was used in this study to obtain measures on the independent and dependent variables for research questions one and the dependent variables for research question two. An online market research sample aggregator, QuestionPro, was used to obtain the target sample. The sample was given a link to access the survey on QuestionPro, an online data collection tool. The survey responses were downloaded into SPSS where the data analysis took place. Two findings in this study were recognized. First after controlling for gender, peer influence was a significant predictor of desire to pursue post-secondary education, where increases peer influence were associated with increases in the desire to pursue a post-secondary education. Additionally, family influence, family support, locus of control, relative functionalism, and glass ceiling were not significant predictors of desire to pursue a post-secondary education. The seconding finding of the study indicated that after controlling for gender, is there any significant difference between Latino and non-Latino students on the factors of family influence, family support, peer influence, locus of control, relative functionalism, and glass ceiling. Results indicated that there were no significant mean differences between Latino and non-Latino mean scores on family influence, family support, peer influence, locus of control, relative functionalism, and glass ceiling. Additionally, there were no statistically significant differences when Latinos were compared to Caucasians. This study brought to light the potential factors that lead the largest minority group in the United States of America, the Latinos, into pursuing higher education. Future research can look into other minority groups to determine what various factors lead them into pursuing post-secondary education. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]