Hispanic students are pursuing higher education more than in previous years and they often represent their family as the first member to attend college (Strage in "Coll Stud J" 33:198-205, 1999). Past educational research has studied the influence of intrinsic motivation on academic achievement in various ethnically diverse elementary, middle school and high school student populations (Areepattamannil in "Soc Psychol Educ" 15:367-386, 2012; Crumpton and Gregory in "J Educ Psychol" 104:42-53, 2011; Lepper et al. in "J Educ Psychol" 92:184-196, 2005). Despite the fact that many studies using college student samples have also shown the positive role of intrinsic motivation with achievement outcomes (Harackiewicz et al. in "Educ Psychol" 33:1-21, 1998; Simons et al. in "Br J Educ Psychol" 74:343-360, 2004; Vallerand and Bissonnette in "J Pers" 60:599-620, 1992), few studies focus on Latino samples. We expect that intrinsic motivation may play an important role in the academic achievement of Latino students, particularly first generation college students. The current review will examine self-determination theory, including intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, as well as relevant research pertaining to the connection between intrinsic motivation and academic achievement. The relationship between intrinsic motivation and academic achievement for first generation Latino college students will be examined along with ways to increase intrinsic motivation and academic achievement in turn. Implications for future research will be discussed.