The Latinos and Higher Education California Profile was compiled by The Campaign for College Opportunity with data from The Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy (IHELP) at Sacramento State University and UCLA IDEA, UC/ACCORD. The profile documents college-going rates and completion rates for Latino students, finding distrurbingly low rates in both areas. At a time when the Latino student population is growing and the state is projected to have a shortage of one million trained workers with a baccalaureate degree, California must ensure that more Latino students graduate from high school ready for college and are successful in reaching their college goals.
Over half of the children attending public schools in California today are Latino. In a few years, Latinos will comprise almost half of the college-age population; however, they are critically underrepresented in the state’s four-year universities. Too few Latino students meet the requirements for admission into a public four-year university and too few earn a degree, certificate, or successfully transfer from community college.
70% of Latino first-time freshmen that enroll in a California public college or university begin at a community college. In a recent report, only two in ten of these students completed within six years. The combination of low college enrollment and low completion rates spells disaster for Latinos and the California economy precisely at a time when the state is projected to have a shortage of one million trained workers with baccalaureate degrees.
