The rate of Latino students enrolling in and graduating from community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs is growing, which is also leading to positive post-graduate outcomes.
A new brief from the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI) looks at the ups and downs of CCB programs in four states: California, Florida, Texas and Washington. It focuses on how CCB programs are serving Latino students and the challenges that remain.
Accessibility of CCB programs
Nationwide, the share of White people with bachelor’s degrees is 19 percentage points higher than the share of Latinos with bachelor’s degrees. In states with large Latino populations, CCB programs can help close that gap by offering a geographically and financially accessible opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree.
And data show that CCB programs are, indeed, attracting Latino students. In the 2021-22 academic year, 15,297 students graduated from CCB programs nationwide, 24% of whom were Latino. For comparison, Latinos accounted for 17% of graduates in bachelor’s degree programs at four-year universities nationally.
“This higher proportion of Latino graduates in CCB programs compared to traditional universities seems to underscore the appeal of these local, workforce-oriented, and affordable degrees for Latino students,” the brief’s authors say.
Of the four states examined, Florida and Washington are serving larger numbers of CCB students, but their programs also have been in place longer and every community college in these states offers at least one baccalaureate program. CCB programs in California and Texas only expanded in recent years. In the 2021-22 academic year, Florida enrolled 36,433 CCB students and Washington enrolled 6,201, while California had only 830 and Texas had 2,477 – though California’s and Texas’ programs are growing rapidly.
Though the number of CCB students is lower in California and Texas, the share of Latino students is high. For the 2022-23 academic year, Latinos represented 42% of the 1,056 CCB students in California and 78% of the CCB students in Texas. During that same year, in Washington, 9% of the 6,510 CCB students were Latino. Data weren’t available for Florida.
Graduation, post-graduation outcomes
The number of Latino students graduating from these programs also varied by state. In Texas, 65% (or 939) of CCBs in the 2021-22 academic year were awarded to Latino students. In California, Florida and Washington, this proportion was much smaller (34%, 25% and 14%, respectively). Florida, however, has a larger overall number of CCB students and graduates, so a higher total number of Latino graduates: 9,767 during the 2021-22 academic year.
CCB programs also are associated with higher wage earnings. The brief notes that post-graduation wage outcomes for Latino CCB graduates are encouraging, but vary depending on geography, program type and prior work experience.
In terms of geography, Latino CCB graduates in California reported the highest average wage ($75,000 one year after graduation) and Florida and Washington showed strong post-graduation earnings ($74,000 and $72,000, respectively, three years after graduation). In fact, in Washington, “annualized earnings were comparable to or exceeding those of their peers from traditional universities,” according to the brief. These wages for Latino graduates are similar to the wages earned by their White counterparts.
Latino CCB graduates in Texas earn an annual wage of $52,000 three years after graduation, which is about $15,000 lower than annual wages for White graduates.
Challenges and opportunities
The LPPI brief notes the lack of a centralized national database that tracks Latino students in CCB programs from enrollment through graduation and into the workforce limits the ability to properly measure the scale and equity of CCB programs. Some states and colleges have developed their own data collection systems, but “differences in data sources, definitions, and reporting methods create challenges for cross-state comparisons,” say the brief’s authors.
They recommend creating and sustaining comprehensive, standardized data systems at the local, state and national levels to monitor Latino student access, success and post-graduation outcomes in CCB programs.
The authors also cited the need for investment in Latino-serving community colleges and CCB programs with targeted funding, capacity-building and policy support to expand high-demand degrees and student support services.
At the federal level, this would include adjusted Pell Grant policies to support the population that CCB programs seek to serve, including older, working and part-time students. At the state level, policymakers can ensure affordable CCB programs by establishing tuition caps. And at the local level, regional workforce consortiums should be established to help ensure CCB programs align with local and regional labor market trends within Latino communities.
A third recommendation in the brief is to embed racial equity in program design, implementation and evaluation. This, the authors say, would ensure equitable access and outcomes for Latino students. This extends beyond the classroom to ensuring access to work-based learning opportunities, internships, employment and more.
“As community college baccalaureate programs expand across the nation, policymakers have a critical opportunity to ensure these degrees become powerful catalysts for advancing Latino students’ educational attainment and economic prosperity,” said co-author Davis Vo, a doctoral candidate and education researcher in the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA.
