Latino College Completion: United States

Accelerating Latino College Completion Ensures America’s Future

Closing degree attainment gaps is not about lowering standards. Aligned with Excelencia’s mission, it is about accelerating Latino degree completion while increasing completion for all students — ensuring that post-traditional students have the support necessary to succeed. The United States cannot meet future workforce demands and maintain its global competitiveness without intentionally accelerating Latino college completion. The following demographics, institutional data, and practices inform Latino degree attainment.

Degree Attainment for Latino Students: 2026

EXPLORE NATIONAL FACTS

How Accelerating Latino College Completion Ensures America’s Future

Our nation's prosperity depends on Latino college completion. Latinos are one of the fastest-growing and youngest demographic groups in the country and will make up one-third of the U.S. labor force by 2060. At the same time, the labor market continues to shift toward jobs requiring education beyond high school. In this context, the pace at which Latinos complete college will directly shape the size, preparedness, and resilience of the future U.S. workforce.

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Latinos represent nearly 1 in 4 children under the age of five and 1 in 5 adults in the United States, making them a critical part of the country’s present and future college-going population, future workforce, and future leaders. By 2031, it is projected that Latinos will represent 91% of new U.S. workers, being one in five workers nationwide.

At the same time, workforce demands are intensifying. Nearly 75% of jobs will require postsecondary education or training in the coming decades. As older workers retire and labor shortages grow across sectors such as healthcare, education, technology, and engineering, the educational outcomes of young Latinos will increasingly determine whether the nation can meet its economic needs.

Latinos already play a major role in the economy. In 2023, Latino GDP reached $4.1 trillion, accounting for nearly one-third of total U.S. GDP growth—despite Latinos representing only 20% of the population. This is all while Latinos are underrepresented in high-paying, professional roles that require postsecondary credentials. Accelerating Latino degree completion is essential to sustaining economic growth and ensuring the U.S. remains globally competitive.

Latino Degree Attainment Has Increased, Yet Gaps Remain

Over the past decade (2015-2024), educational attainment has increased for all racial and ethnic groups, see Figure 1. Latino adults have made meaningful gains at both the associate and bachelor’s degree levels.

Latino attainment of an associate degree or higher increased by 8 percentage points—similar to gains among Black, White, and Asian adults.
Bachelor’s degree attainment among Latinos increased by 6 percentage points, similar to gains among other groups.

Note: White refers to Non-Hispanic Whites.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2015-2024.

Despite this progress, Latinos continue to have the lowest levels of college degree attainment, see Figure 2.

Only 31% of Latino adults hold an associate degree or higher, compared to 41% of Black adults, 54% of White adults, and 68%of Asian adults.
At the bachelor’s level, just 22% of Latinos hold a degree, compared to 30% of Black adults, 43% of White adults, and 61% of Asian adults.
Latino attainment remains well below national averages at both levels.

Note: White refers to Non-Hispanic Whites.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2015-2024.

These differences translate into persistent gaps: a 23 percentage-point gap between Latino and White adults at the associate level, and a 21 percentage-point gap at the bachelor’s level. The data make clear that similar rates of improvement have not narrowed these gaps. Without intentional strategies, disparities will persist.

Why These Gaps Persist
Educational attainment gaps are not random. They reflect structural and systemic factors that disproportionately affect Latino and other post-traditional students across the educational pipeline.

Latinos are representative of a post-traditional student majority: they are more likely to be younger than their peers, be first-generation college students, be low-income, work while enrolled, support family members, and navigate affordability challenges. These pressures affect persistence and time to degree.

Enrollment data further reveal opportunities for re-engagement. Large shares of Latino students are not completing degrees within 150 percent normal time to completion (see Figure 3)—not because they failed academically, but because they stopped out or are still enrolled. At two-year institutions, 55 percent of Latino students are still or no longer enrolled, compared to 45 percent of White students—a 10 percentage-point gap. At four-year institutions, 35 percent of Latino students are still or no longer enrolled, compared to 22 percent of White students—a 13 percentage-point gap. These gaps highlight an important pool of students who have earned credits but have not yet completed, and could be re-engaged through intentional institutional strategies and supportive policy interventions.

*Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Note: Outcomes shown are for students at two-year institutions who started in Fall 2020, and for students at four-year institutions who started in Fall 2017. These rates are at the point of 150% normal time to completion, and capture first-time, full-time undergraduate students only. For two-year institutions, 150% normal time to completion is three years, and for four-year institutions, 150% normal time to completion is six years.
SOURCE: Excelencia in Education analysis using the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), 2023 Graduation Rates Survey, and the Institutional Characteristics Survey.

Institutions are implementing evidence-based practices that, when applied intentionally and at scale, improve outcomes for Latino students while benefiting all students.

Seal of Excelencia certified institutions illustrate this point. Though they represent fewer than 1 percent of colleges and universities nationwide, they enroll 15% of Latino students and 7% of all students, and graduate 17% of Latino students and 7% of all students. Data show that Seal-certified institutions:

Have higher retention rates for all undergraduates than the national average;
Graduate Latinos at higher rates than Latinos nationally; and
Employ nearly three times the Latino faculty representation of institutions nationwide.

These outcomes are not accidental, rather they reflect intentional investments in structures and practices that support student success. Effective strategies include strengthening academic advising, implementing guided pathways, expanding transfer supports, and providing robust financial aid counseling and career preparation. By embedding these practices into institutional culture and operations, institutions can serve Latino students more effectively while also improving outcomes for all students.

Importantly, students who are no longer enrolled or still enrolled represent a significant opportunity to accelerate degree completion. A large share of Latino students have earned credits but have not yet completed a credential—not because they lack ability, but because financial pressures, work and family responsibilities, or life disruptions interrupted their education. With intentional outreach, flexible pathways, and targeted supports, these students can be re-engaged and brought back to completion. Re-enrollment, credit recovery, and re-entry initiatives are a powerful opportunity to accelerate degree attainment for Latinos while increasing for all.

Scaling what works also requires intentional financial support. State and federal policy and investments can reinforce institutional efforts by:

Sustaining and Scaling Key Investments: Continue impactful investment in competitive federal funding programs for institutional capacity to retain critical progress in Latino student success at institutions that have historically been underfunded, and ensure long-term dedication and improvement in academic quality for all of their students.
Investing in Quality Higher Education: Have fair and representative investment by states and the federal government in institutions that educate a significant and growing share of Latino students and take responsibility for expanding their impact and building sustainable support systems for student success.
Fostering Low-Debt Education: Advocate for policies that prioritize need-based grants over loans and include basic needs—such as childcare, food, transportation, and housing—within the true cost of attendance.
Lowering the Price of Education: Support and incentivize institutions to lower prices and contain costs to students while investing in academic excellence.
Supporting re-engagement and re-entry pathways: Encourage policies and funding streams that help institutions identify, re-enroll, and support students with prior credits, accelerating completion for Latino students while increasing overall degree attainment.

Investment in proven strategies for Latino, and all, student success is necessary for the development of our nation’s future workforce. Realizing this requires sustained commitment to scale effective practices and expand pathways to completion for Latino students.

In the South, college enrollment is surging, but degree attainment gaps persist across every state, with many Latino students stalled by structural barriers and uneven transfer pathways.

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Explore more insights on Latino College Completion on Excelencia’s Medium page.

Public Leadership

Leaders of these institutions and systems are choosing to join Excelencia’s national leadership effort and serve as funding partners for Latino College Completion U.S. and our Ensuring America’s Future campaign:

Arizona State University
California State University, Channel Islands
California State University, Fresno
California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Northridge
California State University San Bernardino
City Colleges of Chicago – Richard J. Daley College
City Colleges of Chicago – Wilbur Wright College
Grand Valley State University

Long Beach City College
Mercy University
Pima Community College
San Antonio College
Sul Ross State University
The University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at San Antonio
University at Albany
University of Arizona
University of Illinois Chicago
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Latino College Completion: United States

Accelerating Latino College Completion Ensures America’s Future

Degree Attainment for Latino Students: 2026

How Accelerating Latino College Completion Ensures America’s Future

Public Leadership

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