Hispanic College Degrees Getting a Push

State Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio, and Excelencia in Education, a Washington-based nonprofit, announced a partnership Wednesday to boost college degree attainment among Latinos, which lags behind other groups' despite their booming population.

Called Ensuring America's Future, the initiative aims to identify and expand programs that work for Latinos, such as taking dual enrollment classes in high school.

For the U.S. to regain its top global ranking for college degree attainment, Latinos will need to earn 3.3 million additional degrees by 2020, tripling the pace they are going now, said Sarita Brown, co-founder and president of Excelencia.

"The magnitude of the challenge exceeds what any one of us can do," Brown said. "We must work together."

Deborah Santiago, co-founder and vice president for policy and research at Excelencia, said the initiative focuses on completion because many Latinos start college, but never finish.

In Texas, only 30 percent of Latinos complete an associate's or bachelor's degree within six years, compared to 40 percent of Anglos.