Report: Latinos lag other groups in college completion

Latino college completion rates lag behind those of other groups, according to a report by Excelencia in Education, a non-profit focused on how the United States can better serve Latino students. The report includes a state-by-state fact sheet and draws attention to successes in improving Latino college completion rates.

Nationwide, about 20 percent of Latino adults had a post-secondary degree, compared to more than 35 percent of all adults in 2010. In Colorado, 18 percent of Latino adults had earned an associate degree or higher, compared to 46 percent of all adults.

"It is pretty clear in the data that our ability to educate Latino students and prepare them for college is a failed enterprise," Tony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, said on a conference call on Thursday about the report, according to Education News Colorado.

Colorado had the eighth-largest Latino population in the United States in 2010, the most recent year for which census data were available; 21 percent of the state population and 28 percent of the K-12 population was Latino. The median age of Latinos in Colorado was 26, compared to 38 for white non-Hispanics.

The report noted that, for the United States to regain the top ranking in the world for college degree attainment, Latinos will need to earn 5.5 million degrees by 2020. In order to reach this attainment goal, the authors urged Colorado to 1) close the equity gap in college completion, 2) increase the number of degrees conferred and 3) scale up programs and initiatives that work for Latinos and other students.

The report highlighted the Cumbres Teacher Preparation Program at the University of Northern Colorado and the System-Wide Pre-Collegiate Development Program at the University of Colorado as examples of institutional programs with evidence of effectiveness in serving Latino students.

– Alec Arellano