Less Than 6 Million "Latino/a" Adults Have A College Degree

By Joseph Villescas, Ph.D.

Recently I was perusing Census data to determine, exactly, how many Latinos in this country have college degrees. Given that Latinos are a fast growing portion of the U.S. population, educated leaders are a must, even more so are educated Latino leaders.

Out of 31.8 million adult Latinos in the United States,

• 10.6 million did not complete high school and are ineligible for postsecondary degree programs;
• 2.4 million (7.5%) are currently enrolled in an institution of higher education;
• 5.8 million (18.3%) have completed a postsecondary degree program;
• One out of every three Hispanic degree holders only has an associate’s degree;
• Half of all Latino degree holders ended their postsecondary studies upon the completion of their bachelor’s degrees;
• 884,000 (2.7%) Latinos in the United States have completed graduate degree programs;
• 147,000 (.5%) Latinos have obtained a doctoral degree.

Unfortunately, as we can see from the following data, the U.S. Latino community has a long way to go towards creating a sizable and educated leadership class. Later this week I will expand on these trends, touching on how Latinas in particular are likely to step into these leadership roles as Hispanic baby boomers begin retirement.