by California Competes
Back to College: Part One
Back to College: Executive Summary
Back to College: Part Two
Back to College is a series of reports that illuminates the millions of Californians who stopped out of college before completing their degree and now pay the price through diminished earnings and limited economic and social mobility. Part One assesses this population of four million California adults aged 25-64 and identifies the personal obstacles and systemic barriers they face upon returning to college to complete their degree. Part Two outlines straightforward recommendations policymakers should incorporate to empower these adults to return to college, graduate, and thrive in California’s innovation economy.
Supporting this population in returning to college and through degree completion will also contribute to balancing California’s severe income inequality since higher rates of poor students and students of color do not complete college in their first try due to structural and institutional barriers like unaffordability, opaque systems, and a lack of institutional supports.
Several terms define adults who are either enrolled in the postsecondary system or could benefit from being enrolled. Among adults in California aged 25-64:
Building educational options for adults is vital in a state where vast income inequality and high cost of living are juxtaposed against aspirations of equitable access to individual economic and social well-being.
Just over half of Californians with some college but no degree are people of color.
While a seemingly low percentage (17%) of Latino adults aged 25 to 64—1.4 million people—have some college but no degree, this figure has more to do with lagging college enrollment for Latinos rather than high college completion rates. Fully 65 percent of Latino Californians aged 25 to 64 never attended college.
About half of Black, Native American, and Pacific Islander Californians who attempted college did not complete.
Among renters, adults with some college but no degree are more likely than those with a degree to be paying at least 30 percent of their income on housing, a common indicator of financial health.
Adults with some college but no degree are less likely to own homes or have health insurance than those with a college degree.
For example, in the Central Sierra and Northern California, this group is almost entirely White. Whereas in Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, Latinos make up approximately 40 percent of those with some college but no degree. These characteristics mirror the broader population of each region, but equity gaps still exist.
Latino White Asian Black Native American Other
For example, adults with some college but no degree in the Bay Area—a region with relatively high degree attainment—make $9,000 less than the regional median wage. However in the San Joaquin Valley, where more individuals have only a high school diploma or less, the trend is opposite—adults with some college but no degree make $4,000 more than the regional median.
Download the series executive summary
Download as PDF
Download this report, part one in the series
Download the next report, part two in the series
California Competes Executive Director Su Jin Jez shares reflections from 2022 and plans for 2023 in her New Year’s letter to partners, colleagues, and friends.
Four organizations join efforts through the CaliforniaAttain! collaborative to conduct research, identify evidence-based practices, and advance reforms that re-engage adult learners back into college and onto completion.
California’s $308 billion 2022-23 budget agreement makes sizable investments to transform higher education including funding to strengthen alignment between higher education and workforce, increase college access and success for adults, and more. California Competes highlights the budget provisions that align with it policy priorities to reimagine a higher education system that serves all Californians.
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