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Contact: lppipress@luskin.ucla.edu
UCLA Analysis Finds Community College Bachelor’s Degrees Can Drive Economic Mobility and Strengthen Workforces
Accessibility and affordability is a key factor in Latino students pursuing CCB programs across states.
LOS ANGELES (October 28, 2025) —A new policy expert brief from the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI) reveals that Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) programs are delivering on their promise to expand access, meet regional labor demands and accelerate economic mobility for Latino students. In the four states analyzed—California, Florida, Texas, and Washington—Latinos are enrolling, graduating, and seeing post-graduation wage outcomes at promising rates.
Authored by Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, Davis Vo, Elizabeth Meza and Debra D. Bragg, the policy brief shows that CCBs are catalyzing local workforce development. In many cases, these programs are cost-saving alternatives for higher education, tailoring degrees in high-demand fields and enabling community-invested students to stay and contribute to their local places.
The key findings include
- Latino students are enrolling and graduating from CCB programs at promising rates, with representation in some states exceeding their share of the general population. However, disparities in completion rates and wage outcomes persist across states and regions.
- CCB programs offer a cost-effective alternative to traditional four-year institutions, with tuition often less than one-third the cost, making them more accessible to low-income and working Latino students.
- Post-graduation wage outcomes for Latino CCB graduates are encouraging, especially in Washington, where annualized earnings were comparable to or exceeding those of their peers from traditional universities. Yet, wage gains are uneven and influenced by geography, program type, and prior work experience.
- Data infrastructure remains fragmented, limiting the ability to track Latino student outcomes consistently across states and over time.
To help CCB programs fulfill their potential and better serve Latino students, the authors offer the following policy recommendations:
- Invest in Latino-serving community colleges and CCB programs, with targeted funding, capacity-building, and policy support to expand high-demand degree offerings and student support services.
- Build and sustain comprehensive, standardized data systems at the local, state, and national levels to monitor Latino student access, success, and post-graduation outcomes in Community College Baccalaureate programs.
- Ensure equitable access and outcomes for Latino students by embedding racial equity in program design, implementation, and evaluation—including work-based learning opportunities, internships, career support services, and employer partnerships.
“Our policy brief highlights how CCB programs open new pathways for Latino students to earn bachelor’s degrees in high-demand fields,” said Rios-Aguilar, co-author of the study and Professor of Education and Department Chair at UCLA’s School of Education & Information Studies. “The findings illuminate the diverse experiences of Latino students in these programs across multiple states, offering critical insights into their enrollment patterns and the economic opportunities that follow graduation.”
Co-Author Vo, a doctoral candidate and education researcher in the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, added, “As community college baccalaureate programs expand across the nation, policymakers have a critical opportunity to ensure these degrees become powerful catalysts for advancing Latino students’ educational attainment and economic prosperity.”
This policy brief comes on the heels of research published last year focusing on outcomes of Latinos in CCB programs in California.
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About UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute:
The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute is a non-partisan research institute that seeks to inform, engage, and empower Latinos through innovative research and policy analysis. LPPI aims to promote equitable and inclusive policies that address the needs of the Latino community and advance social justice. latino.ucla.edu.
