For California to remain economically competitive, higher percentages of Latino students must begin attending Golden State colleges and universities, says a study released today that provides 17 specific recommendations for making that a reality.

Produced by a consortium of education activists, the position paper offers a laundry list of potential remedies that will be presented to California legislators and public university heads later this month. The recommendations, which have already caught the attention of other states, are seen as potential remedies for what is a national problem: ensuring the next generation of workers, who are largely Hispanic, is educated.

The initiative was spearheaded by Excelencia in Education, a non-profit Latino education organization based in Washington, D.C. Excelencia collaborated with the California Policy Research Center and the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute to produce a 24-page study titled “Moving Beyond Research: California Policy Options to Accelerate Latino Student Success in Higher Education.”

Moving Beyond Research came up with 17 proposals for coaxing more Latinos into California colleges and universities over the next 15 years. All of the proposals fall under three areas:

-  Helping Latino students and parents to fully appreciate the importance of higher education.

-  Making a college education affordable.

-  Boosting the numbers of California Latinos earning postsecondary degrees.

One proposal in Moving Beyond Research called for higher-education students to receive financial incentives to stay continuously enrolled, until completing a degree. 

Latinos represent 46 percent of school-age children in California, but only 29 percent of students being admitted to community colleges, according to Moving Beyond Research. Furthermore, only 8 percent of the students entering the California State University system are Latino, a number that falls to 3 percent in the University of California system.