An October 2023 Pew Research Center study on “Key Facts about U.S. Latinos with Graduate Degrees” reveals that only 7% of Latinos aged 25 years and older hold graduate degrees, constituting just half of the U.S. Latino population. Many educational experts cite that the number of Latinos with graduate degrees must rise if Hispanics are going to keep pace with the rest of the American population.  A graduate degree usually enhances a student’s ability to gain prominent positions, climb the corporate ranks and compete for higher paying jobs.

The report also cited that U.S. born Latinos do better than foreign-born Hispanics in achieving graduate degrees in the U.S., as 8% attained them compared to 5% of foreign-born students. In terms of college education, 56% of U.S. born Latino students have some college experience compared to 31% of foreign-born students.

Most of the graduate degrees earned by Latinos are master’s degrees. Indeed, among the 2.5 million Latinos who achieved advanced degrees in 2021, 1.8 million of them, or 72%, held master’s degrees in areas such as Master of Arts, Science, Social Work, or Business Administration. About 110,000 Latinos, or 12%, have doctorate degrees, and 200,000, or 22%, have advanced professional degrees.

The Pew Research Center report was written by Mark Hugo Lopez, director of ethnicity research at Pew Research Center, and Lauren Mora. We interviewed Lopez about the report as well as Gina Ann Garcia, a professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Education and faculty director of the Latinx Thriving Initiatives, to go beyond the report and ask about solutions to increase the number of Latinos earning advanced degrees.

 Q & A with Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew Research Center  

HO: Latinos make up 14% of Americans, but only 7% of Hispanics have earned graduate degrees. What factors contribute to making that number so low?

Lopez: There are several reasons. Many Latinos don’t go to college, though many complete high school. Many choose not to go to college but enter the job market. And many choose to go to post-secondary institutions but only for a two-year degree, which is especially true of men. If you don’t finish a bachelor’s degree, the pathway to graduate school is difficult.

HO: What role does economics play in keeping Latino graduate numbers down?

Lopez:  There are a number of possible reasons that hold Latinos back, including the cost of college and needing to pay that off. Also, there are family challenges. Some Latinos finish college and go back to help out their parents or start a family themselves.

HO: When Latinos earn advanced degrees, what benefits do they reap?  

Lopez: It helps them in earnings. Many who earn a law or business degree will earn more than those who don’t have these degrees. But there’s a caveat. If you look at the payoff for Latino women, we haven’t seen the growth of earnings as we’ve seen with Black and Asian women. They’ve closed the earnings gap with white men over the last 25 years, but earnings for Hispanic women have been flat. The reasons include that Hispanic women may take the first job offered, and it may be that Hispanic women often stay local to be near their families.

In addition, many may end up in leadership positions. This also helps the nation, because of the message it sends when there is diverse leadership in corporate America, the news media, or the government, given how diverse our country is. One other important thing is that this isn’t a story about immigrants. This is, for the most part, a story about U.S. born students who go through the U.S. educational system and earn their degrees. When many people think of Latinos, they think of those from other countries. 

HO: What role do grants and scholarships play in helping Latinos earn advanced degrees?

Lopez: Financial support, either from institutions or foundations or any other sources, is important, not only for Hispanic students but for all students concerning graduate experience. It’s the way our education system works in the U.S. 

HO: For   Latino students who have earned bachelor’s degrees, what mind set does it take to move on and achieve advanced degrees?

Lopez: Oftentimes, it’s tied to an interest in a particular field and becoming an expert practitioner. Sometimes, it entails achieving a leadership position, but there are several reasons why Latinos pursue graduate degrees.

HO: What will it take to have more Latinos earning advanced college degrees?

Lopez: There are many ways we can increase the number of Latinos achieving more graduate degrees, including lowering the cost of graduate education, providing more guidance or leadership to show them the way, and finally seeing a greater value placed on advanced education as opposed to other possible paths. Starting a career with a graduate degree can be as lucrative, successful, or impactful as other methods.

HO: What other incentives could be offered?

Lopez: It involves getting involved in programs to increase the pipeline of Latinos attending graduate school. For example, the Public Policy International Affairs Program gets students to spend a summer studying courses that would connect them to graduate school policy programs and ultimately lead to work in the federal government. Another would be Wall Street internship programs where you can spend a summer working with an investment bank, accounting firm, or venture capital firm to learn the ropes and return after graduate school.

HO: Putting this all together, what will it take to encourage more Latinos to earn advanced degrees?

Lopez: In many ways what will happen in the next 10 years is baked in with young Latinos in high school making college decisions that include going beyond bachelor’s degrees. The pool of Latinos earning college degrees is growing, but it is mostly driven by young Hispanic women.

Q&A with Gina Garcia, University of California-Berkeley

HO: Latinos make up 14% of Americans, but only 7% of Hispanics have earned graduate degrees. What are the factors that contribute to that low number?

Garcia: We know that our Latinx and Black students aren’t entering graduate schools at the same rate as white populations. Much of this is connected to being first generation. We don’t talk much with first generation college students about graduate school. So, it’s partially due to a lack of information about graduate school and what students have to do to get there. There’s a disconnect of information that predominantly affects first-generation Latino students.

HO: Given this lack of information, what would you like to see happen?

Garica: I call it ‘graduate-going knowledge.’ There’s a body of college-going knowledge, but we have to build a culture of people knowing what to do to enter graduate school and start that even in community colleges. There’s a big move to create pathways. I’m not sure if graduate school is part of the pathway at community colleges, regarding transferring into 4-year colleges and then going to graduate school. It must be built-in at an early stage.

I know faculty members who intentionally teach students how to go to graduate schools, build it into the curriculum, and reach out to potential mentors at graduate schools. You have to train students to reach out and contact mentors. That can be built into curriculum structure. We can create a course where in your senior year you learn what to do to attend graduate school. 

HO: Will it take federal intervention, state invention, or encouragement from specific colleges to accomplish that goal? 

Garcia: The state could be a suitable intervention. We do have a lot of state interventions in California that are helping to increase equity, such as state equity plans for colleges. At the federal level, it’s mostly about grants. Federal policy doesn’t mandate.

HO: If a master’s program hired you to raise the number of Latinos earning advanced degrees, what two initiatives would you recommend?

Garcia: Campus direction, as far as increasing the number of Latino graduate students is concerned, must be intentional. In the last 20 years since 2002, we’ve seen a rising number of Latinos earn undergraduate degrees. However, we still see a huge disparity regarding Latino faculty. There’s a lag. Getting more Latinos into graduate school will also help increase that number. We need to make sure we’re investing in funding Ph.D. programs and encouraging Latinos because many students will opt to work immediately rather than pay for graduate school.