June 02--Amid the push to encourage more Californians to graduate from college, attention is being paid to those with some higher education but who never made it to graduation.
A report last week by the nonprofit Campaign for College Opportunity focused on the educational challenges faced by California's African American population. Nearly a third of black adults in the state have some college education but no degree, according to the report, the highest rate of any racial or ethnic group. Overall, about 4.5 million California adults never completed their studies.
The numbers are important because many of these adults could fill higher-wage jobs if they attained a degree, according to many experts.
In California and around the nation, campus-based programs have sprung up to coax many of these adults to reenter college. Those efforts, however, face a number of hurdles including a lack of awareness that a degree may be within reach, limited financial resources and inadequate outreach and support services, according to the report.
And there is no statewide strategy to help those who want to return to school, said Michele Siqueiros, executive director of the advocacy group.
"The numbers are pretty stunning," Siqueiros said. "We should be incentivizing adults interested in finishing and earning those degrees to come back. Not all will, but this is low-hanging fruit. Growing capacity, though, is going to require additional funding from the state."
Nationally, President Obama has pushed the goal of substantially boosting the ranks of degree holders by 2020.
Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed increases in state funding for California's three higher-education systems while calling for an easier transfer process, better basic skills instruction and improved graduation rates -- particularly for low-income and minority students.
Many of those goals may help reentry students, but no specific funds are targeted for that group. And both UC and Cal State officials have complained that the 2015-16 budget plan doesn't provide funding needed to increase enrollment.
Still, many campuses such as Cal State Long Beach and UC Berkeley are offering special supportive services for reentry students.
"Sometimes, folks will come in and feel very much a sense of otherness and that the university is aimed at people who are younger than they are," said Ron Williams, director of Re-entry Student and Veteran Services on the Berkeley campus. "But we are trying to make sure that they not only connect with each other but are able to fully engage in the academic community."
