Study shows uneven college outcomes for Asian American, Pacific Islander students
More than 60% of working-age Asian Americans in California hold a bachelor’s degree, according to a new report. That is way ahead of the state average of 37%.
On closer inspection, however, researchers found significant disparities within the umbrella category of “Asian American.” While 86% of Taiwanese Californians and 80% of Indian Californians have a bachelor’s degree, only about a quarter of Hmong and Laotian Californians can say the same, per data drawn from a 2023 federal survey.
For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in California — who were grouped with Asian Americans in the federal higher education data system until 2008 — this number is even lower at 22%. It varies greatly among the more than 20 Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander ethnic groups with population sizes of 10,000 or more in the state, according to the advocacy nonprofit Campaign for College Opportunity and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs’ report.
“Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students are treated as a monolithic group,” co-author Alexis Takagi said. “There’s a prevalent narrative around Asian Americans having uniform success. But when you look at the data, we see there are stark disparities across the board in completion rates, transfer rates and even who’s enrolling in higher education. If we don’t take the time to unearth them, those populations will not be invested in.”
More than 7.3 million Californians belong to Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. And population numbers projected to grow rapidly over the next few decades.
With a concurrently growing subsection of undocumented individuals, researchers said heightened immigration enforcement, data privacy concerns, and shifting federal and state policies can discourage students from accessing higher education and financial aid. Using data from 2018 to 2024, the report sought to draw attention to equity and institutional responsibility in California higher education.
The report noted that 72% of Asian American high school seniors in the 2024-25 cohort completed their A-G requirements — a series of 15 college preparatory courses that makes students eligible for admission to the University of California or California State University systems.
While Asian American students had the highest A-G completion rates in the state, only 38% of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students completed them. The California Department of Education does not publish disaggregated data beyond the categories of Asian, Filipino and Pacific Islander.
Sara Arman, set to transfer from San Jose City College to UC Davis this fall, said she remembers almost crying as she first navigated the higher education admissions process.
“First generation and immigrant students often don’t have anyone to help them with these process,” said Arman, who is originally from Afghanistan. “It can be very overwhelming. My experience would have been a lot better if I had someone to guide me through the things I didn’t understand. It would have helped me a lot if I had more personalized help related to my background.”
The report also said Asian American and NHPI students are less likely to see themselves reflected among their faculty than white students across California’s public higher education system. In the CSU system, for example, there are a dozen white undergraduate students for every full-time faculty member of the same race. This number is 29 for Asian students and 74 for NHPI students, per 2024 data.
“We need more teachers that reflect the identities of our students because these are the people who have walked the journey of higher education and faced these challenges firsthand,” said Sacramento State student Jenn Galinato in the report.
The report points to specific steps California can take to close equity gaps in college access and completion. This includes increasing college preparatory course availability at high schools, making financial aid systems easier to navigate, and recruiting and retaining Asian American and Pacific Islander faculty members.
It also highlights programs like Sacramento State’s Full Circle Project and UC Davis’ Lotus Mana Center that focus on promoting equitable outcomes for Asian American and NHPI students by providing culturally responsive programs and resources on campus.
“California has an opportunity to continue leading the nation by using data to inform policy, investing in evidence-based solutions, and ensuring that educational opportunity is not defined solely by who gets into college, but by who has the support needed to graduate, achieve economic mobility, and reach their full potential,” CAPIAA Executive Director Khydeeja Alam said.
