Will talent meet opportunity in Georgia?

These gaps are not evidence of a lack of talent, ambition or academic potential. They are evidence that access to college does not automatically translate to completion. That distinction matters for every Georgian. Across the state, adults with a college degree have a median income of $62,863, compared with $33,988 for adults without one. College completion, therefore, represents more than an individual accomplishment; it increases families’ earning power, strengthens the state’s skilled workforce and expands the economic contributions graduates make to their communities.

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

Georgia’s employers need educated workers in healthcare, education, technology, advanced manufacturing, logistics, business and public service. Georgia cannot meet those workforce needs without improving Latino college enrollment and completion. The question is not if Georgia should invest in Latino student success; it is if the state can leverage its collective potential of talent or remain competitive without doing so.

There are promising foundations on which to build. Kennesaw State University, Georgia State University, Georgia Gwinnett College, the University of North Georgia and the University of Georgia enroll the largest numbers of Latino undergraduates in the state. Together, these institutions have the reach — and responsibility — to demonstrate what intentional institutional leadership can accomplish.

Intentionality matters. Students do better when institutions know who they are, understand the strengths, challenges — and responsibilities they carry — and organize services around their pathways to a degree. For example, Dalton State College has accepted the responsibility to ensure talent regularly meets opportunity. More than one-third of its students are Latino. Dalton State has embedded student-centered, data-informed, continuous improvement cycles into their strategies and practices to ensure Latino, and all, students they enroll are intentionally served. Dalton even earned the Seal of Excelencia in 2025 for providing data, evidence-based practices and leadership that detail how they are holding themselves accountable for intentionally serving Latino, and all, students in their service area.

Georgia’s elected officials and education leaders have the opportunity to ensure higher-education recognizes talent, removes unnecessary barriers and helps more students meet rigorous expectations.

Here are three ways to do so:

First, state leaders can establish college completion goals that explicitly measure progress for Latino students while increasing success for all students. Enrollment alone is not an adequate measure of opportunity. Georgia should publicly track persistence beyond enrollment to a degree, credit accumulation, transfer, graduation and post-college outcomes by institution and student population. What gets measured can be managed — and improved.

Second, policymakers can invest in the capacity building of institutions to know who they serve and are accountable for serving them well. Colleges should move from optional, fragmented services to proactive systems of support. Students should not have to discover critical resources by accident or wait until they are already in academic or financial distress. Institutions can use early information to connect students with advising, tutoring, financial assistance and career preparation before challenges become crises.

Third, Georgia should identify, fund, and scale programs that produce measurable results. New investments should be tied to evidence of improved degree completion, transfer and employment — not simply to the number of students served. Institutions producing strong results should be expected to share their practices across the state.

Latino students are already part of Georgia’s educational, economic and civic future. Whether the state benefits fully from their talent depends on the choices leaders make now. Closing Georgia’s Latino college completion gap will require sustained commitment from all stakeholders. But the return will extend far beyond any one population.

When Georgia helps more Latino students complete college, it develops more nurses, teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs and community leaders — and builds a more prosperous future for all Georgians.

Deborah Santiago is the co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education — a national nonprofit organization committed to accelerating Latino student success, while increasing all student success, to close postsecondary attainment gaps and advance our families, communities and nation.

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