Chera Watson
October 29, 2026
Nearly half of the 6.4 million California adults of prime working age who hold a high school diploma but no college degree have already taken college courses, and three in four are employed, according to a new analysis that urges the state to remake its higher education system around them.
The report, “Untapped Opportunity: Meet California’s 6.4 Million Potential Graduates,” was released this month by California Competes: Higher Education for a Strong Economy, a nonpartisan research and policy organization based in Oakland. It profiles residents ages 25 to 54 who finished high school or earned an equivalent credential but never completed an associate degree or higher, a group the organization calls “potential graduates.” The study refreshes a statewide portrait California Competes first published in 2021.