Karlo Vazquez Melendez started high school during the pandemic. It wasn’t easy, but a network of support kept him going.
“I didn’t fully believe in myself,” he said. “Fortunately, people believed in me.”
Organizations like the Barrio Logan College Institute provided support. It serves students as early as third grade who would be the first in their families to attend college.
“It was definitely something that I knew I could rely on every step of the way, whether it was mentoring, whether it was tutoring, whether it was personal help,” Vazquez Melendez said.
Now, he’s studying political science at San Diego State University.
Far more Hispanic and Latino students are graduating from high school than did 20 years ago. That’s according to a new report on youth well-being in San Diego County. The Policy and Innovation Center produced the report with funding from the San Diego Foundation, Conrad Prebys Foundation and the City of San Diego.
In 2005, 68% of the county’s Hispanic or Latino students graduated from high school. By 2023, that number had gone up to 91%, “a more than 20-percentage point increase that exceeds all other racial groups for which we have complete information,” the report’s authors wrote.
Several changes may have played a role, said Dean Gerdeman, the San Diego Foundation’s assistant director of education initiatives.
One is how California funds its schools. In 2013, California started using what’s called the Local Control Funding Formula. It directs additional state funding to schools with higher numbers of students who are learning English, in foster care or eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
“As a weighted formula, it provides more resources to schools where the needs are the greatest,” Gerdeman said. “I think that's a key factor in improved graduation rates.”
High schools are offering more career training and identifying students who need extra support. Plus, more students are taking college classes while they’re in high school.
“I think in totality, those sets of things have given young people in high school more reasons to engage, more different ways to engage, and just kind of reasons to stick around,” Gerdeman said.
College enrollment has increased among Hispanic and Latino students from 42% in 2005 to 57% in 2023. Countywide, college enrollment jumped from 56% to 64%.
College isn’t the right fit for everyone, Gerdeman said. But there are other questions about life after high school.
“For the students who aren't going to college, are they getting strong career supports?” he asked. “Are they going into post-secondary training and apprenticeships or something else that gets them to that pathway to achieve their goals?”
Those goals, he said, include a living wage. Countywide, the report found that fewer young people are earning enough to support themselves.
In 2008, 20% of 18- to 24-year-olds who lived alone were making a self-sufficient wage. In 2023, just 9% were.
“For young adults, this has real implications,” the report’s authors wrote. “It can delay major milestones like moving out, starting a family or saving for the future.”
