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October is Filipino American History Month (FAHM), chosen to commemorate October 18, 1587, when Filipinos first set foot in California at what is now known as Morro Bay. To mark FAHM, we are sharing what the data tell us about Filipino students at our colleges and what it means for our work.
The Filipino American population is the second-largest Asian American group in California, and the California Community Colleges (CCC) system plays a significant role in the educational journey of Filipino students. Filipino students are in classrooms, counseling offices, and student government at colleges across the system, and they bring varied histories, languages, identities, and educational goals. In most national data, though, they disappear into a single “Asian” category. California is one of the few places where that is not true, and the reason is worth knowing.
For decades, federal reporting, such as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), folded Filipino students into “Asian.” The 2024 revision of OMB’s Statistical Policy Directive 15 (SPD 15) changed that. Detailed categories are now required by default, and Filipino is one of six required Asian checkboxes.
California Has Led the Way in Counting Filipino Students
California has required state agencies to report Filipinos as their own group for years. The federal government is only now catching up.
State law. Government Code §8310.5 requires any state agency that collects ancestry or ethnic origin data to use separate categories for major Asian groups, Filipino among them. AB 1088 (2011) strengthened the law: Since July 1, 2012, every demographic report a state agency publishes must include those detailed categories. Rob Bonta, the first Filipino American elected to the California Legislature and now the state’s Attorney General, later introduced further disaggregation legislation through AB 1726 (2016) while he was an assemblymember.
In the CCC system. The CCC Chancellor’s Office reports Filipino separately from its broader Asian category, allowing greater visibility into the diverse Asian American student population. In 2025–26, Filipino students made up about 2% of the system, while Asian and Pacific Islander students combined made up 12% (CCCCO Data Mart - Student Headcount).
Disaggregation Is an Important First Step, but It Is Not Enough
How we count students matters just as much as which categories we collect. Data Mart reports Filipino students as their own category, yet the counting method places each student in a mutually exclusive group. Students who identify as Filipino and another race or ethnicity may be counted in another reporting category, making their Filipino identity less visible in these summaries. An “if-any” approach, which counts students in every group they select, tells a different story.
In the Campaign for College Opportunity’s May 2026 report on the state of higher education for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Californians count students in every group they select. Using that approach, Filipino students are the largest AANHPI subgroup in the CCC system, at 26% of all AANHPI students. Our Visibility Guide explains these approaches and offers considerations for using expanded ethnicity categories and “if-any” counts to make students more visible in local data.
Why Data Disaggregation Is Essential
The “Asian” or “Asian American” label hides wide economic, social, and educational differences among the groups it covers. Combined data can also reinforce the “model minority” myth, the assumption that every Asian subgroup is succeeding and does not need targeted support.
This month, we offer a few questions to ask at your college:
- Do your dashboards show Filipino students separately? The data exist in the CCC system. If your local reports still combine Filipino with Asian students, ask why.
- What do Filipino students identify as strengths and barriers in their educational experiences and how do these experiences align with our data? Look at early momentum indicators such as transfer-level math and English completion, persistence after the first year, and transfer applications, not only long-term outcomes like transfer and degree completion. Are Filipino students meaningfully involved in interpreting findings and shaping decisions?
- Who is in the room? How do workforce representation and institutional practices support their belonging?
- What’s already working? Many colleges have Filipino student clubs, Filipino Studies, and Filipino learning communities. Connect them to your equity plan.
- How do you count students who identify with more than one group? Single-group and “if-any” counts can differ substantially. Consider supplementing required reporting with “if-any” analyses that reflect students’ complex, self-reported identities.
Filipino American History Month is a time to celebrate history and to renew our commitment to ensuring Filipino students at California community colleges receive the visibility, resources, and support they need to succeed. Disaggregated data, interpreted alongside students’ lived experiences, can help colleges identify inequities and take informed action.