New Report Details Enrollment, Graduation Trends
At Hispanic-Serving Institutions
By Charles Dervarics
WASHINGTON
Hispanic-serving institutions have realized significant gains, both
in numbers and importance, as a growing Latino population increasingly seeks greater access to higher education, a new study says.
Despite representing only 6 percent of all post-secondary institutions nationwide, Hispanic-serving institutions enroll nearly half of all Latino college students, says the report from Excelencia in Education. The number of HSIs — or colleges with Hispanic enrollment of at least 25 percent — also has increased to 236 from just 131 a decade ago.
“As the Latino population continues to grow, so will the number of Latino college-bound students,” said the report, “Inventing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: The Basics.” Release of the report coincided with a Capitol Hill forum on the growth of HSIs that included U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Texas, education task force leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The report detailed enrollment and graduation trends at these institutions and the role they play in Latino education.
The federal government has played a role in this growth through a $95 million annual program to support improvements at these colleges. But, according to the report, much work remains to be done.
“When we talk about Hispanic-serving institutions, we find that we still spend most of our time explaining what they are and how the federal program to support them works,” Hinojosa says.
