Emerging HSIs = More Hispanics Entering College

Excelencia in Education continues its tremendous work with a study regarding emerging Hispanic Serving Institutions - or HSIs. If you’re not familiar with the term, HSIs are colleges or universities where total Hispanic enrollment constitutes a minimum of 25% of the total enrollment. According to Hispanic Association of Universities and Colleges (HACU) one of every two Hispanic attends an HSI. This study is another indicator providing evidence of the increasing number of Hispanic students attending college. Based on the study’s analysis, there are 176 emerging HSIs. These are institutions where Hispanic undergraduate full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment is somewhere between 15 and 24 percent. Additionally, these emerging HSI schools are located in 20 states. One area of concern I see in the study’s results is the high concentration of emerging HSI schools that are community colleges (44%). With transfer rates from community to 4 year colleges low and needing to improve, more work and investment needs to be done to assure community college students (many of which are Hispanic) have the support to make that successful transition. I encourage you to review the whole report. Find out more via Hispanic Talent Memo.