Treating nontraditional students as an asset rather than as a liability has marked stellar leadership among presidents at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), according to “Leading in Changing America: Presidential Perspectives from Hispanic-Serving Institutions,” a report released this week by the advocacy group Excelencia in Education.

“Leadership is a critical component of serving students, specifically Latino students, so we just wanted to talk to college presidents about what students need,” said Dr. Deborah Santiago, the author of the report and vice president for policy and research at Excelencia in Education.

The report describes nontraditional students as significantly “low-income, first-generation, part-time, commuting, ethnically diverse and older” students, while describing traditional collegians as full-time students who are usually White and financially dependent on parents.

Data collected in the report indicates that, from 1980 to 2007, nontraditional student representation increased 194 percent, while traditional student representation increased only 18 percent at HSIs. The data also indicated that Hispanics represent the largest group of minority students with the sharpest increase of college enrollment.

Comments from 12 HSI presidents whose institutions were featured in the report indicates the value of treating nontraditional students as an asset, an approach, Santiago explained, that stands in sharp contrast to some college leaders who see nontraditional students lowering the quality and prestige of their institutions as well as costing more to educate.

“We find that leaders of institutions who have that (negative) perspective are not effective leaders and the institutions generally do not have a good success rate with nontraditional students,” Santiago said.