Nearly 44 percent of emerging HSIs are community colleges, and private colleges occupied a significant share at 36 percent. Public four-year institutions lagged behind, representing just a fifth of all emerging HSIs.
But the HSI label has its critics. Government criteria do not hold schools accountable on Hispanic retention or graduation completion, and, as a result, the critical mass theory that contends that institutions change to accommodate the emerging quarter of their population doesn’t seem to hold true, Hispanic education advocates argue.
Some institutions, however, shy away from the HSI status for fear of developing a stigma that may send an exclusionary message to non-Hispanic students.
“It is not a given, you can’t assume that just because there are lots of Hispanic students that they are also graduating them,” Santiago said, who also blogs for Diverse. “It’s got to be more than access. It’s about retaining and completing their degrees. There is a difference between enrolling and serving.”
Of these emerging Hispanic-serving institutions, 50 percent said they targeted recruitment toward the demographic to increase enrollment. However, only 30 percent said they provided support services to those same students. About 17 percent of surveyed schools said Latino students do not graduate at the same rate as other students, while 40 percent either didn’t know or did not report those numbers.
“It’s not about the numbers; it’s the mindset,” said Juan Sepúlveda, director of the White House Initiative on Education Excellence for Hispanic Americans, which is housed in the U.S. Department of Education.
