Terry M. Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, says a higher count of Hispanic college students could increase the number of Hispanic-serving institutions, which are defined by the Education Department as those with full-time enrollments that are at least 25 percent Hispanic.
Overall, ACE believes the new system would be more accurate. “We’ve long known that the current federal numbers regarding racial and ethnic participation in higher education are inaccurate,” Hartle says. “We’re making an improvement over where we’ve been in the past, but it’s not perfect.”
The National Association for College Admission Counseling, the only national higher education group to file comment with the department on the proposed changes, endorsed them. Critics have called for a review by academic experts and congressional committees before the department issues final guidelines.
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