Texas Ranks Third in Nation’s Hispanic College Enrollments

Texas institutions rank after California and Puerto Rico among colleges enrolling the highest proportion of Latino undergraduates.

The finding comes from Excelencia in Education, of Washington, D.C. Their report shows that, out of nearly 3000, 293 colleges in 17 states and Puerto Rico enroll 54 percent of all Hispanic undergraduate students.

With 89, California has more than 30 percent of the institutions, followed by Puerto Rico (56), Texas (49), and New Mexico with 24. (See Table and Texas Institutions)

During the 2009-2010 school year, nearly 245,000 Hispanic undergraduates were enrolled in the state’s “Hispanic Serving Institutions,” or making up an average of 53 percent of the student population in those colleges.

HSIs are accredited, degree-granting public or private nonprofit institutions, with 25 percent or more Latino undergraduate enrollments. The HSI designation has grown since 1995 from 236 to 293.

Dr. Raymund A. Paredes, Texas Higher Education Commissioner, points out that the state’s education plan aims to close by 2015 the educational gaps within Texas and between Texas and other leading states in student participation, student success, and institutional excellence and research.

The state has no specific Latino strategy but targets communities through “Generation Texas” outreach, providing information about post-secondary education. The campaign “Advise Texas,” targets low-performing institutions, and has met with extraordinary success, according to Paredes. College completions have gone up 80 percent, he says. “I doubt any state is doing better than we are.”

Paredes points out a distinction that needs to be made between a Hispanic-enrolling and a Hispanic-serving institution. Just enrolling students doesn’t mean they will graduate. However, successful colleges have some common denominators: open admissions, provide remedial work when that is needed after admissions, and provide support programs to complete course work.

University of Texas, El Paso, president Dr. Diana Natalicio explains progress at her institution is not merely a result of demographic growth but a deliberate effort to get the institution to better reflect the city’s population. This effort is aided by programs between the public school system, the community college, and UTEP.

Natalicio says, “It is far more important to be pro-active,” including changing attitudes when it comes to Latino talent and attainment potential. Institutional adaptations include how the university does business. She refers to arranging class schedules for working students, split financial aid between the community college and UTEP for joint enrollments, and even tracking students into a four-year program as soon as they become eligible with a community-college degree.

These program innovations are now mainstreaming into other institutions seeking to become more responsive to the state and nation’s need for college graduates.

“We have tried to change how people think about our human capital. I think it is working,” says Natalicio. In that sense, “El Paso is in the forefront of doing it in a different way,” she adds.

Improving college enrollments and graduation rates have become imperative for Texas and the nation. Without new major initiatives, the State Data Center projects a decline in the proportion of Texas’ work force with some college experience from 28.7 percent in 2000 to 23.9 percent by 2040. The share with a bachelor’s degree is expected to decline from 18.2 percent in 2000 to 12.9 percent in the same period, as well as a similar decline for those with graduate and professional degrees. READ MORE