Excelencia's Perspectives
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Applying a Latino lens to higher education policy and practice
Excelencia’s community understands and addresses contemporary higher education issues using a Latino lens. Read the latest perspectives on policies and practices impacting Latino, and all, student success from across the Excelencia network.
For more insight into Latino student success trends in higher education, visit Excelencia’s Medium page.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen the current administration refuse to defend and, later, seek to end funding for Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) grant programs, arguing that they are racially discriminatory. Read Excelencia's latest case for HSIs and learn more about how these programs constitute a strategic, competitive, capacity-building investment in institutions that disproportionately educate America’s fastest-growing student population and why supporting them is a strategic investment in our democracy.
The Case for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): Opportunity Meeting Talent
By: Deborah A. Santiago, CEO, Excelencia in Education
Read Now | Sep 15, 2025 · 4 min read
America’s Economic Future: Latinos and the Institutions that Serve Them
By: Lily Cuellarsola, Excelencia in Education
Latinos, one of the fastest-growing and youngest U.S. demographics, are uniquely positioned to shape America’s future. This post explores Latinos’ rapid population growth, rising college enrollment, the challenges of the demographic cliff, and strategies to invest in their success amongst all served to meet workforce needs and secure our nation’s economic future.
Read Now | Jan 8, 2025 · 7 min read
Latino Students are Key to Our Nation’s Prosperity
By: Lily Cuellarsola & Cassandra Arroyo, Excelencia in Education
Accelerating Latino degree attainment while all groups increase is key to our nation’s prosperity. Latinos, now making up about one in five Americans, represent the growing majority of college students today and face unique circumstances that institutions must address to support their success. This analysis explores the Latino student profile, how they pay for college, their degree attainment, their workforce participation, and the institutions uniquely positioned to serve them.
Read Now | Jun 5, 2024 · 8 min read
Funding America’s Future: Larger Endowments Could Help HSIs Further Accelerate Latino Student Success
By: Sami R. Nour, Excelencia in Education
Endowments are important resources that provide institutions with opportunities to invest in students and programs. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are less likely to have an endowment compared to other colleges and universities. For HSIs that do have an endowment, their funds tend to be smaller than those at other institutions. Our new analysis explores endowments at HSIs and what it means for investing in students.
Read Now | Jun 13, 2023 · 9 min read
The number of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) is increasing again.
By: Deborah Santiago, Emily Labandera, and Sami R. Nour, Excelencia in Education
This year, 571 colleges and universities meet the enrollment definition of a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) — up from 559 last year, when the number decreased for the first time in two decades due to enrollment declines, institutional closings, and consolidation brought on by the pandemic. Our new analysis explores how and why the number of HSIs is growing again.
Read Now | Mar 30, 2023 · 6 min read
Beyond an HSI Designation: Exploring Strategic Practices for Grant Participation
By: Cassandra Arroyo and Deborah Santiago, Excelencia in Education
The competitive nature of HSI federal funding has increased the importance for HSIs to plan effectively for grant competitions and utilize funds sustainably. This analysis explores strategic practices from six HSIs for participating in Title V grant competitions and moving beyond an HSI designation to intentionally serve Latino and other low-income students.
Read Now | Mar 23, 2023 · 6 min read
Resilience: Surviving, Stabilizing, and Rebuilding in Times of Trouble
By: Rafael Ramírez Rivera, Acting President Inter American University of Puerto Rico
Rafael Ramírez Rivera, Acting President of Inter American University of Puerto Rico, shares his definition of institutional resilience and lessons that U.S. mainland institutions can learn from Puerto Rican universities when it comes to surviving, stabilizing, and rebuilding in times of trouble in the wake of Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Fiona, an unprecedented series of earthquakes, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read Now | Mar 21, 2023 · 6 min read
Institutional Resilience in Puerto Rico
By: Sami R. Nour, Deborah Santiago, Emily Labandera, and Cassandra Arroyo, Excelencia in Education
This new analysis examines the island’s universities as accelerators of economic mobility for Latino students and their communities, demonstrating how Puerto Rican institutions offer a better return on investment in higher education for low-income students than can be achieved almost anywhere else in the U.S.
Read Now | Mar 2, 2023 · 9 min read