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Applying a Latino lens to higher education policy and practice

Excelencia’s community understands and addresses contemporary higher education issues uses a Latino lens. Read the latest perspectives on policies and practices impacting Latino student success from across the Excelencia network. 

For more insight into Latino student success trends in higher education, visit Excelencia’s Medium page.

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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · 9 min read