Sep 29, 2025
Contact: Media@EdExcelencia.org
Four Programs Earn National Recognition for Increasing Access to a Quality College Education
WASHINGTON – Excelencia in Education announced today the 2025 Examples of Excelencia, recognizing four programs as national exemplars of evidence-based practices that improve student success in higher education. These programs demonstrate how student-centered approaches can expand opportunity, increase positive outcomes, and create effective pathways to economic mobility.
Through Examples of Excelencia — the only national, data-driven effort to recognize programs with evidence of effectiveness in increasing Latino student success amongst all served — Excelencia has reviewed more than 2,500 program submissions over the past 20 years, recognized more than 400 for their proven impact, and raised and awarded over $2.2 million to programs making a positive difference for students across the nation.
As the fastest-growing segment of the college-going population, Latino students embody a post-traditional experience, navigating multiple pathways through higher education while balancing work, family, and other responsibilities. Ensuring their success advances higher education in ways that benefit all students. Programs such as those recognized in Examples are core to the institutional transformation that is needed to ensure colleges, universities, and communities are places where Latino and other post-traditional students can thrive.
The 2025 Examples of Excelencia exemplify practices that build faculty pipelines, provide holistic supports that help students earn degrees and credentials, connect classroom learning to in-demand jobs, and offer research and mentorship experiences that foster persistence, completion, and career success. Together, these programs demonstrate the power of intentional design in facilitating access to excellence for all students. Spanning associate, baccalaureate, graduate, and community-based levels, and reaching students in multiple regions, the 2025 Examples are proof of the good work and good people around the country committed to strengthening America’s workforce and civic leadership.
The 2025 Examples of Excelencia are:
General Motors Automotive Service Education Program (GM ASEP) – Cerritos College, CA (Associate Level)
ÁNDALE Latino Research Training Program – California State University, Long Beach, CA (Baccalaureate Level)
Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative – University of Illinois Chicago, IL (Graduate Level)
Avanza RGV – Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA), TX (Community-Based Organization Level)
“When institutions are intentional about serving Latino students, they create conditions that strengthen opportunities for success for all students,” said Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia. “The 2025 Examples of Excelencia are part of a growing network of common cause, increasing student success and modeling what works so others can learn from, replicate, and scale similar efforts.”
The 2025 Examples of Excelencia will be announced in the afternoon of September 29 at Celebración de Excelencia, offered in cooperation with the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. This event is part of Excelencia’s annual, invitational Fall Convening, which brings together leaders from higher education institutions, philanthropy, policy, and business committed to promoting excellence and growing talent to ensure America’s future.
Learn more about the 2025 Examples of Excelencia: EdExcelencia.org/what-works/examples-excelencia/annual-examples-excelencia
About Excelencia in Education
Excelencia in Education leads a national network of results-oriented educators and policymakers transforming higher education to tap the talents of the Latino community and address the U.S. economy’s needs for a highly educated workforce and engaged civic leaders. With this network, Excelencia ensures access to excellence by promoting student achievement, informing educational policies, and advancing evidence-based practices to more intentionally serve Latino, and all, students. For more information, visit: EdExcelencia.org