Research and Policy
Since 2004, Excelencia has been the national leader in developing strategic research guided by the experiences and realities of today's Latino and other post-traditional students to inform action by community and institutional leaders and policy makers that facilitates institutional change.
Excelencia uses a Latino lens to bring to the forefront what we know about Latino student success, what works to improve it, and what decision makers can do.
Excelencia in Education’s Policy Priorities: 2025
Now is a pivotal moment for our country, our students, and our institutions of higher education. Higher education remains a key driver of economic growth, civic engagement, and social mobility. For Latino students—and all students—to achieve economic prosperity, institutional, state, and federal policies must center on their realities: their needs, educational pathways, and contributions to the country’s workforce and economy.
Excelencia’s policy agenda advocates for accelerating Latino student success to close gaps in degree attainment based on the current profile of Latinos in higher education. Four policy issues were continually raised among leading institutions committed to supporting Latino student success: 1) workforce, 2) institutional capacity, 3) college affordability, and 4) retention and transfer.
Research Library
Excelencia in Education accelerates Latino student success in higher education by promoting Latino student achievement and informing educational policies with a Latino lens. Since the organization’s founding, Excelencia has been the leading information source on Latinos in higher education, making our research and policy priorities available for the public to inform and compel action on Latino enrollment, completion, and workforce nationally.
Find information on Latinos and education pathways, financial aid, institutional practices, student success, workforce, HSI related research, and more.
Refine your search of Excelencia’s research by using the filters on the right.
Helping or Hindering? State Policies & Latino College Completion
March 2015
Analysis highlights state policy efforts that may help, hinder or need to be reexamined to close equity gaps in college completion for Latinos in three targeted states—California, Colorado, Texas. Supported by the Ford Foundation, analysis was conducted in collaboration with The Campaign for College Opportunity (CA), Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Colorado Coalition for the Educational Advancement of Latinos (CoCEAL) (CO), and Educate Texas (TX).
Random Access: The Latino Student Experience with Prior Learning Assessment
October 2014
Prior learning assessment (PLA) provides opportunities to evaluate a student’s learning from work or life experience for the purpose of awarding college credit. Excelencia in Education partnered with CAEL for this report that examines the experience of Latino students with PLA at 10 postsecondary institutions in the U.S. between 2010 and 2013.
Black + Brown: Institutions of Higher Education
September 2014
This brief examines the profiles of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Representing a small percentage of all institutions of higher education, HBCUs and HSIs enroll a large portion of all African American and Hispanic students, giving them an important role in educating the country’s future workforce.
The Impact of Financial Aid on Student College Access and Success: The San Antonio Experience
March 2014
The Impact of Financial Aid on Student College Access and Success: The San Antonio Experience is co-authored by two community leaders, Noé C. Ortiz and Eyra A. Pérez. Commissioned by Excelencia in Education to inform - the San Antonio case demonstrates how a community can partner across different sectors and institutions to remove financial aid as a barrier for students to access postsecondary education.