Research & 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.

The Latino population in the United States has grown significantly over the last decade, and Latina representation has grown more quickly than Latinos. This factsheet provides an overview of the Latina population, as well as the college enrollment and educational attainment of Latinas at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) — a critical set of institutions enrolling and graduating Latinos in the U.S.

Excelencia in Education collaborated with five Puerto Rican HSIs to understand their institutional resilience efforts. Over the last five years, Puerto Rico and its colleges and universities have faced financial, natural, demographic, health, and leadership challenges. The intersection of all these challenges created a nexus for institutional resilience efforts. Learn more about how these five HSIs have adapted to compounding challenges in their current context.

Excelencia in Education partnered with seven HSIs to continue exploring and examining the institutions' post-completion success efforts. This brief offers findings to enhance an institution’s interest and ability to invest in strategies to support students beyond completion, features institutional strategies and practices, shares lessons learned, and offers recommendations for action for institutions looking to scale up their post-completion success efforts. Learn more about how these seven HSIs recognize their role goes beyond completion by preparing students for the workforce, offering support to completers, and tracking completers after earning an educational credential at their institution.

Latino College Completion: 2019-2020

While Latino enrollment decreased in 2020, we continue to see an increase in Latino college completion. This brief provides the most up-to-date overview of Latino college completion.

What is included in Excelencia’s new release and how can I learn more using this analysis?

Access Excelencia’s lists of the 2020-21 HSIs, eHSIs, and gHSIs. 
Learn more from Excelencia’s summary of HSIs, eHSIs, and gHSIs in the HSIs Fact Sheet.
Visualize fast facts with Excelencia’s 2020-21 HSIs Infographic.
Explore the 2020-21 data on HSIs in Excelencia’s new interactive dashboard.
Learn more about the evolution of HSIs through Excelencia’s GIS StoryMap.

Excelencia in Education conducted an environmental scan of Puerto Rico to better understand the community and context of higher education, as colleges and universities transform to better serve their Latino students. This environmental scan identifies and includes a profile of the community overall, the socio-economic profile and educational pipeline, and the condition of institutions of higher education over the past several years. Learn more about the current context with which colleges and universities in Puerto Rico are having to manage their resilience and efforts to serve their students.

During these challenging times, Excelencia in Education remains committed to Ensuring America’s Future by increasing Latino college completion. Excelencia’s most recent analysis of public data on enrollment, degree completion, and degree attainment show that Latino student enrollment and degree completion continues to increase. Yet to close the equity gap in degree completion, the United States requires a tactical plan to reach the Latino degree attainment goal of 6.2 million degrees earned by 2030. This plan must include strategies to help Latinos accelerate degree completion while supporting increased attainment for all students.