(NAME-MCE) Where the Hispanic Students Are (And Aren’t)

[Anselmo Villanueva]

To download the complete report, go to:

http://www.edexcelencia.org/research/hsi/default.asp

For related stories go to:

http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/17/hispanics

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August 17, 2007

Where the Hispanic Students Are (And Aren't)

A new report that examines the reasons why nearly half of all Latino
undergraduates enroll in just six percent of the nation's colleges
classified as "Hispanic serving institutions" offers important
implications for other universities looking to attract such students,
says Deborah A. Santiago, author of "Choosing Hispanic-Serving
Institutions (HSIs): A Closer Look at Latino Students' College
Choices."

"These students who went to HSIs looked at cost … location and
accessibility. Whereas those who went to more selective institutions,
they looked at financial aid, prestige and academic programs," says
Santiago, vice president for policy and research at Excelencia in
Education, a group focused on Hispanic higher education issues that
released the policy brief Thursday. The attention to sticker price
among students enrolling in the nation's 236 HSIs — which tend to be
public, less expensive and less selective — in addition to these
students' failure to recognize "qualitative differences between
institutions," should show more-selective colleges that they must
promote their financial aid offerings at the same time that they
educate Hispanics on variations in quality, she says.

"How do you educate the students about [quality issues] in addition to
the fact that their tuition and fees might be covered?" Santiago says,
in framing the challenge for colleges.

Hispanic serving institutions, defined by the federal government as
institutions where Hispanic students comprise at least a quarter of
undergraduate enrollment, are defined by their enrollment, not their
missions. Nearly half of all HSIs are public two-year colleges, 60
percent have open admissions, and the average tuition rate for public
four-year HSIs (representing about 20 percent of all such
institutions) is, at $1,590, less than half the average in-state
tuition at public four-year institutions generally ($3,400). With
their commitment to access, HSIs have evolved into "uniquely community
institutions of first choice for Latino students," the report notes,
cautioning that their general lack of selectivity should not be
mistaken to suggest they "are not quality institutions of higher
education," too.

But while Hispanic students do not report being influenced by an
institution's HSI status in choosing their colleges, the colleges' low
costs, accessibility and locations in and near Latino communities
"align with Latino student priorities and needs and explain why many
students choose HSIs," finds the report, which is based on interviews
with students. Meanwhile, the majority of high-achieving students at
HSIs, defined in the report as those with a high school grade point
average of 3.1 or higher on a 4.0 scale, say "that the quality of the
academic program was not the determining factor in their college
choice."

In contrast, Hispanics attending more selective institutions — who are
less likely to be first-generation college students than their peers
at HSIs — are more sensitive to the quality of academic programs and
college reputations, and are more likely to live further from their
families. Although cost is also an issue for these students, they are
less sensitive to sticker price, and more likely to choose the college
that offers the best financial aid package.

Whereas their high-achieving peers at HSIs are less likely to have
even applied for financial aid, and are more likely to have turned
down loans, the study finds. Many live at home to cut costs — only 7
percent of Latino undergraduates live on campus, compared to 14
percent of all undergraduates. At each focus group the researchers
conducted at Hispanic serving institutions, the report finds,
"students stated they chose their institution because they believed
they could get a quality education there without having to go into
debt."

"We had students tell us that 'college is college…. You can get the
same education anywhere — why go elsewhere and pay more?' " says
Santiago.

"These students are making very pragmatic decisions — not bad choices,
but based on priorities different than conventional wisdom would
dictate. That I think has implications for institutions across the
country … so that you don't just presume that college choices are
based solely on prestige and academic programs."

— Elizabeth Redden