CHICAGO—
It’s the persistence and determination of Latinx students that the leaders of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) say define the many students who are working every day to earn a college education, often at Hispanic Serving Institution (HSIs).
And yet, so many challenges and barriers persist, including the overall number of Hispanic students earning a bachelor’s degree. That number has consistently hovered at about 24 percent, ten percentage points behind African Americans, nearly 20 percentage points behind whites and 40 points behind Asians.
“We are nowhere near where we need to be,” said Dr. Antonio R. Flores, who has led HACU for the past 27 years. “Latinos are the least to get bachelor's degrees. We have to grammatically change the question of investment.”
Flores used his annual State of HACU address at the opening of the conference, to call for President Biden to establish by executive order a President’s Board of Advisors for Hispanic Serving Institutions. Such a board, Flores argued, could provide counsel to the White House and the Secretary of Education on pressing issues facing HSIs.
Currently, there is a HSI Caucus in the U.S House of Representatives headed by Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, and in 2021, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), both members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, announced the launch of the first-ever Senate Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Caucus for the 117th Congress.
Since then, the number of HSIs continue to expand. For instance, in Illinois, there are currently 18 HSIs and that growth continues. Flores noted that this trend has continued nationwide.
