Number of HSIs Decrease for the First Time in 20 Years

It’s been twenty years since the number of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the U.S. has dropped.

According to Excelencia in Education, there are now 559 HSIs in the U.S., 10 fewer than in 2019-2020.

Dr. Deborah Santiago, Co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education.HSI is a federal designation appointed to institutions whose Latinx student population reaches at least 25%. For the past 18 years, Excelencia, an organization working to improve and increase Latinx student success in postsecondary education, has used data collected from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to release the latest update on HSIs.

“We need to invest in the institutions where these students are enrolling,” said Dr. Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia. “Despite the drop, HSIs represent less than 20% of all institutions, but enroll 65% of all Hispanics in this country.”

Reasons vary for the decrease in HSIs. Some institutions consolidated, like Dallas Community Colleges District. What once counted for five HSIs is now combined into one HSI: Dallas College. Other institutions, in particular small, private colleges, shut down. But most faced the same hurdle as other institutions for the last two years: enrollment declines due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Latinx student population in higher education was, before COVID, expected to boom through 2023. But instead, their student population numbers dropped just over 4%, below 2019 enrollment.

“It’s clear to us the pandemic had an impact, because of the economic vulnerability of the population going straight from high school to college, we saw a direct drop in those numbers,” said Santiago.