Becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution
In April 2007, Metropolitan State College of Denver launched the bold goal of achieving the federal designation of Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), increasing its Latino student enrollment from 13 percent to 25 percent.
The College is quickly making progress toward this goal; by fall 2011--one year ahead of projections--Latino student enrollment hit 18.2 percent, or 4,281 out of Metro State's nearly 24,000 students. As of spring 2012 the percent of students of color is up 3 percent from the same time last year.
One in five Coloradans is Latino therefore increasing the college enrollment of Latinos is imperative for Colorado as they are the fastest-growing segment of the state's population. The growth rate of the Latino population is more than double that of the total population in the state.
With the largest resident undergraduate student population in Colorado and the highest number of students of color, Metro State already enrolls a quarter of the state's baccalaureate-seeking Latino students. If enrollment of Latinos continues to grow at its current rate, the College will achieve HSI status within the next decade. The HSI designation brings benefits to all students and all faculty, with funding available for projects that range from student support programs to classroom technology.
Metro State President Stephen Jordan appointed the Hispanic Serving Institution Task Force in July 2007 with the explicit goal of determining a recommended path to HSI status. The HSI task force issued its final recommendations in February 2008.
Since 2008, the College has been working to implement the HSI recommendations. New initiatives—including a Latino-specific student recruitment effort, a program to prepare more Latinos to become teachers, a grant to improve the nutrition of Latinos, and the addition of master’s programs to the College’s academic offerings—and newly reinvigorated programs, such as Journey Through Our Heritage and the Excel Program, are examples.
These efforts, among others, have led the College to a key interim step toward its HSI goal: In 2010, Metro State was named one of four “emerging HSIs” in the country (among 176 emerging HSIs) by the Washington, D.C.-based educational think tank Excelencia in Education for its successful efforts to effectively serve its Latino students.
