The failed promise of Colorado’s Hispanic Serving Institutions

CSU-Pueblo and Adams State University received millions to elevate Hispanic students, but numbers show they’re still less likely to graduate than white students.

By Zahria Rogers

CSU-Pueblo and Adams State University received millions to elevate Hispanic students, but numbers show they’re still worse off than white students.

Despite numerous efforts made by two Southern Colorado universities, it’s debatable whether Hispanic Serving Institutions, Colorado State University-Pueblo and Adams State University in Alamosa, have reached their goal of retaining and graduating Hispanic students, even with specific federal funding.

This year, 40 percent of CSU-Pueblo’s freshman class identified as being Hispanic. But when retention and graduation rates are factored in, it’s clear Hispanics are still falling behind white students, even as money has been set aside specifically for programs catering to Hispanic student success.

In 2015, the six-year graduation rate for white students at CSU-Pueblo was 12 percent higher than for Hispanic students. 39 percent of white students graduate in six years, only 27 percent of Hispanic students graduate in the same amount of time.

Retention rates fared better among both demographics, with 66 percent for white students and 62 percent for Hispanic students.

Over the course of the last five years, Hispanic students have been about 10 percent lower than white students at CSU-Pueblo when it comes to graduation rates — except in 2012 when the difference between the two ethnicities was 16 percent.

Retention rates have seen a much smaller gap, and in some years higher for Hispanics.

From 2012 to 2014, CSU-Pueblo was retaining 1 percent to 3 percent more Hispanic students than white students.

At Adam’s State University, the first Colorado university to be given HSI designation in 2000, the numbers are bleaker for Hispanic students. The school’s institutional research fact book reported 57 percent of students, 241 of 423 total, who started school in the fall of 2013 returned for a sophomore year. For Hispanic students, the statistic was slightly less at 56 percent. 75 of 134 Hispanic freshman students who started in Fall 2013 continued to their sophomore year at Adams State University.

Adams State graduated only 11 percent of its first-time, full-time Hispanic students in 2014, according to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The statistic puts Adams State’s Hispanic student graduation rate 19 percent lower than the 30 percent graduation rate for white students.
According to data compiled by the university from 2001 through 2013, Adams State has never seen a Hispanic four-year graduation rate higher than 21 percent. The highest was in 2002 with a 20.43 percent. But sunk to as low as 1.89 percent in 2005.

Hispanic six-year graduation rates at Adams State are higher, though those rates are only tracked through 2009, when it was 11 percent. In 2002, the six-year graduation rate was 33 percent.

Both universities receive federal funding through Title V, an initiative that grants federal funding to an array of minority-serving institutions. To be eligible for funding under Title V for HSIs, an institution must meet two requirements. The university must have a Hispanic population of at least 25 percent and at least half of the overall student population must qualify for need-based financial aid.

CSU-Pueblo received $10 million over the last 10 years from Title V, according to the Center of Academic Enrichment at CSU-Pueblo.

And in September, the university announced it will receive nearly $6 million over the next five years from the U.S. Department of Education to increase the number of Hispanic and other low-income students earning degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics fields “through development of new curriculum, centers for learning and engagement, and a model transfer and articulation agreement between CSU-Pueblo and Pueblo Community College.”

Adams State University has also received several Title V grants over the years, the most recent being the Title V Conexiones Institutional Grant and the Title V Caminos Cooperative Grant which amount to a total of $5.7 million, according to the university website.

CSU-Pueblo, in addition to Title V funding, was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Hispanic Association of Colleges to be used toward sustainability initiatives in 2015 and earned a partnership with the Smithsonian to send students to Washington D.C. for internships at the museum.

Jennifer DeLuna, director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at CSU-Pueblo, was involved with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities both as a student and now as a professional. DeLuna highlighted the importance of HACU in helping students graduate college and start careers.

“Such organizations also allow minority students to interact with individuals in high level positions, which help them to envision themselves in such roles. The students are able to create and cultivate professional relationships,” DeLuna said.

At ASU, programs specific to Hispanic students get rave reviews, too.
Oneyda Maestas, director of ASU’s Cultural Awareness and Student Achievement Center, works with many of the university’s minority students. The center, she said in an email, has become a “safe space, their home away from home, their refuge, their comfort.”

CASA began as a place for commuter students to have a space on campus but quickly turned into something much more, she said. Maestas said the program is helping minority students take on leadership roles and, ultimately, place them in jobs upon graduation.

The challenges Hispanic students face at ASU, according to Maestas, are mostly financial. Students often have a lot of student debt, work at least a part time job and have family responsibilities, such as taking care of younger siblings. Many students, she said, travel 30 minutes to an hour one way for class.

But Maestas sees HACU as a major opportunity for students, and she said it’s working.

“I’ve have kept track of the success of our HACU attendees as they have to come back from the conference and pay it forward with a leadership project. C.A.S.A. Center has a 91% retention rate of our HACU student attendees and they have all graduated with lucrative job placements,” Maestas said.

Yet, despite federal funding and HACU grants, Hispanic graduation and retention rates and remain stagnant.

Some Hispanic students at CSU-Pueblo are unaware of the opportunities available to them, which may add to the graduation rate problem.

Carla Paredes Diaz, a senior nursing major and member of the Latino Student Union, said she does not feel CSU-Pueblo has the right to call itself a Hispanic-serving institution.

Diaz said she did not feel supported during her first year as a student at CSU-Pueblo and expressed disdain for the lack of diversity within the nursing program. In fact, Diaz did not even know about CSU-Pueblo’s HSI status until she attended the national HACU conference last month.

Even though she feels prepared for her future as a nurse, Diaz feels as if she “missed out” on several opportunities during her college career. She pointed out that there is sparse promotion of Hispanic events, even during Hispanic Heritage Month.

“I feel like they (CSU-Pueblo) are doing something, but they could be doing a lot more,” Diaz said.

She recommended students be made more aware of the possibilities for Hispanic students during orientation and student involvement fairs.

CSU System administrators have also looked for solutions for retaining and graduating Hispanic students.

Bill Mosher, chair of the Board of Governors for the CSU System, said that while the retention and graduation rates at CSU-Pueblo are not acceptable, the university must also be realistic in its goal of increasing the numbers.

Mosher cited flexible online course options and easier transfer options from community colleges as possible solutions for Hispanic students. He also noted enrolling college-ready students as another important aspect.

CSU-Pueblo is on the path to achieving these goals, as the university was recently given a $1.2 million grant from the Department of Education to help students in Pueblo high schools and middle schools prepare for college. The university also offers an array of online courses through the Extended Studies Division, but only has one online degree program, which is in construction management.

Mosher said the Board of Governors is committed to helping change the graduation and retention rates for Hispanic students at CSU-Pueblo.
“We recognize and value CSU-Pueblo as a Hispanic-serving institution,” Mosher said.

However, one staff member does not feel valued by the CSU System Board of Governors at all. Tim McGettigan, professor of sociology at CSU-Pueblo, said CSU-Pueblo is severely underfunded, even with Title V funding, because of its association with the CSU System.

In recent years McGettigan has been a vocal critic of the university’s administration, even launching a lawsuit against the school when his email was cut off after sending a campus-wide email comparing layoffs to a massacre.

“In the state, this university is treated very poorly by just about everybody up north,” McGettigan said, referring to the CSU System administrators and the Board of Governors.

McGettigan said the CSU System claims to value CSU-Pueblo, but it is only because CSU-Pueblo makes them “look a whole lot better by doing a much better job of serving traditionally underserved students.” McGettigan said in reality students are being charged too much for tuition, which severely hurts Hispanic students who may not have financial means to pay for school.

Sandy Lundahl, scholarship administrator for the CSU-Pueblo Foundation Office, said less than half, 38 percent, of Hispanic students at CSU-Pueblo receive funding from the Foundation to alleviate the high cost of college, though the amount given each year varies.

Lundahl noted that there has been a shift away from race-based scholarships and more toward “diversity awards” and first-generation college student scholarships. Lundahl said the Foundation also recently added some scholarships for undocumented students, who are not eligible to receive federal aid and grants.

Yet, McGettigan does not think enough is being done. He said tuition could be cut in half for students if CSU-Pueblo was no longer a part of the CSU System. This would make it easier for Hispanics, especially low-income, Hispanic students, who may not graduate in four years.

“We’ve got that HSI designation, which should mean that students at this university get more protection, but students do not get any special protection. In fact, they get worse treatment at this university,” McGettigan said.

Kara Mason contributed to this report