Make equal opportunities for Latino/Hispanic students

Dear potential Hispanic students and the administration (if you’re reading this),

Let me start off by saying, any institution, such as a college or university, isn’t going to have all the answers for us. However, it is important we revisit the determining factors of success for minoritized students in higher education before selecting the school we invest all of our money, time, and resources in. 

Although being given a ton of money through scholarships and grants may be incentivising as potential students, the offer should be proceeded with caution, since it is no longer the only thing to look for when selecting a school. Specifically, I looked into why this should no longer be the case for Latino/Hispanic students.

As the number of people who identify as either Hispanic and/or Latino continues to rise, so does our value as a group. Many colleges and universities across the world have taken note of this, and many have been eager to earn the title from the federal government as a HSI, or a Hispanic Serving Institution. 

This is defined by two bullet points from the federal government's website: An eligible institution in higher education, and an enrollment of 25 percent of their full-time students being Hispanic. Though an HSI school needs to meet other program eligibility requirements, interestingly enough, colleges need to meet a set quota for the number of Hispanic students that are currently attending their school.

With the rising numbers of our community, and the predictions that we will be approaching one-third of the population by 2060, we have been given a sense of credibility and backing from institutions. Essentially, what we have been given is “the piece of the pie,” or the opportunity to be able to enroll in these schools and in hopes to become successful in our field. However, as we have seen from the Latino college degree gap, this is not a perfect system. A place should not thrive on where our presence stands as the largest growing group in certain states or institutions; because when it does, any initiatives that cater toward the Latino population are lost. 

When college campuses determine how much to invest in a population based on its numbers, it completely misses the point of what it is meant to accomplish, which is to create an equitable college for all, the opportunity to propel oneself out of poverty, to give the next generation a better life, etc. This should be applied to colleges globally; regardless of our up and coming presence in society. We wouldn’t be able to get there without it, but thankfully for us, many of us come from a collectivistic mindset and success would not be the same without bringing others a part of our community up along with us.

It is a shame that we have to wait until we become the majority of a certain population to be acknowledged; until then, we continue to remain an afterthought with underdeveloped programming for our students, and a lack of attentiveness. Even more unfortunate are those who believe the race disparities are merely caused by a lack of hard work, or that if a group worked equally as hard they would be able to get to where the majority was at. 

Despite there being a push for our borders to be closed, for so many of our children to be brought without parents, and for many of the mothers in our community forced to be sterilized in the detainment camps of ICE, the current population of Latinos and Hispanics that already currently reside in the U.S. will continue to grow; whether the country wants to invest in the second largest group of America, will be up to them. Since equality is not a convincing enough reason, perhaps putting the country at risk for losing their global power will scare them enough to do something about the issue.

So colleges — do not settle for anything less for your minority students by furthering your initiatives, consistently checking in on groups to see how they are progressing in your institution, and if there are any racial disparities found. Highlight and be transparent about them, rather than contributing to the problem year after year. Otherwise, students will be able to catch on to the real reasons why diversity matters to you. 

Students — don’t let your college put you on the back-burner. In other words, don’t become an afterthought to your school. Do not be afraid to demand more from your colleges; because at the end of the day, colleges and universities are here to serve us, not for us to only serve (or in many cases, pay) them.

The main takeaway here is this — you can just as easily be set up for success or failure depending on the college; the amount in your financial aid package is no longer the sole determining factor in this, and when it comes to minority groups, it is important we have the set up for the same opportunities as the majority in terms of our education; a key ticket to success.