Report Highlights Growing Recognition of Nontraditional Students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Treating nontraditional students as an asset rather than as a liability has marked stellar leadership among presidents at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), according to “Leading in Changing America: Presidential Perspectives from Hispanic-Serving Institutions,” a report released this week by the advocacy group Excelencia in Education.
“Leadership is a critical component of serving students, specifically Latino students, so we just wanted to talk to college presidents about what students need,” said Dr. Deborah Santiago, the author of the report and vice president for policy and research at Excelencia in Education.
The report describes nontraditional students as significantly “low-income, first-generation, part-time, commuting, ethnically diverse and older” students, while describing traditional collegians as full-time students who are usually White and financially dependent on parents.
