University of Northern Colorado to be recognized as Hispanic-serving institution

The University of Northern Colorado in Greeley plans to submit an application to be officially recognized as a Hispanic-serving intuition, or HSI, after meeting its goal of furthering its education commitments to diversity and equity.

When Tobias Guzmán started digging into UNC's student data in 2008, he and his peers unveiled numbers that showed only 8% of UNC's student body identified as Hispanic or Latino, which was a disproportionate number compared to the percentage of Coloradans who identify as members of those same communities.  

The research also unveiled a disparity when it came to graduation rates when comparing Hispanic students to their white peers, something that is a trend seen across the United States. At UNC white students were 15% more likely to graduate than their Latino peers.

"LatinX students are not performing as well as white students," Guzmán, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at UNC, said. "We have to figure out how we can eliminate an equity gap that is at UNC."

Guzmán's team set out on a mission to increase UNC's enrollment and graduation rates among Hispanic students. He admitted it is easy for any institution to increase enrollment by simply accepting more students from diverse backgrounds. However, UNC elected to pursue students from the Hispanic communities by changing the way the university could serve those students.  

UNC set a goal of having 25% of its student body come from Hispanic and Latino families by 2025. They beat that goal by reaching 25.5% in 2022.

Now, by applying to be recognized as an HSI by the federal government, UNC is hoping to be able to land more grants. Guzmán said the money would be able to help all students, no matter their race, with getting a better education. And doing so would also help improve graduation rates among UNC Latinos.

"For me, it is exciting and emotional. I didn't think we were going to reach this point," Guzmán said. "What we are doing here at UNC is making sure the student is successful. Serving is making sure we know how to teach an incoming demographic. It is making sure we know our pedagogy and how we teach is dedicated to the student." 

Guzmán hopes to see UNC's Latino student population grow into the 30-40% range in the coming years, while also hoping to see the graduation rates among Hispanics increase to that of their white peers.  

"We want to make sure our students get that education and they are able to get careers. Who doesn't want that?" Guzmán said.