Demystifying HSI
Although the term Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) is federally defined, to University of New Mexico students and staff, it means much more. The US Department of Education defines a HSI as a higher education institution that has at least 25% Hispanic undergraduate full-time equivalent students enrolled at the end of the application year. “For people who work at HSIs, they play around with the idea that it’s not actually a Hispanic serving institution - (employees) argue that these universities don’t actually serve Hispanic students but rather are Hispanic enrolling institutions,” Natalia Toscano said - a Ph.D. candidate in the Chicano & Chicana Studies department.