We are here to provide the opportunity for everyone to succeed. HSI designation will help all students. We need to continue to emphasize that.
For Milwaukee Area Technical College, being designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution, or HSI, by the U.S. Department of Education is clearly on the horizon.
To achieve the designation, colleges and universities must have a minimum of 25% of their full-time students identifying as Hispanic/Latino/a. This fall, 23.4% of MATC’s full-time students are Hispanic, said MATC President Anthony Cruz, Ed.D.
“We’re almost there,” Dr. Cruz said. “We’re very, very close.”
Dr. Cruz announced that percentage September 13, 2024, at the college’s fourth HSI Day of Engagement. The annual event brings together faculty, staff, students, community members and other higher education officials to discuss strategies and best practices for advancing educational opportunities and outcomes for Hispanic/Latino/a students.
Earning the HSI designation means schools can apply for additional federal funding to improve student services, provide innovative instruction that helps retain students, and support partnerships with four-year colleges.
“We are here to provide the opportunity for everyone to succeed,” Dr. Cruz told the 100 people who attended the event, which was held at the college’s Downtown Milwaukee Campus. “HSI designation will help all students. We need to continue to emphasize that.”
MATC announced plans in February 2019 to seek the formal HSI designation. In the spring of 2019, 16.48% of the college’s full-time students were Hispanic. The percentage increased to 18.8 in the fall of 2019, and to 21.4% in the fall of 2023.
This fall, MATC had the equivalent of 774 full-time Hispanic/Latino/a students out of a total of 3,306 full-time students. The 23.4% makes MATC an Emerging HSI, just a step below full designation.
There are 600 HSIs across the nation, including 234 two-year public colleges. So far, Wisconsin has four HSIs: Alverno College, Gateway Technical College, Herzing University-Kenosha and Mount Mary University.
For MATC, attaining the designation can’t come soon enough. A recent report estimated that by 2030 – only six years away – 22% of the nation’s workforce will be Hispanic/Latino/a, Dr. Cruz said. “Those workers need to be educated and prepared,” he said. “If we don’t do that, we could find ourselves in a crisis.”
The college is striving to create a sense of belonging among Hispanic students, open doors of opportunity and help them realize their potential to impact the community, said Patricia T. Nájera, Ph.D., executive director of MATC’s Oak Creek Campus and co-chair of the college’s HSI Steering Committee.
“We are trying to engage students earlier and plant the seed that college is possible and attainable,” Dr. Nájera said.
For the past five years, the steering committee has worked to attain the designation by improving awareness of the college, celebrating student success, connecting to community organizations and groups, and providing mentoring, said Cristina Rodriguez, Ed.D., co-chair of the committee.
Earning the designation would go a long way to improving the quality of life for Hispanic/Latino/a residents in the Milwaukee region, said Nancy Hernandez, president of Hispanic Collaborative, a Milwaukee organization dedicated to making the city one of the best places in the nation for Hispanic/Latino/a residents to live, learn and work.
Since 2018, the Milwaukee region has been in the bottom 10 among the top 50 metro areas for the Hispanic/Latino/a population based on the Hispanic Well-Being Index, which measures health, wealth, education, employment and quality of life data, Hernandez told the crowd.
Milwaukee is getting better in many areas, but other cities, like Seattle; Austin, Texas; and San Jose, California, are getting even better, Hernandez said.
“We need to get more innovative and more urgent about what we’re doing,” Hernandez said. “We are in a race; there is no question about it.”
Presidents from five Wisconsin technical colleges shared what their institutions have done and are doing to attract and retain Hispanic students.
The presidential panel featured Dr. Cruz; Dr. Ritu Raju of Gateway Technical College in Racine, which in August became the first technical college in the state to attain HSI designation; Dr. Jack E. Daniels III of Madison College; Dr. Christopher Matheny of Fox Valley Technical College; and Dr. Kristen Raney of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.
Colleges must connect with Hispanic community groups to demystify higher education and build trust in what technical colleges can offer Hispanic students, Dr. Cruz said during the panel discussion.
“Trust is not easily gained — it must be earned,” he said. “We need to show that we can give students a comfort zone.”
Additionally, colleges must create a sense of welcoming and belonging for Hispanic students by integrating their culture into the campus fabric and hiring Hispanic faculty and staff.
“Seeing people in the classroom who look and sound like them is what increases enrollment and retention,” Dr. Raju said.
Read about MATC's HSI Initiative
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.