FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John C. Burkhardt
Director, National Forum
jcbforum@umich.edu
(734) 615-8882
New one-year study will examine how philanthropy shapes institutional viability, academic programs, student
access and degree completion in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)
Ann Arbor, Michigan – January 12, 2011 – The National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good
(National Forum), an affiliate of the U.S. News and World Report top-ten ranked Center for the Study of Higher and
Postsecondary Education (CSHPE) at the University of Michigan School of Education, announced today that it has
been awarded a grant from the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TG) to examine how resource
constraints and the ability to garner private support could impact higher education access and promote degree
completion at Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs) in the United States.
“TG is pleased to help support efforts to increase student access and persistence in higher education. We believe this
research can show how community engagement can assist institutions in helping students complete their college
education, particularly those from first-generation families,” said Sue McMillian, President and CEO of TG.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, 265 federally-recognized HSIs currently educate more than half
(54%) of all Latinos currently enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States, and represent only 8% of all
U.S. postsecondary institutions. The majority of these institutions are community colleges (52%) and the remaining
48% are classified as private (26%) and public (22%) colleges and universities, with only a handful of these
institutions categorized as research universities, according to the Department of Education’s statistics.
As public investment in higher education has continued to steadily decline over the last two decades, postsecondary
institutions must increasingly rely on private giving and voluntary support as a means for ensuring and sustaining
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growth. The endowment resources held by HSIs, when spread across the number of full-time equivalent (FTE)
students they serve are dramatically less than those at nearly all other institutions. Initial research suggests that, on
average, there is 91% less support per student than at other comparable post-secondary institutions, making these
institutions and their students increasingly vulnerable to even the slightest instability in public support. In 1992,
federal subsidies were established to help close the funding gaps that have historically characterized these
institutions. However, given the increase in the Latino population experienced by the U.S. over the past several
decades, discretionary funding for HSIs at the federal level has failed to keep pace with the growing demand for
postsecondary education among the Latino population.
The newly funded study will systematically examine statistical trends and investigate institutional practices that will
shape the longterm capacity of HSIs to meet their missions as social, financial and political conditions change over
the next twenty years. By documenting the existing patterns of institutional financial resiliency as represented by
patterns of private support, non-operating assets, and the presence of endowed funds, the project team seeks to
answer the question: How has the distribution of institutional resources affected patterns of access and degree
completion at HSIs over the past five years?
The study will take one year to complete. Findings will be used to assist college presidents and governing boards of
HSIs in exploring and re-examining sustainable funding and investment strategies for their institution, while also
setting the stage to develop their roles as leaders in an ever-changing and difficult economic and political climate.
For more information on this and other work completed by the National Forum on issues of Immigration and Higher
Education, please visit the National Forum’s website at www.thenationalforum.org.
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About the National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good
The National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good (National Forum) is affiliated with the Center for the
Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (CSHPE) at the University of Michigan and is uniquely positioned as
both a creator and translator of rigorous empirical research into practice-based outcomes. Our mission statement,
adopted in 2000, explicitly states our “commitment to significantly increase awareness, understanding, commitment,
and action relative to the public service role of higher education” in the United States.
About TG
TG promotes educational access and success so that students can realize their college and career dreams. As a
public, nonprofit corporation, TG offers resources to help students and families plan and prepare for college, learn
the basics of money management, and repay their federal student loans. Additional information about TG can be
found online at www.tgslc.org.
©2011 The National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good
Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education
