Reaching out to Hispanic families; develop a realistic communication model, and your school can build a richly diverse campus

University Business, June, 2004 by Howard Greene, Matthew Greene

We are suggesting that colleges go beyond having one or two multicultural admission officers responsible for recruiting diverse students of aLL backgrounds. Hispanic students, as we have pointed out, are a diverse lot in and of themselves, but can certainly be targeted and assisted as a group distinct from African-American, Native American, Asian-American, international, or any other underserved student group. And colleges should not be overly wary of addressing Hispanic students and families directly. Some students from families that are bicultural and solely or predominately English-speaking may be confused by efforts on the part of colleges to have them attend diversity weekends on campus or talk with multicultural admission counselors. Indeed, some of the students we profiled above had no need for information in Spanish. They were, however, interested in culturally oriented college programs such as foreign study in Cuba, which matched their particular interests. Most significantly, though, many of the students we profiled were more than pleased to finally receive communications and attention from colleges oriented toward their ethnic background. They liked the fact that the colleges were looking to increase diversity, and had programs that addressed multicultural students on campus.

What is your institution doing to reach out to and retain the valuable Hispanic segment of your campus population? Working together with government and education agencies, colleges can certainly increase the overall rates of college admission and graduation among Hispanic students, with historic ripple effects throughout our society.

Howard Greene and Matthew Greene are independent education consultants, and the authors of the Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning. To contact them, visit www.greenesguides.com.