At first, Ileana Gonzalez of Houston hoped to go to Texas A&M University–College Station — until she visited campus. After attending a primarily white high school, one of her requirements was greater diversity, and the level she observed — the student body is about 60 percent white — didn’t meet her target.
So she took a trip to the University of Texas–San Antonio and found it “very welcoming” and with a mix — just over one-quarter white — that felt just right. Her time at UTSA, where she majored in business and entrepreneurship, culminated this year with a stint as president of the student body.
“I was born in Mexico, and it was not easy to come to this country, attend college, and be the first in my family to graduate,” she says. It was a gift to be able to “identify with those who have faced similar struggles.”
Though Gonzalez didn’t realize it at the time, she had chosen to attend a “Hispanic-serving institution,” a Department of Education designation that means a school’s population of full-time Hispanic undergrads has hit 25 percent. The proportion at UTSA is twice that.
[Find out if a Hispanic-serving institution would be a good college fit.]
The 330 HSIs are one type of a broader category of school — minority-serving institutions — whose mission is not specifically to promote diversity but rather to provide greater educational opportunities to students of a given group.
Other types of MSIs include the country’s 105 two- and four-year historically black colleges and universities , plus another 50 “predominantly black institutions,” 34 tribal colleges and universities, and 160 Asian-American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions.
All told, some 600 schools are now categorized as MSIs, says Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education and director of the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions at the University of Pennsylvania, which studies the schools. As of 2012, some 20 percent of all U.S. undergraduates attended one.
“People have figured out that MSIs are a really good value,” says Gasman, who estimates that costs average at least $10,000 less per year at minority-serving institutions than at similar predominantly white schools. On the other hand, the schools typically have small endowments and can offer only limited financial aid beyond the federal programs. And you’re less likely to be using cutting-edge technology or luxuriating in plush dorms and athletic facilities.
Recognizing that many minority students are the first in their families to go to college and that many arrive on campus unprepared for the academics, these schools generally put great emphasis on easing the way.
All students entering Paul Quinn College, an HBCU in Dallas, are required to attend a one-month, six-credit bridge program the summer before enrolling — regardless of their academic preparation — that includes personality assessments, etiquette training, mock interviews and bonding activities. “The message is that your success is my success,” says Gasman. “There is a spirit of cooperation and collectivism” often missing at more competitive institutions.
[Decide if you should attend a historically black school.]
A sense of community is fostered in many ways, academic and social. At Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, courses include Fundamentals of Tribal Sovereignty, Environmental Protection in Indian Country, and Human Behavior in American Indian Communities.
Music courses at Morehouse College feature the great black artists in jazz and gospel, past and present . A nd criminal justice students at CUNY–John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City — about 40 percent Latino — examine issues like Latino struggles for civil rights and their experiences with the U.S. legal system.
Moreover, students are regularly taught by people who share their background, a potentially powerful factor in their success. “Extensive research has shown that the presence of faculty of color is intensely affirming for students of color, because it shows them what it is possible to achieve,” notes William B. Harvey, founding president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and a professor in the department of leadership studies at North Carolina A&T State University, an HBCU.
Sometimes these lessons come from off-campus experiences. Gonzalez attended the University of California’s all-expenses-paid Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders, open only to HBCU and HSI students, which included networking opportunities and one-on-one meetings with the CEOs of several companies, members of minority groups themselves.
[Explore how institutions are helping minority students study abroad.]
“Even the way buildings are named can send a message,” says Anne-Marie Nuñez, until recently an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at UTSA. And whereas a predominantly white institution might boast just one or two cultural organizations for a minority group, students at an MSI often have more nuanced choices, allowing them “to celebrate their unique aspects,” says Robert T. Palmer, an HBCU expert and professor at Howard University. Club options there range from the African Students Association and the Caribbean Students Association to a dance ensemble that celebrates Afro-jazz.
High-achievers considering an MSI may also be weighing generous offers from more elite schools looking to increase their diversity profile. David Hawkins, executive director for educational content and policy at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, notes that students who thrive at a very selective school can reap “enormous benefits later in life” but that underrepresented students can struggle with loneliness on such campuses.
He advises focusing on finding the best fit. “There’s no indication that students can’t go just as far in their careers coming from a campus where they feel comfortable,” Hawkins says.
Lauren Stanley, a member of the Cherokee Nation, considered several Cal State schools but found her fit at Haskell. A 2015 business grad, Stanley now works for Boston Financial Data Services in Lawrence.
“I enjoyed no longer being the only Native American,” she says. Having time with people of similar backgrounds “was special.”
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Colleges 2017” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
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