While this data isn’t exactly positive, Labandera says one bright spot is that it reveals that there are opportunities for higher education institutions to reach out and support students who began but did not finish their degrees.
“The higher education system was created for a more traditional student who finishes an associate degree in two years or a bachelor’s degree in four, who goes full time, who starts immediately after high school,” explains Labandera. “More and more our Latino community doesn’t look like that. That’s why we use that term “post-traditional” and we specifically don’t say “non-traditional,” because it has a little more negative connotation, or it makes Latinos and students like them like the “other,” and in some ways “We kind of turn that narrative around.”
Colleges and universities that work with Exelencia en Educación to earn the organization’s “seal of excellence” (meaning that the institution has demonstrated through data that it is a place where Latino students are supported) are changing the culture of their campuses to be more flexible to the needs of students. Labandera says. For example, some cover the cost of students’ basic needs, such as healthcare or housing, in addition to tuition and fees.
“Here’s how these institutions are learning to look at it: ‘These students already come to our campuses with assets and skills. We need to find them where they are,’” Labandera says. “Not asking students to change who they are, to fit a mold, but rather, ‘How can we, as an institution, serve them holistically?’”
