Since the late sixties NEIU has been aware of the need for more opportunities and greater access to education for Chicago’s Hispanic community.
From the development in 1969 of what is now El Centro, the university’s Hispanic catering satellite campus, until the present, NEIU has had a long history of service to the Hispanic and Latino/a communities that have produced politicians, educators and other professionals. Today, twenty-five percent of the students at NEIU are of Hispanic origin.
This relatively high rate of Hispanic enrolment places NEIU under the category of what is called Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSIs).
HSI is a distinction given to institutions of higher education by the federal government because of their enrollment ratios, not any specific mission they may have for the Hispanic community.
According to a report released by Excelencia in Education, nearly half of Latinos students in higher education are enrolled in 6 percent of the nations institutions of higher education.
It is this high concentration of Latino enrollment and the lack of necessary resources that first caught the attention of lawmakers in the 1980’s. Since then, these institutions have been afforded access to resources that were not available to them prior to the development of the concept.
According to Louise Illian, Director of Sponsored Programs at NEIU, having HSI status allows access to grants from an array of government agencies that other institutions do not have access to. “It allows you to apply for certain types of grants and compete with a smaller pool of schools… it gives you [HSI] a little bit of an edge within the competition,” said Illian.
HSI like NEIU play an important role in educating the Hispanic community in the United States. Although they make up a small percentage of institutions in the U.S., they award a majority of the degrees earned by Latinos.
In 2003 & 2004, HSI awarded almost 40 percent of all baccalaureate degrees earned by Latinos, according to a report released by Excelencia in Education.
NEIU’s approach to providing education to its Hispanic students has always been driven by the needs of the communities from which they come from. And as the amounts of Latinos entering institutions of higher education continue to rise, the need for greater access to education and resources to serve that community will climb with it.