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The White House Initiative receives many requests for an "official" list of Hispanic -Serving Institutions (HSIs) that come from various federal agencies and from the public, which is a complex matter.

Department of Education Designation

The HSI list provided by the U.S. Department of Education contains only a list of grantees—institutions that have applied for federal designation as an HSI to receive federal funding; therefore, this list is much smaller in number (approximately 80-100 institutions nationwide).

A Hispanic-Serving Institution is defined by the Department as an institution of higher education that: 1) is an eligible institution; and 2) has an enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that is at least 25 percent Hispanic students at the end of the award year immediately preceding the date of application.

The Title V Program does not pre-certify institutions as HSIs. Institutions that meet these eligibility requirements and want to apply to the Title V Program must submit an assurance with their Title V application with the necessary student enrollment data. There is an application process to determine eligibility. Institutions and individuals should refer to the most recent Application for Designation as an Eligible Institution.

Additionally, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) publishes IPEDS data on institutions that serve large populations of Hispanic students. The list published by NCES is based on a wide range of data, including full-time enrollment figures, the number of degrees conferred, and the type of institutions, i.e., for-profit or nonprofit, public or private, and four- or two-year institutions of higher education. Some of the institutions on this list may qualify as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, provided that the institutions meet the eligibility requirements described above.

For specific inquiries regarding the current list of Department grantees with an HSI designation, or for a copy of the list, contact:

Ralph Hines
Director, Hispanic-Serving Institutions Division
Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education
Phone: (202) 502-7618
E-mail: ralph.hines@ed.gov

Comprehensive Membership Lists

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and Excelencia in Education provide comprehensive HSI membership lists on their respective Web sites. The HACU list contains approximately 230 members, while the Excelencia list contains nearly 300 members. Institutions on these lists have self-identified as Hispanic-Serving Institutions or emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions. They generally have not received a federal designation as an HSI, and as such, do not receiving federal funding. There may, however, be some overlap among the HACU, Excelencia and Department lists.