Alverno College And Mount Mary University In Milwaukee Retained Federal Hispanic-Serving Institution Designation With More than 25% Of Full Time Latino Student Enrollment, According to The HACU

Recognizing two Wisconsin higher education institutions in Milwaukee as Hispanic-Serving Institutions during Hispanic Heritage Month 2023.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

October 3, 2023

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Two higher education institutions, Alverno College and Mount Mary University from Milwaukee have retained their designation as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) for multiple years by the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) under the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (DHSI) Program (Title V, Part A), which provides federal grants to HSI designated institutions.

On September 21, 2023, the Biden-Harris administration awarded more than $40M to support HSIs around the country.

According to U.S. federal law, a HSI is defined as an institution of higher education that is an eligible institution; and 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, cited from the USDOE website.

Alverno College undergraduate and full-time Hispanic student enrollment was reported at 40% for the Fall of 2022, the USNews dot com reported (https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/alverno-college-3832). In 2017, Alverno College became the first college in Wisconsin to obtain its federal HSI designation with 27% of Hispanic student enrollment. Link: https://www.alverno.edu/Program/Alverno-College-First-in-Wisconsin-to-be-Named-Hispanic-Serving-Institution

Also, Mount Mary University-Milwaukee for the Fall 2023 entering undergraduate enrollment was reported at 41% and was designated as a HSI for a second year, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) membership report (2021-22). Mount Mary first obtained its HSI designation in 2020 and in 2021 reported its Hispanic undergraduate enrollment at nearly 31%.

In 2021-22, the HACU reported that three Wisconsin Higher Education Institutions were designated as HSIs, Alverno College-Milwaukee with 36.6% Hispanic student enrollment;  Herzing University-Kenosha with 30.0% and Mount Mary University-Milwaukee with 30.4% Hispanic student enrollment. Link: https://www.hacu.net/images/hacu/OPAI/2023_HSILists.pdf