BVU aims for more Latinos, federal designation

Planning for 25% Hispanic enrollment

Buena Vista University President Josh Merchant has formed a new initiative for BVU to be designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution as an indicator it’s serving its growing Hispanic population.

Designation as an HSI requires 25% of the institution’s enrollment to be made up of Latino students, according to the U.S. Department of Education. An emerging HSI would be in the 15-24% range.

Latino students make up 14.8% of BVU’s fall 2019 freshman class, just under the threshold for emerging HSI. The current total enrollment sits at about 12%. Merchant hopes his presidential initiative will make Latinos feel welcomed on campus.

Annamaria Formichella, BVU’s director of strategic initiatives, told The Times the status of an HSI brings in more federal dollars that can be spent on education and promotion of Latinos on campus.

“Once you get to that percentage, there’s federal money available to improve the programming and improve the support for those students,” Formichella says. “We’ve noticed that even without that kind of initiative that the percentage has been going up every year.”

In Fall 2017 and 2018, BVU’s Latino population was 7% and 10% respectively. Formichella says Merchant wants the growth to be more intentional.

“It started as wanting to be kind of strategic about it,” says Formichella, “and not just let it happen randomly, but [to] actually figure out good programming and quality ways of not only attracting Hispanic students but retaining them.”

RAÍCES, a student organization that promotes Latino engagement, came to Merchant, Formichella and other administrators earlier this year on how to better retain Latino students. Their suggestions and Formichella’s research will potentially turn into implementing a translated website, marketing materials and a bilingual admissions counselor.

“Some of the Hispanic students who gave this presentation felt very, in some ways, uncomfortable when they came to campus because of the lack of resources for their parents,” says Formichella. “They just feel obviously uncomfortable when their parents are left out or struggling.”

Formichella wouldn’t divulge the status of those new initiatives, but she said the university would do all it could to implement them where it had available funding. Formichella says BVU would be the first HSI in Iowa if it managed to reach that status.

*Originally published in The Storm Lake Times.