The Community College of Aurora does not turn students away. It serves immigrants with limited English knowledge, Coloradans experiencing homelessness, students pursuing careers in the trades, concurrently enrolled high schoolers and students who are the first in their family to attend college.
That mission of accessible education guides Adriana Cordova, CCA's academic advising director, in her work. A CCA graduate herself, Cordova knows what it's like to be nervous and at times lost in college.
"I'm a first-generation student, and I migrated here in 2003 from Sonora, Mexico. The expectation was always for me to go to school, and it wasn't easy," said Cordova, who graduated in 2017 and went on to earn bachelor's and master's degrees. "At CCA, I was able to get a hang of what college was."
Part of what has made CCA feel like home for Cordova is the diversity and welcoming environment she said she has experienced at the college.
Some of the resources that support the CCA community, including peer instructors, college readiness programming and faculty training workshops, are funded by the federal government through a $2.5 million grant, distributed over six years. The college was eligible for the grant because it is a federally-designated Hispanic-serving institution -- one of 16 in Colorado and 615 in the United States. But now federal grants for such institutions could be at risk.
Colorado's Hispanic-serving institutions range from community colleges in the suburbs of Denver to regional public universities nestled up north in Greeley and south in Alamosa County along the Rio Grande. They vary in size and focus, but they all enroll at least 25% Hispanic students and serve a high proportion of low-income students.
Federal lawsuit raises discrimination concerns
The federal Hispanic-serving institution designation is in the spotlight with a recently filed federal lawsuit in Tennessee that argues these programs unconstitutionally discriminate based on ethnicity. The lawsuit, filed by the state of Tennessee and the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions, "is about ensuring that opportunity is extended to everyone on an equal basis," according to a statement from Students for Fair Admissions.
Students for Fair Admissions declined an interview request for this article but referred to the written statement. The lawsuit argues that the federal Department of Education's Hispanic-serving institution program discriminates against institutions and students in Tennessee, a state that has no colleges with such designation. While many colleges in Tennessee serve some low-income and Hispanic students, none meets the 25% threshold.
"A federal grant system that openly discriminates against students based on ethnicity isn't just wrong and un-American -- it's unconstitutional," Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement.
The federal government awarded slightly more than $228 million to Hispanic-serving institutions in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Although the money goes specifically toward Hispanic-serving institutions, each institution must use its grants for programs and services that are open to all of its students, regardless of race or ethnicity.
Gina Garcia, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, studies higher education issues and has published extensive research on Hispanic-serving institutions. Garcia cautioned that a loss of these federal grants could be "devastating" to these institutions, which typically use the money for student support and innovation.
"These are capacity-building grants, and what that means is that they do not allow you to give any of the funding or any of the opportunities specifically to one group, because the money goes to the institution, to make the institution better, and so anything the institution does is going to be for every student," Garcia said.
"Safety and support" for students
Julianna Montoya graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver last month, with a major in public health, two minors in biology and pre-health care and a concentration in community health education. In the fall, the first-generation college student will pursue a master's in public health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Attending a Hispanic-serving institution allowed her to "find safety and support as a Latina."
"I entered college with a million nerves about navigating the higher education system," Montoya said. "I came in with my sister who is 16 months older than me, and we were really trying to figure out who we are as individuals. She and my peers here have been a support for me."
What most stood out to Montoya was taking a health care ethics class with a Latino professor who "walked in with his marginalized identity, as well as his background as a professional in the field."
MSU, which has 16,500 total undergraduates, became a Hispanic-serving institution in 2019, after a 12-year process that focused on recruitment, retention and data collection.
In 2007, the university enrolled 13% Hispanic students. Now that number is 37%. Since becoming a Hispanic-serving institution, it has received $14 million in federal grants.
Manuel Del Real, MSU's executive director of Hispanic-serving institution initiatives and inclusion, said the designation has been helpful to "communicate that we are here for our students." He emphasized that the grants are beneficial to all MSU students, whether they are Hispanic or not.
"If you were a student here and you had a teacher's assistant in your class, you benefited from these grants," he said.
Del Real said he is not focused on the ongoing federal lawsuit by Students for Fair Admissions because "even if the designation goes away, we're still going to stick to our mission and values."
"Yes, we're thankful for getting these grants," Del Real said. "But whatever happens, we're going to continue being an institution that's minority serving, and that continues to serve all of our students."
Achievement gaps persist
The federal Hispanic-serving institution designation was created in 1992, stemming from concerns that Hispanic students were largely enrolled in colleges and universities with poor educational outcomes and low government funding.
Between the years 2000 and 2020, Hispanic post-baccalaureate enrollment has tripled in the U.S., according to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute. However, enrollment and degree completion gaps remain. In Colorado, the four-year graduation rate for Hispanic students is 44%, compared to 59% for white students, according to the nonprofit Excelencia in Education.
These inequalities are why Hispanic-serving institution grants and designations matter, said Angela Marquez, the vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion and chief of staff at Community College of Aurora.
"We want to be culturally responsive and create a classroom environment that is optimal for the success of our Latino and Latina students, and for the unique needs of all of our students," Marquez said.
For Cordova, supporting students means connecting them with resources that span beyond academic support, including food assistance, counseling and housing services.
"We don't just help them get signed up for classes," Cordova said. "We ask, "What's going on with work? What's going on with family?" We want them to graduate, but we treat them like humans in the process."
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