Central Texas News

Austin Community College District (ACC) is recognized for its intentional work focused on serving Latino students by Excelencia in Education. As the economy continues to rebound from the pandemic, “Beyond Completion: Post-completion Efforts at Hispanic-Serving Institution” honored the college for its efforts to rethink efforts to support Latino, and all, students beyond degree completion.

The report identified three strengths that demonstrate the cohort’s efforts to advance post-completion success from the intention to serve Latino completers:

• Offering culturally relevant institutional practices accelerating Latino post-completion success.
• Providing custom measures and metrics to track post-completion success outcomes.
• Demonstrating progress in closing the equity gaps of post-completion success outcomes for Latino completers.

As institutions continue to make progress on Latino enrollment and completion, Latino representation within the workforce is expected to increase by 3 percent every year. As a result of these changes, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are expanding their scope of Latino student success and taking active steps to create learning experiences that promote workforce preparation and foster Latino post-completion success.

ACC was one of seven schools to collaborate with Excelencia in Education to examine post-completion success efforts. Others include:

• California State University-Fullerton
• Long Beach City College
• Texas State University
• University of Arizona
• University of Illinois Chicago
• Wilbur Wright College

The Latino student population at ACC is the college’s fastest-growing demographic. The share of Hispanic/Latinx student enrollment increased 3 percentage points between 2018 and 2021. Hispanic/Latinx students now account for 39 percent of the college population.

Excelencia in Education is a national organization that accelerates Latino student success in higher education. ACC was awarded the National Seal of Excelencia for its positive role in serving Latino students in 2019.

Texas Online Colleges ranked ACC the top Hispanic-Serving online college for its commitment to Hispanic students and online programs. The recognition was based on student-faculty ratio, online programs offered, high graduation and retention rates, and academic influence. Read more about the honor here.

Original source can be found here