New figures point to SDSU’s commitment to Latinx students

Carla Monge-Solis, a senior international business student at San Diego State University, had an important objective when looking where to go for a college education.

“Coming from a high school that wasn’t very diverse, I knew I wanted to find more people that came from my background,” she said. “That’s why SDSU really caught my attention.”

Today, Monge-Solis is vice president of the Hispanic Business Student Association and is happy with her choice. “Being a part of multiple Hispanic/Latino clubs, I’ve been able to find my people at SDSU and I never feel like I don’t belong."

Her experience can be seen many times over in a new report in which SDSU again scored highly in degree activity for Hispanic/Latinx students.

The annual “Top 100 Colleges and Universities for Hispanics” issue of Hispanic Outlook on Education places SDSU in the top 15 of three different national measures of degree activity and in the top 40 in two others.

SDSU was No. 14 in the nation in bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanic/Latinx students ― just over 3,000 ― in 2022-23, the academic year reflected in all of the organization’s rankings. The figure represents 35% of the bachelor’s degrees for all students, and the ranking is up from No. 15 last year.

In other measures, SDSU was No. 9 in degrees for Hispanic/Latinx students in protective services such as homeland security and law enforcement. It was No. 4 in degrees for foreign languages, literature and linguistics.

In addition, SDSU is:

• No. 29 for master’s degrees granted to Hispanic/Latinx students; and
• No. 40 in total enrollment of Hispanic/Latinx students, nearly 14,000.

Like Monge-Solis, Paola Mora, a first-year computer science student who works as a student assistant at the Latinx Resource Center, said “it just felt like I fit in” when she visited campus. 

“It was one of the few schools where I was actually able to see many people like me on campus. The Latinx Resource Center has also played a big role, serving not only as a job but also a second home for me on campus." 

SDSU was designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) by the U.S. Department of Education in 2012, providing additional access to grants and scholarships. Its initiatives and resources include the Latinx Resource Center, the student organization MeCHA, the HSI Student Advisory Board, and support from such academic programs as STEM Pathways, the MESA program, EOPOS, and Progresando en Salud.

“SDSU's enrollment of Latinx students currently stands at 36%, which is a historic high for the institution,” said Emilio Ulloa, associate chief diversity officer for HSI and regional affairs. “In honor of our federal designation as an HSI, SDSU remains committed to serving Hispanic/Latinx students, faculty, and staff.”

Ulloa said SDSU’s record in degrees awarded “is reflective of gains in representation among students, faculty, and staff, and of the work that many at SDSU contribute to eliminating equity gaps in persistence and graduation for Latinx students and other marginalized or minoritized groups.”

“We draw inspiration and motivation from the work of scholars who contribute to our understanding of servingness, as well as the work of our campus leaders,” Ulloa added. “We remain committed to examining and deconstructing our institutional practices, policies, structures, systems, and resources to continue to center the lived experience of our Latinx students for the benefit of all students.”