The DHSI Program provides grants to assist Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) with expanding educational opportunities for, and improving the academic attainment of, Hispanic students. DHSI Program grants enable HSIs to expand and enhance the academic offerings, program quality, faculty quality, and institutional stability of colleges and universities that are educating the largest enrollment of Hispanic college students and help large numbers of Hispanic students and other low-income individuals complete postsecondary degrees.

Background: In a February 2022 article published in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled, “The Missing Hispanic Students: Higher ed’s future and the economy depends on their coming back to college,” the author highlights how the COVID–19 pandemic threatened the progress made in postsecondary enrollment of Hispanic students over the last decade and calls attention to the negative impact on institutions and communities from the loss of Hispanic students.  According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, Hispanic undergraduate enrollment fell 7 percent from 2019 to 2021. To address this decline, the re-engagement and retention of students, especially Hispanic students, will require targeted supports, including those that leverage technology, and holistic wraparound services.

Through leadership, practice, and data that support evidence-based decision-making, HSIs can foster a strong sense of belonging and implement robust academic programs that focus on student learning through high-impact practices. In FY 2022, the Department’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Division held a listening session with institutions recognized for their leadership in serving Hispanic students. In the listening session, these institutions identified a number of practices that, when implemented intentionally, may contribute to student success. The institutions identified academic offerings such as undergraduate research experiences and support services such as advising and mentoring that promote retention and degree completion. Additionally, these institutions noted the importance of having leadership that is committed both to promoting access to the institution, but also to providing the necessary academic, social, and emotional supports needed to promote student success.

Learn more: Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program – Title V (ed.gov)

To this end, this competition includes two competitive preference priorities and one invitational priority that are designed to support students holistically and promote continual success.

Priorities: This notice contains two competitive preference priorities and one invitational priority. The competitive preference priorities are from the Secretary’s Supplemental Priorities and Definitions for Discretionary Grant Programs, published in the Federal Register on December 10, 2021 (86 FR 70612) (Supplemental Priorities).

Competitive Preference Priorities: For FY 2023 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, these priorities are competitive preference priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), we award up to an additional 5 points to an application for each priority, depending on how well the application meets each of these priorities. Applicants may respond to one or both priorities, for a total of up to 10 additional points.

These priorities are:

Competitive Preference Priority 1: Meeting Student Social, Emotional, and Academic Needs (up to 5 points).

Projects that are designed to improve students’ social, emotional, academic, and career development, with a focus on underserved students by creating a positive, inclusive, and identity-safe climate at institutions of higher education through one or more of the following activities:

(a) Fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion for underserved students.

(b) Implementing evidence-based practices for advancing student success for underserved students.

(c) Providing evidence-based professional development opportunities designed to build asset-based mindsets for faculty and staff on campus and that are inclusive with regard to race, ethnicity, culture, language, and disability status.

Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing Postsecondary Education Access, Affordability, Completion, and Post-Enrollment Success (up to 5 points).

Projects that are designed to increase postsecondary access, affordability, completion, and success for underserved students by addressing one or more of the following priority areas:

(a) Increasing postsecondary education access and reducing the cost of college by creating clearer pathways for students between institutions and making transfer of course credits more seamless and transparent.

(b) Increasing the number and proportion of underserved students who enroll in and complete postsecondary education programs, which may include strategies related to college preparation, awareness, application, selection, advising, counseling, and enrollment.

(c) Establishing a system of high-quality data collection and analysis, such as data on persistence, retention, completion, and post-college outcomes, for transparency, accountability, and institutional improvement.

(d) Supporting the development and implementation of student success programs that integrate multiple comprehensive and evidence-based services or initiatives, such as academic advising, structured/guided pathways, career services, credit-bearing academic undergraduate courses focused on career, and programs to meet basic needs, such as housing, childcare and transportation, student financial aid, and access to technological devices.

Invitational Priority: For FY 2023 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, this priority is an invitational priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1), we do not give an application that meets this invitational priority a competitive or absolute preference over other applications.

This priority is:

Addressing the Impact of COVID–19 on Students, Educators, and Faculty.

Projects that are designed to address the impacts of the COVID–19 pandemic, including impacts that extend beyond the duration of the pandemic itself, on the students most impacted by the pandemic, with a focus on underserved students and the educators who serve them, through one or more of the following priority areas:

(a) Providing resources and supports to meet the basic, fundamental, health and safety needs of students and educators.

(b) Addressing educator, faculty, and staff well-being.

(c) Using evidence-based instructional approaches or supports to assist individuals who did not enroll in, withdrew from, or reduced course loads in postsecondary education or training programs due to COVID–19 to enroll in, remain enrolled in, and complete credit-bearing coursework and earn recognized postsecondary credentials.