Built for the Students We Serve
25 Years of Impact at Hartnell College
By: Gayle Pitman, Ph.D., Vice President of Institutional Equity, Effectiveness, and Success, Hartnell College, a Seal of Excelencia certified institution
On any given day at Hartnell College, students arrive before sunrise and after dark. They come from crowded multi-family homes where no one else has attended college, where parents may not speak English, and where, in some cases, students themselves are still building fluency. In many cases, their parents have left much earlier in the morning to work in the fields, picking lettuce or harvesting strawberries. They travel long distances by bus, often carrying not only backpacks, but the weight of work schedules and family responsibilities. Many are the first in their families to pursue higher education. All are investing in education not only for themselves, but for the future of their families and our region.
They deserve institutions built for their success.
This year, Hartnell College marks 25 years as a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). It is a milestone to celebrate, and it presents an opportunity to reflect on what the HSI designation represents, what it has made possible, and what is now at risk as Title V funding faces potential elimination.
HSIs are often misunderstood. Many assume they exist to serve Latino students instead of others, or that they are simply another “diversity” initiative layered onto higher education. That assumption misses the point.
HSIs were created as a structural response to demographic change. As Latino students became the fastest-growing population in American higher education, policymakers recognized a simple truth: Institutions built for a different era would not adequately serve a new majority without intentional investment. When student demographics shift, institutional systems must shift too.
Beginning in the 1990s, rapid growth in Hispanic populations reshaped higher education. Advocacy efforts led to the HSI designation for institutions enrolling at least 25% Hispanic students, with dedicated federal funding tied to that designation. Today, although HSIs about 20% of U.S. colleges and universities, they enroll nearly two-thirds of all Hispanic college students.¹
California’s community colleges illustrate this transformation. In 1992–93, the system served about 460,000 Hispanic/Latino students, roughly 20% of enrollment. In 2024–25, it served more than one million, representing nearly half of all students statewide. To put this growth into perspective, while overall enrollment remained nearly flat, Hispanic/Latino enrollment more than doubled.
Hartnell College embodies this shift.
Founded in 1920 in the heart of the Salinas Valley, California (often called the “Salad Bowl of the World”), Hartnell once served a very different community. When we became an HSI in 2000, 48% of our students identified as Hispanic/Latino. Today, that figure is 83%, mirroring a region that is now more than 80% Latino.
This alignment did not happen by chance. It reflects decades of regional change, and an institution that made the intentional choice to evolve in response.
Since 2000, Hartnell has received more than $37 million in Title V funding. These were not supplemental dollars. They were capacity-building investments that strengthened our academic, counseling, technology, and student support systems.
Title V investments have shaped nearly every office and operational area of the college, and have positively impacted students at scale. Through Title V funding, we expanded dual enrollment, strengthened data capacity, built our career and transfer services, launched the Panther Learning Lab (our tutoring services), established El Centro de Excelencia as a student support and retention hub, and modernized core infrastructure.
These systems serve all students. But they are indispensable for students who cannot afford missteps, delays, or dead ends.
Title V has also been a critical foundation for our collective impact strategy to serve our students, allowing us to braid resources strategically and scale high-impact practices. It has also positioned Hartnell as a strong and credible partner for additional external investment in other culturally responsive approaches, including bilingual services, family engagement, support for undocumented students, and deep partnerships with schools, employers, and universities. Our commitment extends beyond graduation to transfer success, workforce entry, and living-wage attainment, with the goal of educating our students into prosperity and breaking multi-generational cycles of poverty.
Over 25 years, the results are clear.
In that period of time, Hartnell’s course success rates have increased, and course retention has improved by 10 percentage points. Annual degree and certificate awards have more than quadrupled. Full-time enrollment among Hispanic/Latino students has doubled. These gains reflect the thousands of students who persisted, completed, transferred, and returned to serve their communities.
Title V funding alone did not create these outcomes. But sustained, strategic investment made institutional redesign possible.
As national leaders debate the future of Title V, several realities must guide their decisions:
- HSIs are access institutions, and, in many rural and agricultural regions, they are the only local gateway to higher education.
- HSIs are workforce institutions, aligning learning with regional labor markets and economic needs.
- HSIs are economic engines that move students from low-wage, unstable work into skilled, living-wage careers, thereby helping to lift families out of poverty, strengthen local economies, and sustain regional industries.
- HSI funding improves public return on investment by reducing excess units, shortening time to completion, and leading students to the baccalaureate degree and to livable-wage jobs.
- HSI grants promote responsible innovation that is data-informed, outcomes-driven, and accountable to the public trust.
Removing Title V is like removing a leg from a four-legged stool. The system may stand briefly, but it will no longer be stable.
Hartnell College did not become an HSI by accident. We became one because our community changed, and because we accepted and embraced our responsibility to change with it.
After 25 years, the lesson is unmistakable: when institutions are designed around the realities of the students they serve, opportunity expands, families rise, and regional economies grow.
The question before us is not whether HSIs matter.
It is whether we are willing to invest in the institutions educating the students who will shape our shared future.
Source:
- Excelencia in Education. (2026). Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): 2026 Factbook. Washington, D.C.: Excelencia in Education.
