South Texas College is in the Top 3 nationwide and also in the top spot in Texas for enrolling and graduating Latinos according to Excelencia in Education.

Washington D.C.-based Excelencia is a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve education outcomes for Latino college students. Their findings come as part of a Latino college completion study Aug. 12.

STC enrolled 31,949 students in fall 2018, 95 percent of which were Hispanic (30,419) according to Excelencia’s findings. The college also awarded a grand total of 4,112 associate degrees for the 2017-2018 school year. Of those, 95 percent were awarded to Hispanics (3,923). This places the college second in the nation overall among the awarding of associate degrees.

Achieving a Commitment

“Twenty-five years ago, South Texas College embarked on a journey to create a college-going culture for the predominately Hispanic population of the Rio Grande Valley; whereby going to and completing college was possible, affordable and expected for all Hispanic students,” said STC President Dr. Shirley A. Reed. “This confirms South Texas College is achieving its commitment to serve the Hispanic population of the Rio Grande Valley with unparalleled success.”

The study comes from Excelencia’s Ensuring America’s Future: Benchmarking Latino College Completion to 2030. The report shows that both Latino student enrollment and degree completion continues to increase.

In 2019, STC was the recipient of the Excelencia’s Seal of Excelencia, reaffirming more than 25 years of creating a college-going culture for Hispanic students of the Rio Grande Valley. It was the only higher education institution in the Valley at the time to receive the designation.