Giving Compass' Take:

• The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and the Latino student advocacy group Excelencia in Education created the Adult Learner 360 Academy for Hispanic-serving institutions that helps working adult students.

• What types of services would be helpful for this population of students in order to graduate? 

• Read more about how to support Latino college achievement.

More Latinos are graduating from college than in years past, but they still lag far behind their white peers: about 32 percent graduate from college in four years compared with 45 percent of white students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and the Latino student advocacy group Excelencia in Education have joined forces to introduce an initiative this academic year to shrink this gap by helping working, adult students.

Called the Adult Learner 360 Academy for HSIs, the three-year project will assist 15 Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs). The colleges will use a diagnostic tool from the council that collects feedback from students, faculty and staff, and identifies where schools can improve their resources for adult learners.

HSIs – which include two and four-year schools and public and private institutions – educate 65 percent of Latino undergraduates, according to Excelencia. They also enroll a substantial number of Latinos in graduate degree programs.

But one of their biggest hurdles – and a challenge for other colleges as well – is getting students who enroll to then make it to graduation.

More than 7 million college students are 25 and older, and their needs often differ from those of younger students. Many have dependents, jobs and fewer options for federal aid.

Read the full article about Latino student graduation rate by Delece Smith-Barrow at The Hechinger Report