EdCircuit Staff 
Pacific Oaks College has been awarded a $2.6 million Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) grant by the U.S. Department of Education to maintain and expand support services for Hispanic students and scale the Latinx+ Student Success Initiative created and implemented by the college’s Student Success Center.
HSIs are defined as institutions of higher education that have at least 25% Hispanic full-time undergraduate enrollment. As of 2023, 53% of Pacific Oak’s student body self-identify as Hispanic, making Latinx+ students the largest demographic at the college.
As a result of the grant, Pacific Oaks will create an Intentional Student Retention Center. The center will conduct outreach to undergraduate students to connect them with academic support services, provide training for faculty and staff to better serve the Latinx+ community, improve the collection and analysis of student success data, and create an endowment to ensure future projects to support Latinx+ and traditionally underserved student populations.
“As a small institution dedicated to serving predominantly minority adult learners, we strongly believe that the achievements of our students hold equal importance to those in larger institutions or traditional college-age students,” said Dr. Jack Paduntin, president of Pacific Oaks. “Grant funding like this is the lifeblood that empowers us to provide vital resources, personalized support and innovative programs tailored to our unique student population.”
With a long-standing commitment to social justice, advocacy, and transformative early childhood educational programs, Pacific Oaks fulfills its mission of serving diverse communities through the development of programs to meet the needs of its California community. More than 74% of students at Pacific Oaks identify as an underrepresented minority, while 56% are the first in their family to attend college.
In 2020, Pacific Oaks was one of 40 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the Developing HSI Title V competitive grant from the Department of Education. The milestone award enabled the college to develop its Student Success Center and launch strategic outreach programs informed by the needs of a growing Latinx+ population. The center focused its efforts on community-building with the understanding that student engagement encourages retention and degree completion.
“The Hispanic population is one of the largest and fastest growing non-white populations in the United States. Over the past several decades, the high school dropout rate of Hispanic students has been steadily decreasing, and the rate of college enrollment has increased,” said Dr. Judy Castro, Executive Director of PO’s Latinx+ Student Success Initiative. “This HSI grant is critical to supporting initiatives that address the needs of this student population.”
About Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School
Founded in 1945, Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School is composed of two educational entities. Pacific Oaks College is a nonprofit, institutionally accredited higher education institution offering bachelor’s and master’s programs in human development, marriage and family therapy, education, early childhood education, teacher preparation, social work, community psychology, business administration, and organizational leadership and management. Pacific Oaks Children’s School provides early childhood education programs for children ages 6 months through 5 years and has pioneered achievements in the areas of anti-bias education, emergent curriculum, and peaceful conflict resolution.
