Clearly, increased funding at the local, state, and federal levels would go a long way to ensure the future success of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) of higher education in the United States. Private funding and strong support from alumni groups are also a critical part of this funding mix. In addition, sophisticated and adequately funded marketing, public relations, and enrollment management efforts are needed. The funding of most HSIs is closely tied to the political process. Successful lobbying efforts and the structuring of a strong advancement effort is instrumental in building healthy institutions and ensuring high graduation rates. With this in mind, the goal of this study was to determine what level of importance is placed on institutional advancement activities by college and university presidents at select HSIs throughout the United States.

This study was done at a university located at the United States/Mexican border of South Texas, where more than 80% of the residents are of Hispanic origin. This article reports partial results of surveys administered to graduating students over a 3-year period to assess perceptions of the outcome of their college experiences. The surveys revealed that an overwhelming majority of the graduates believed the quality of their lives was definitely enhanced because of their college experiences. The survey further revealed that the majority of graduates believed that, as a result of their education and contributing factors, they learned the value of independence, working cooperatively with others, and persistence amid difficulties.Resumen: Este estudio se hizo en una universidad del sur de Texas que está situada en la frontera de Estados Unidos con México donde más del 80% de los residentes son de origen Hispano. Este manuscrito reporta resultados parciales de cuestionarios administrados a estudiantes graduados a través de un período de 3 años, los cuales evalúan su percepción del resultado de experiencias universitarias. Los cuestionarios revelaron que la gran mayoría de los graduados creen que la calidad de sus vidas aumentó debido a sus experiencias universitarias. Aún más, los cuestionarios revelaron que la mayoría de los graduados creen que, como resultado de su educación y otros factores adicionales, ellos aprendieron el valor de la independencia, del trabajo cooperativo, y la persistencia en medio de las dificultades.The University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) is located in Edinburg, Texas, less than 20 miles away from Reynosa, México. About 82% of all UTPA students are of Hispanic origin, reflecting the demographic characteristics of the immediate region (McAllen Economic Development Corporation, 2000). The region is distinctly bicultural; the majority of residents speak both English and Spanish. The university includes six academic colleges: arts and humanities, business administration, education, health sciences and human services, science and engineering, and social and behavioral sciences. Annual student enrollment is approximately 13,000.

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This article analyzes the current state of institutional advancement activities at Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) of higher education. Since the 1980s, a core group of colleges and universities in the United States with significant enrollments of Hispanic students has come to be recognized as primary providers of education to the burgeoning population

Our guest editors have focused this issue of the journal on a topic that underscores our mission, advancing research that sheds light on the successful education of all students, in particular Latino/Latina or Hispanic students. As with every article published in this journal, efforts are made to define authors' use of specific terminology. For purposes of this issue, Latino/ Latina or Hispanic students denote those individuals who self-identify as such; the terms are used interchangeably to reflect the different sentiments of the members of such a diverse group. Maricela Oliva grew up in the predominately Mexican American Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. She was the first in her family to go to college, leaving the region to attend Yale University in Connecticut. Maricela has more than 18 years of experience in Texas higher education. Much of that was spent serving in administrative capacities in institutions of higher education and in various policy assignments with the state's postsecondary oversight agency, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. In recent years, she has served as an educational administration faculty member at the University of Texas-El Paso and the University of Texas-Pan American, two South Texas institutions. She is now a faculty member in the higher education program at Texas A & M University in College Station. Academic work by Oliva includes research on U.S.-Mexico-Canada collaboration in higher education as well as publications on multicultural issues and the Texas policy context. She has published multiple articles in refereed journals. Amaury Nora is a professor of higher education and an associate dean for research and faculty development in the College of Education at the University of Houston. His research focuses on college persistence, the role of college on diverse student populations across different types of institutions, the development of financial aid models that integrate economic theories and college persistence theories, graduate education, and theory building and testing. He has served as consultant to the American Council of Education, the Ford Foundation, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universi-115