By Jenny Patiño–

Latino students are looking for the same things other students look for in a college, according to Ana Maria Soto, the executive director of Latino Initiatives at National Louis University in Chicago.

“They’re looking for value in their education–a way to make a living and follow their dreams,” she says.

Soto is no stranger to the use of Latinos in marketing for colleges. She has been featured in advertisements for National Louis University. The school’s “I Got It At NLU” campaign has gotten her noticed. The ads effectively feature both students and staff members, simultaneously displaying the school’s growing diversity alongside the resources available to assist potential students.

Diversity has become a hot commodity in advertisements for colleges and universities, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that schools know what Latinos need to get from their education. Diversity in marketing doesn’t always play out on campus. Without being accompanied by a diverse faculty as well as programs and initiatives that offer support systems, advertisements of a school’s diversity are two-dimensional attempts at recruitment and retention.

“You have to have a holistic view of the person. There’s academic help, social help, financial aid help, all kinds of other issue,” says Soto.  “And that is only done by committed people in the front lines that gather the group, empower the students and not this diversity like window dressing that is prevalent sometimes.”

In addition to these ads, the school’s various programs include scholarships and initiatives which respond to the Latino community in Chicago. Among these is an MBA program held in Chicago’s Little Village, from which Soto recently graduated. She is currently working on a mentorship program called Mujeres de HACE for Latina businesswomen “who feel very alone in their current job because they’re probably the only Latino there.”

At NLU Soto is also working on getting Latinos through a special program for them to become teachers. She feels that the low percentage of Latino faculty at NLU and in higher education in general is due to the low Latino rate of graduation from high school, bachelor’s, masters, and then doctoral programs.

“When you get to the end of the pipeline choosing professors, the pool is really reduced,” she says.

She has been involved in an effort to diversify the pools of people interviewed for positions at NLU.

“Now if they get the job, that’s on qualifications,” she says.

She also cautions that not every Latino is going to be great for Latinos and mentor them.

For various reasons, minority students may end up feeling overlooked or unsupported on college campuses. Beatriz Ruiz, is a second year graduate student in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who will be graduating in May 2010. Despite having one of the highest percentages of Latino full-time faculty in Chicago (5 percent), Ruiz feels that this is not reflected in her particular department.

Ruiz says that she feels she has to constantly educate students and faculty about her Latino background, which she finds frustrating.

“There is almost a sort of tokenism that occurs. This hinders the pursuit of education because…that is not what most people expect to have to do and it can also be very isolating and discouraging,” Ruiz said.

Jose Diaz is a Fine Arts Major at Columbia College Chicago and president of the campus’ Latino Alliance student organization. He has been in pictures for the school’s Student Engagement Office, alongside students of other ethnicities.

“It was cool; it didn’t bother me at all, but I do keep it in mind that they’re trying to show diversity,” Diaz said.

At the same time, Diaz says he has never seen a billboard for Columbia in his neighborhood Back of the Yards. He says he gives his school an “F” with regards to reaching out to lower income Latino neighborhoods in Chicago.

“I was not expecting to be the only Latino in each class, it was just ridiculous,” he says.

Adriana Guerrero received her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Chicago where she says diversity was a big problem for her.

“In general people wouldn’t try to talk to me,” said Guerrero.  “I think they tried to talk to others that they just felt more comfortable with.”

Guerrero says she felt alone throughout most of her experience in college, which included struggles with financial aid.

“I think it’s made me quite self conscious about how far I can go really in the field and it’s made me question whether I am smart enough or worthy enough to go on and get a higher education in psychology,” says Guerrero.

Alejandra Mendez, a senior at Hubbard High School in Chicago is preparing to graduate this June 2010. She is about to become part of the 54 percent of Latino high school graduates that move on to higher education. Mendez is on the hunt for the school with the program she feels is the best fit for her.

The corridors of her predominantly Latino high school feature a “College Wall” which is covered in brochures from various institutions. Among them is a pamphlet from New York University which claims that “Diversity is indispensible to NYU’s pursuit of excellence.” A closer examination of their records for undergraduate minority enrollment reveals a less than stellar reality.

While there is a large Asian American population (19 percent), Latino enrollment is less than half of that (8 percent). According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, at NYU only 3.5 percent of the faculty are Latino. While they may not be the most prominent group of students (or faculty) on campus, the NYU brochure certainly features images of Latinos students prominently.

Mendez dreams of attending either Southern Illinois University or the University of Missouri at Columbia and majoring in Psychology when she graduates from Hubbard. While seeing images of diversity in viewbooks may make a prospective student feel more welcome, it won’t ensure their enrollment. Mendez says that even though she would like diversity in her future school, it’s not her top priority. She’s more worried about other factors like the overall size of the school and financial aid. Proximity to her family, her support system, is also a big concern. While she doesn’t want to remain in Chicago, she says she’d like to be somewhere that’s “not that close, but not that far from home.”

“I think the amount of help financially that I’m going to get is the main factor,” says Mendez.

In order for images of diversity in campus marketing to be effective, they have to have some substance behind them. Financial aid, an emphasis on community, and a diverse and helpful faculty will ensure retention so that the educational pipeline becomes unclogged. Without this, future students like Mendez are at risk of finding themselves on their new campus feeling disillusioned and either isolated or burdened with the added responsibility of serving to educate their post-secondary institution–rather than the other way around.

Jenny Patiño is a student at Columbia College Chicago.