Driving along US-411N, flanked by rolling green hills and slow-moving cows, it seems surprising to hear a DJ on the FM dial breathlessly announcing a merengue show in nearby Knoxville - in Spanish.
In fact, Tennessee, like fellow Appalachian states Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, is home to one of the fastest-growing Latino populations in the country, much younger on average than the region's non-Hispanic white and black populations, and with larger families.
This hasn't escaped the attention of the region's colleges, most of which have drawn heavily on the area's non-Hispanic white population for their students. But that population is shrinking, said Deborah Santiago, the vice president for policy at Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit agency that advocates for Latinos in higher education.
"It's in their economic self-interest to learn how to attract and retain Latinos," Santiago said.
Doing this won't be easy. Limited experience with college, lower household incomes and other factors have made Latinos less likely to enroll in and succeed at college. But as universities across the country contend with flat and even declining enrollments, they're starting to go after the biggest growth market: Latinos. READ MORE
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