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APIDA Success Initiative

APIDA Student Success Report Executive Summary

In March 2021, an APIDA Student Success Workgroup was charged with identifying the needs of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American (APIDA) students at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) and to offer recommendations. The report completed in July 2022 envisioned a broad, preliminary effort towards improving institutional policies and procedures, campus climate, and the overall success of APIDA students at CSUSM. Intentionally aligned with the university strategic plan The Power of CSUSM (released in Spring 2022), the following are the major findings based on analyses of available data and conversations with administrators, faculty, staff, and students. Identified below are four overarching findings that significantly impact the success of APIDA students: 

  1. Limited disaggregated compositional APIDA student data leading to an incomplete understanding of student needs
  2. A need for more focused and coordinated recruitment/enrollment of APIDA students
  3. Equity gaps among APIDA students when examining traditional student success measurements against the persistence of the “model minority” myth and incomplete underrepresented minority (URM) categories; and
  4. Unmet mental health needs and underutilization of Disability Support Services (DSS). 

The following lists six areas for action recommendations. The recommendations intentionally overlap and highlight the need for integrated, cohesive approaches that recognize specific service areas and ethnic groups.

  1. Increase understanding across CSUSM of the considerable diversity of identities and ethnicities within the APIDA community, including East Asian, South Asian, Filipino, Southeast Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, and offer tailored student support services accordingly. 
  2. Strategically outreach to APIDA students and their families/support networks to increase the number and proportion of APIDA students who apply to/enroll at CSUSM while maintaining Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation of eligibility for grant funding. 
  3. Provide culturally sustaining outreach centered on social mobility for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) students, families, and communities. 
  4. Strengthen and expand campus-wide coordination of resources and efforts towards destigmatizing and meeting mental health needs by increasing awareness of familial and social influences on APIDA students’ mental health. 
  5. Increase visibility, awareness, and utilization of Disability Support Services (DSS). 
  6. Further examine and address APIDA students’ experiences with racial tension and discrimination at CSUSM.   

Finally, the report concludes with general institutional recommendations during the first three years of the CSUSM APIDA Initiative. They include reapplying for minority-serving institution federal funding and rethinking the notion of "servingness" for all students; clarifying/ disaggregating campus data on APIDA students; establishing an APIDA Student Center and coordinating an APIDA Student Success Steering Committee for strategic adjustments and accountability.