For many Latinas, Alverno College is a symbol of hope. Now, its financial future is unclear.

Just 12 hours after Natasha Perez, 18, officially decided to start her college career at Alverno College, the school declared a financial emergency .

"I was a bit concerned," Perez said. "But my mom went there. I grew up going there."

But as classes get underway Monday, some current students and alum worry that Alverno's days are numbered.

Last month, Alverno College projected a $9 million deficit for the fiscal year. In one sudden swoop, it cut a third of its majors, a quarter of its graduate programs and laid off 37 faculty and staff.

For many students of color and nontraditional students, the south side Milwaukee college is a lighthouse and a symbol of hope. It is Wisconsin's first federally-designated Hispanic-serving institution and one of two women's colleges in Milwaukee. More than half of its students are the first in their family to go to college .

However, despite an unexpected $10 million donation days before the start of the fall semester, the school's financial future remains unclear.

Earlier this month, Alverno's accrediting agency, the Higher Learning Commission, assigned the college a "financial distress designation." The designation will remain in place until the agency visits Alverno no later than December. If Alverno loses its accreditation, students will no longer be able to access federal loans, grants and other financial aid.

Regardless of its financial situation, Perez still wants Alverno to be a part of her story, just like it was for her mom Holly McCoy. Alverno opened doors for McCoy, a first-generation student and now mom of two college students.

"There was something about Alverno that made me feel like I actually have something to offer the world," McCoy said. "Our hope is that they're going to figure it out."

Students say Alverno provides a supportive environment for women of color

Cassandra Casas, 21, chose Alverno because of the connections she made with professors and academic advisors. The offer of a full ride scholarship helped seal the deal, she said.

She called Alverno a "safe haven" for students of color and first-generation students like her.

When Casas was nine years old, she said, her mom was deported. For many years, Casas felt she was alone in her grief.

"I felt alienated," Casas said. "Then when I found out about these organizations, like Alverno, who have such a big support system for students who are struggling with that, it made me feel more comfortable."

Alverno understood her motivation to serve the immigrant refugee community and connected her with a meaningful internship in Sen. Tammy Baldwin's office, Casas said. Now, she's dual-enrolled at the Medical College of Wisconsin and is majoring in international studies with a specialization in public health.

However, she is disappointed to see the college's public health program affected by Alverno's financial woes. Although Alverno is keeping the health education and health sciences tracks, it discontinued the policy and advocacy track, along with 14 other majors .

"It's just sad," Casas said. "I don't know how the public health program will look in the future."

Casas has heard some students propose allowing men to be undergraduate students at Alverno to boost student enrollment, but she disagrees.

"I just think it would make it harder for students that look like me to pursue going to into higher education because there will be no space for them," she said.

Perez has four years of school ahead of her at Alverno. She is majoring in business to support her own small business, Tasha's Cake Service . Business is one of the 31 undergraduate majors Alverno is maintaining.

In case the college closes its doors, Perez said she plans to transfer to Milwaukee Area Technical College. But for now, she remains hopeful.

"I am looking forward to going to Alverno and starting soccer practice," Perez said.

Alums baffled by Alverno's shaky financial situation

Ruth Lopez, 37, nearly dropped out of Alverno her final semester in 2017.

She was overwhelmed with the news that her fourth child was diagnosed with Down syndrome. But her professors wouldn't let her give up.

"I am forever grateful to them because I graduated that semester," Lopez said.

Lopez invested the first years of her career into making Alverno a place where generations of Latinas could thrive. She was Alverno's first coordinator of Latino student engagement and outreach, a role created after the school earned its designation as a Hispanic-serving institution in 2017. To receive the federal designation, at least 25% of the student body must be Hispanic.

"I would absolutely love my girls to be able to attend my alma mater, but will it be available for them when they're ready?" Lopez said. "I don't know."

Fernanda Jimenez, 23, chose Alverno over Marquette University because of its affordability and support.

Jimenez is a first-generation student and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient. Her citizenship status prohibits her from receiving federal student aid, student loans, or in-state tuition. Alverno offered her the most scholarships, she said.

“They were willing to help me so that I wouldn't pay so much out of pocket as an undocumented immigrant,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez said she felt safe to talk about her citizenship status in the classroom at Alverno. At undergraduate commencement this year, she spoke about her four-day trek across the U.S.-Mexico border with her family and her experience growing up undocumented. Now, she's working on law school applications and advocating for immigrant rights with Voces De La Frontera.

But she worries Alverno is on track to close, like Cardinal Stritch University abruptly did last year.

“Without Alverno, there's a large community of immigrants, of Latinos, that might not pursue higher education because it isn't affordable and isn't culturally accepting,” Jimenez said.

Alverno was life-changing for Barbara Cerda, 36, who said the college's flexible schedule helped her manage raising three children as a single mom while working full time. She owns the Latinx, Black and Indigenous literature-centered bookstore La Revo Books with her sister.

Cerda says she still isn't sure how Alverno got itself into this bind. She and others hope the institution will keep students and alums updated on its financial situation and will answer their questions.

"What were they doing with their money?" Cerda asked. "Is it the economy? I don't know."

Hispanic-serving institutions compete for limited federal dollars

Many higher education institutions around the country are facing financial pressures as a side effect of the pandemic and low student enrollment , especially smaller colleges.

Full-time undergraduate student enrollment at Alverno dropped from 1,016 in 2017 to 606 in 2023, according to Alverno's records. However, the number of Hispanic full-time undergraduate students at Alverno has stayed consistent, from 293 in 2017 to 269 in 2023.

Becoming a federally-designated Hispanic-serving institution opens doors to certain grants, but it is hard for some colleges to meet the 25% full-time Hispanic student requirement. In addition to Alverno, there are four Hispanic-serving institutions in Wisconsin. Gateway Technical College — with locations in Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties — was designated as an Hispanic-serving institution this summer after an almost nine-year process.

Achieving the designation is only half the battle, said Anthony Hernandez, educational policy studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The other half is competing against a pool of more than 500 other Hispanic-serving institutions for federal funding.

According to Hernandez, Hispanic-serving institutions like Alverno are historically underfunded. They receive 25% less federal funds per student than other higher education institutions.

"Because a lot of the HSIs are under-resourced, it's really challenging to be competitive for these federal grants," he said.

Some HSIs have a "well-oiled machine" to compete for federal grants, Hernandez said. But smaller schools don't have the resources to compile detailed grant applications, which means they can lose out on funding.

Even within an institution, many programs are competing for limited dollars.

“I promise you that any amount of money that comes in is going to be sought out by many people at the university, and how are you going to distribute it?” Hernandez said.

The school has previously said that leaders are still discussing how the $10 million donation will be spent.

Heidi Anderson-Isaacson, vice president for student development and success at Alverno, said the college chose to discontinue majors that had low enrollment. She does not think the cuts will negatively affect student enrollment or Alverno's designation as a Hispanic-serving institution.

"We're taking the time to put our efforts behind the things that we're really successful at — nursing, education, business, health sciences — that's where our majority of our student population is" she said.

Alverno received $7.5 million in grants as an HSI "over the last several years," said Kelly Cole, an Alverno spokesperson. But that's not enough, Anderson-Isaacson said.

Many students at Alverno aren't able to be in school full-time because of family and work obligations, which in turn limits their access to financial aid, according to Anderson-Isaacson. She said the federal government could better support Latino students by allowing part-time students to also access financial aid, or easing the expectation for students to graduate within four years.

Despite Alverno's financial struggles, students and alum emphasized that the college plays a unique role.

"I just don't think that there is another university, at least in Milwaukee, that resembles Alverno," Casas said. "There's no way that you could replace it."

Gina Castro is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at gcastro@gannett.com . Kathryn Muchnick is an education intern for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at kmuchnick@gannett.com .

Journal Sentinel higher education reporter Kelly Meyerhofer contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: For many Latinas, Alverno College is a symbol of hope. Now, its financial future is unclear.