History of Hostos Community College

Hostos Community College was created by an act of the Board of Higher Education on April 22, 1968, in response to the demands of Puerto Rican and other Hispanic leaders who urged the establishment of a college to meet the needs of the South Bronx and neighboring communities. In September 1970, Hostos admitted a charter class of 628 students at the site of a former tire factory at 475 Grand Concourse. Enrollment grew rapidly to more than 2,000 students by June of 1974. In addition, the State Legislature acted to ease an increasing space shortage by passing a special bill to acquire the “500 Building” across the Grand Concourse from the original site. In the same year, Hostos was granted full and unconditional accreditation following a highly favorable evaluation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

In 1976, the Landes Higher Education Act guaranteed Hostos’ existence as a community college of excellence in New York City.  To accommodate our growing student population, the campus now has six buildings, three of which have been specially designed to meet the institution’s need. Hostos takes pride in its well-equipped science, math, writing, and computer labs, its excellent physical education facilities, and its state-of-the-art theatres. Hostos is the CUNY College that has experienced the greatest growth in enrollment over the past decade.