THE TYPICAL BORICUA STUDENT IS AN ADULT WITH A BILINGUAL AND BICULTURAL BACKGROUND WITH FAMILY AND EMPLOYMENT RESPONSIBILITIES. THE MISSION AND GOALS OF THE COLLEGE ARE THEREFORE ROOTED IN THREE PRINCIPLES OF INSTITUTIONAL IDENTITY: - As an institution founded by Puerto Ricans in New York City, Boricua College is dedicated to the principle of the inseparability of culture and education. The College thus offers academic programs that aim to develop in students, personal learning competencies that take into consideration the educational, cultural and economic difficulties experienced by Puerto Ricans and other students underrepresented in higher education. By focusing its learning activities on solutions to problems facing these communities, the College prepares students for effective community leadership. -As a liberal arts institution, Boricua College's educational philosophy maintains that a liberal arts education means mastery of generic, intellectual, affective and psychomotor-behavioral skills necessary for lifelong learning about the environment. That in the context of higher education all knowledge about the environment is organized and described through the multiple disciplines of the social sciences, the natural sciences and the humanities. That a liberal arts education is essential for participation in a democratic society. - As a non-traditional institution, Boricua College is dedicated to a humanistic holistic approach to the education of its student, within the context of their culture and contemporary conditions. It offers students the opportunity to design highly individualized and small group learning programs that may be pursued at their own pace to meet their own career goals. Learning activities are not confined within college walls. Instead, they unite in creative ways, the experiences of the world of scholarship and the world of work and student progress is evaluated through multiple measures that reflect the diversity of student learning styles and goals.