August 9, 2011

HACU comments on proposed regulations for HSACUs

Last month, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), though the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) requested comments on a proposed certification process for Hispanic-Serving Agricultural Colleges & Universities (HSACU) institutions.  The designation would authorize several potentially significant new funding vehicles for qualified institutions.

HACU has submitted the following recommendations:

• Include Arizona and Colorado on the list of HSACUs.
• Use current data on Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) to determine the number of Hispanic students who received degrees in agriculture-related fields.
• Minimize the undue burden of having the HSACUs apply to be recertified every year by changing the recertification requirement to every five years.
• Limit the number of HSACUs in order to optimize funding opportunities for HSACUs.

For the full text of HACU’s letter, click here.

Comments are being accepted until August 12, 2011. The Federal Register announcement of the Call for Comment and the proposed regulations can be found at: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=NIFA_FRDOC_0001-0023

Related: 7/7/2011 - Call for Comments on proposed certification process for HSACU institutions