“We can ill afford to let education take a back seat in the next federal budget, especially for a population that will have such a dramatic impact on our country’s future economic success and security,” said HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores.

“Hispanics already make up one of every three new workers joining the U.S. labor force today. We must equip our country’s youngest and largest ethnic population with the advanced education and leadership skills that will prove the surest path to rebuild our economy and strengthen our global leadership role,” Flores said.

Hispanics also make up the fastest-growing voting age population in the United States. “In this presidential election year, we must persuade Congress of the enormous stake our country has in opening more doors to college for our Hispanic communities,” Flores said.

Leading members of Congress, the White House, and national private- and public-sector advocates will join the leadership of HACU’s 350 member colleges and universities at HACU’s 2004 National Capitol Forum on Hispanic Higher Education, “Capitol Strategies for Hispanic Higher Education Success,” March 28-31 at the Washington Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C.

HACU member and partner colleges and universities collectively serve every major Hispanic population center and more than two-thirds of all Hispanic higher education students in the United States. HACU’s international membership represents leading higher education institutions throughout the Americas and in Spain.

“Our Capitol Forums represent the single most important national platform to promote Hispanic college and career success to Congress and the country. In this uncertain domestic economy, with the added fiscal pressures from continuing conflicts abroad, we will present a collective, committed voice in support of education as a highest priority to sustain this great democracy,” Flores said.

The Capitol Forum will focus on HACU’s Legislative Agenda containing FY 2005 spending proposals and recommendations for the pending five-year reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, or HEA. The HEA dictates federal spending policies for all higher education institutions.

As for almost every other domestic spending program, Hispanic higher education attracted only minimal increases in federal funding in the fiscal year (FY) 2004 budget signed in late January by President Bush.

Title V of the HEA is the chief vehicle for targeting federal education funds to the nation’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or HSIs. HSIs have a full-time student enrollment that is at least 25 percent Hispanic. President Bush released his FY 2005 budget proposals this week that call for an increase in Title V funding for HSIs from $94 million in FY 2004 to $95.9 million for FY 2005.

“The president’s proposal for a mere 1.9 percent increase in Hispanic higher education funding in reality amounts to no increase, since more higher education institutions are becoming HSIs as the number of Hispanics – who also make up the country’s fastest-growing college-age population – continue to swell their enrollment ranks. This is translating into more HSIs competing for the same small pool of Title V funds,” Flores said. Projections are for HSIs to as much as double in numbers within the next decade.

“For already under-funded HSIs, which continue to receive only about half the federal funding per student on average compared to all other higher education institutions, this scenario can only exacerbate the budget crisis for HSIs already struggling with mounting state budget funding cutbacks,” Flores said.

HSIs serve a population that suffers disproportionately high poverty rates, as well as the lowest high school and college graduation rates of any major population group. Faced with lesser public and private funding resources, many of these institutions already have been forced to eliminate essential classes and student services, Flores said.

Against a backdrop of swelling defense costs and a growing national deficit, Hispanic higher education won only minimal FY 2004 federal funding increases. Appropriations for Title V funding for HSIs increased by less than 1 percent from $93 million in FY 2003 to $94 million in FY 2004. The budget for U.S. Department of Defense initiatives for HSIs decreased from $6 million to $5 million for FY 2004.

The Hispanic higher education community won only minimal increases in FY 2004 funding for HSIs under budgets for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (from $4.2 million in FY 2003 to $4.6 million in FY 2004) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (from $6.5 million to $7 million).

“The FY 2004 budget numbers do not reflect the wide, bipartisan support during the last session of this 108th Congress for much more substantial increases in Hispanic higher education funding. We are hopeful these important bills will be re-introduced and succeed this year,” Flores said.

Key to the Capitol Forum will be a day of Visits to Capitol Hill on March 30, when the leadership of HACU member colleges and universities in 26 states and Puerto Rico meet personally with the leadership of Congress on Hispanic higher education issues.

HACU and George Washington University also will host a one-day Summit for Diversity March 31 on the campus of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Summit for Diversity will focus on new challenges to the Hispanic higher education community in the wake of last year’s divided Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action in two cases involving the University of Michigan – a HACU associate member institution.

For more information, including speaker and session schedules for the Capitol Forum and Summit on Diversity, visit www.hacu.net. Contact HACU’s national headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, at (210) 692-3805. Ext. 3214. Contact HACU’s Washington, D.C., offices at (202) 833-8361.