For immediate release

Hispanic higher education community
to meet in nation’s capital this month

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The leadership of the country’s Hispanic higher education community will meet on Capitol Hill this month to call for new federal funding to keep the doors to college open for the country’s largest ethnic population.

“Congress and the country can ill afford to ignore the education needs of the fastest-growing school-age and workforce population. Everyone has a stake in supporting substantial new federal investments for Hispanic higher education,” said Antonio R. Flores, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).

HACU’s election-year 2004 Capitol Forum on Hispanic Higher Education, scheduled March 28-30 at the Washington Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C., will attract the leadership of Congress, the White House and presidents of colleges and universities in every fastest-growing Hispanic population center in the country.

U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick Paige will address a conference that also will attract the leadership of the Senate Hispanic-Serving Institutions Coalition, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Conference, allied higher education associations, the National Governors Association, and the Democratic and Republican National Committees.

Hispanics make up one of every three new workers joining the U.S. work force today, yet suffer the lowest high school and college graduation rates of any major population group – a major focus of Capitol Forum sessions on the latest demographic trends from what also is the fastest-growing voting-age population.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) serve the largest concentrations of Hispanic higher education students, but on average receive only half the federal funding per student accorded every other higher education institution.

The President’s budget recommendations now before Congress include a minimal increase in funding for HSIs that does not cover the cost of inflation, much less the sheer growth in the number of HSIs in recent years.

Already, state and local budget cutbacks are forcing many HSIs to eliminate classes, raise fees, suspend student services and limit enrollment, impacting a population that also suffers disproportionately high poverty rates.

“This new call from the White House for what amounts to no increase in funding for HSIs and outright reductions in critical federal student support programs will only exacerbate the funding crisis for HSIs,” Flores said.

“We must not tolerate federal policies that will only close more doors to college for a population whose workforce and leadership skills will contribute so dramatically to our country’s future economic strength and security,” Flores said. “If we shut these doors to our students, we close the door to our future.”

A day after the Capitol Forum, HACU and The George Washington University will co-host HACU’s Summit on Diversity on the campus of the Washington, D.C., university to address new challenges for higher education following last year’s divided U.S. Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action.

Sponsors of HACU’s Capitol Forum and Summit on Diversity include AT&T, Freddie Mac, Gateway, Verizon and The Coca-Cola Company.

HACU represents 359 colleges and universities that serve the fastest-growing college-age population in 26 states and Puerto Rico, with an outreach that extends to innovative K-12 partnerships and community-based job force training initiatives in every major city.

For more information, contact HACU Media Relations at (619) 997-1637, or visit the Capitol Forum page at www.hacu.net.