FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2006
Hispanic higher education community to meet in nation’s capital this March
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The leadership of the country’s Hispanic higher education community will meet on Capitol Hill in March to call for new federal funding to keep the doors to college open for the country’s largest ethnic population.
“With the war in Iraq, issues of honesty and trust in our government, and the coming midterm elections, higher education issues could take a backseat in Congress. The critical needs of Hispanic students are in danger of being overlooked. We must collectively continue to push for greater investments and attention to these issues so vital to the largest and fastest growing population in our nation,” said Antonio R. Flores, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).
HACU’s 11th Annual Capitol Forum on Hispanic Higher Education, scheduled March 26-28 at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C., will attract the leadership of Congress, the White House and presidents of colleges and universities in every Hispanic population center in the country.
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.
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.
HACU represents 450 colleges and universities that serve the fastest-growing college-age population in the United 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, visit the Capitol Forum page at www.hacu.net.
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