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SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
today applauded the efforts of the bipartisan Senate Hispanic-Serving
Institutions (HSI) Coalition for advocating substantial, new federal funding
increases for those colleges and universities serving the largest
concentrations of Hispanic higher education students in every major state
and Puerto Rico.
Members of the Senate HSI Coalition, in a formal letter to leaders of the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education, urged support for a ""significant increase"" in the Fiscal Year
2002 budget for Title V of the Higher Education Act. Title V targets funds to
historically under-funded HSIs, which receive only a fraction of federal
funds per student on average compared to all other degree-granting
institutions. The country's more than 200 federally designated HSIs are
defined as having a full-time student enrollment that is at least 25 percent
Hispanic.
""The Senate HSI Coalition has proven a powerful and urgently needed voice in
Congress for the education needs of the nation's youngest and fastest-growing
population group. Their championship of our HSIs will benefit everyone in an
economy that will demand increasingly advanced skills and knowledge to
sustain our country's future success and security,"" said HACU President
Antonio R. Flores.
""We are deeply grateful to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and to Sen.
Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico, co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate HSI
Coalition, and to every Coalition member for their foresight and for their
diligence in efforts to ensure a better future for all of us,"" Flores said.
Flores today forwarded letters of thanks to Senators Hutchison and Bingaman,
as well as to other distinguished members of the Senate HSI Coaliton: Sen.
Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico; Sen. Peter G. Fitzgerald, R-Illinois; Sen.
James M Inhofe, R-Oklahoma; Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colorado; Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Illinois; Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Connecticut; Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-New Jersey; Sen. Bob Graham,
D-Florida; Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California; Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, and Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Massachusetts.
HACU is requesting an increase in Title V funds for HSIs from $68.5 million
in Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 to at least $100 million in FY 2002. HACU, the nation's leading voice for Hispanic higher education, represents 313 member, associate member and partner colleges and universities throughout the United
States, Latin America and in Spain.
For more information, contact HACU national headquarters in San Antonio,
Texas, at (210) 692-3805 or HACU's Washington, D.C., offices at (202)
833-8361. Or visit
www.hacu.net
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