"WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) proposed record new investments in Hispanic higher education during HACU’s 2002 National Capitol Forum on Hispanic Higher Education April 14-16 in Washington, D.C.
“The unprecedented success of this year’s Capitol Forum marks the start of a year-long campaign to win record new federal funding and program support for the college and career development needs of the nation’s youngest and fastest-growing ethnic population,” HACU President and CEO Antonio Flores said today.
“The support we won from the highest levels of government during this year’s Capitol Forum will inspire us to redouble our efforts to focus the attention of Congress and the country on Hispanic higher education, which will benefit everyone in enhancing our nation’s future economic success, security and leadership role for the 21st century,” Flores said.
Leaders of many of HACU’s 318 member and partner colleges and universities joined leading representatives of Congress, the White House and key federal agencies at the annual Capitol Forum.
HACU’s 2002 Legislative Agenda for Hispanic Higher Education for he 107th Congress was formally released at the Forum. The Agenda calls for more than $200 million in federal funding and expanded program support in federal fiscal year 2003 for those colleges and universities serving the largest concentrations of Hispanic higher education students.
These federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) also are located in communities throughout the United States with the fastest-growing Hispanic populations, which extends their reach to students from kindergarten through graduate school and into today’s fast-changing workplace now demanding “lifelong learning” from employees in every major career field.
“The colleges and universities you represent are the training providers of choice for America’s growing Latino work force and mainstream work force,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao told the Capitol Forum. “You are the Bush Administration’s solution to the skills gap. You will create the necessary intellectual capital and work ethic to drive the economy of the 21st Century,” Chao said to several rounds of applause and standing ovations.
“You’re all aware that to keep this post-industrial economy humming, we’ll need to double the number of computer engineers, for example, to over 600,000. We’ll also need 500,000 new health care aides and as many high-tech specialists just in the short future,” Chao said. “Who will help fill these positions? Hispanic Americans. And who will help play a significant role in providing the training? You will.”
National Science Foundation Director Dr. Rita Colwell also cited the need for advanced education for Hispanics and for all Americans in mathematics, science, engineering and technology now and in coming decades. Colwell has spearheaded the National Science Foundation’s efforts to increase the participation and employment of women and minorities in science and engineering.
Dr. Colwell and Labor Secretary Chao each received special awards from HACU for their exemplary and continuing support of efforts to reverse the under representation of Hispanics in many of today’s fastest-growing and highest-paying career fields.
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Hispanic-Serving Institutions Coalition, pledged to continue her efforts to advocate for record new increases in federal funding for HSIs. Hutchison has been instrumental in recent years in advocating for multi-million dollar increases in federal funding for HSIs.
“We want everyone to partake of the American Dream,” said Hutchison, who received several standing ovations and a special award from HACU.
“Hispanics are the fastest-growing community and the least educated,” U.S. Representative Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, a Congressional Hispanic Caucus leader and architect of the first efforts to formally recognize HSIs in Title V of the Higher Education Act, told the Capitol Forum. Hispanics historically suffer the lowest high school and college completion rates among all major population groups, with a high school dropout rate exceeding 40 percent.
Hinojosa, who received several rounds of applause and a special award from HACU, also called for significant increases in federal funding for HSIs far exceeding initial White House proposals for a 3 percent increase in Title V funding for HSIs.
Hinojosa said the nation’s goals must not stop at efforts to increase Hispanic high school and college graduation rates by a few percentage points each year. “We need to leap frog and increase the numbers 100 percent,” Hinojosa said.
HACU -- with the support of the Senate HSI Coalition, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other private- and public-sector leaders -- led the effort to win HSIs an $86 million Title V appropriation for federal fiscal year 2002. HACU is now requesting a $125 million Title V appropriation to HSIs for fiscal year 2003.
AT&T, which presented a check for $20,000 to HACU at the Capitol Forum, was among corporate co-sponsors of the event. Other Capitol Forum sponsors included The Ford Motor Company, The Phillip Morris Companies and Miller Brewing Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Coors Brewing Company and the Educational Testing Service (ETS).
Congress also must address the lack of direct aid to all students, which has declined dramatically in recent years as a percentage of college grants versus college loans, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, told the Capitol Forum. College loans now far exceed direct aid such as federal grants to students.
“Students today have unconscionable levels of debt,” said Durbin. “We need to address that in Congress in terms of more grants and more scholarships for all Americans.”
Durbin, who also received a special award from HACU, reminded his audience that he, like many Hispanic Americans, also is the son of immigrants. All Americans must work to ensure that a country founded on the strength of immigrants ensure education access, equity and the opportunity to achieve success for all, he and several of the keynote speakers – also representing first-, second- or succeeding generations of immigrants – said at the national meeting.
“I represent every immigrant who came to this country frightened, but eager to learn,” said U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, pledging her support and an “open door” to HACU in efforts to enhance college and career opportunities for Hispanic Americans. Marin also received a special award from HACU.
“My office is adopting financial literacy as a goal,” Marin added, referring to efforts to assist students and non-students alike facing financial challenges such as high credit card debt in today’s economy.
Margarita Benitez, Director of Institutional Development and Undergraduate Education for the U.S. Department of Education, joined Ruben Barrales, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, as keynote speakers who also were presented with special awards from HACU for their continuing support of Hispanic higher education.
HACU this year is advocating for a first-time $20 million appropriation to strengthen HSI graduate programs under Title V of the Higher Education Act. “The issue of how to engage more Latinos in graduate education is important,” Benitez said.
Assistant Education Secretary Sally Stroup, who presides over Postsecondary Education programs at the U.S. Department of Education, joined other speakers in praising HSIs for being at the forefront of efforts to better serve Hispanics and all students enrolled at these institutions. At the U.S. Department of Education, said Stroup, “it is the big picture we must focus on – K-16 rather than just K-12.”
HACU and its member colleges and universities also won praise from American Council on Education (ACE) President David Ward, who also was presented with a special award from HACU, the nation’s only nationally organized voice for HSIs. HACU’s alliances with associations such as ACE have led to a stronger, unified voice for the education needs of all Americans in recent years.
HACU will request a total of $237 million in fiscal year 2003 appropriations to HSIs, including proposals for spending increases from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Science Foundation and NASA.
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Spence Armstrong, Senior Advisor to the Administrator at NASA, cited the shortage of minority and non-minority science and engineering graduates. “A national crisis is pending,” Armstrong said. “We can’t wait until it hits to address it.”
Many of the higher education leaders attending the Forum hand-carried HACU’s 2002 Legislative Agenda to key members of Congress during the second full day of the Capitol Forum in a “grass roots” show of support and advocacy on Capitol Hill for HACU’s proposals. HSIs receive on average only a fraction of federal funds per student compared to all other degree-granting institutions.
Although there are now 203 federally designated HSIs, which have a minimum student enrollment that is 25 percent Hispanic, more than 100 additional higher education institutions boast a fast-growing Hispanic student enrollment that now or soon will make them eligible to be designated as HSIs.
HACU’s 318 member and partner colleges and universities are located in 23 states, Puerto Rico, throughout Latin America and in Spain.
For more information, contact HACU’s national headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, at (210) 692-3805. Ext. 3214, or HACU’s Washington, D.C., offices at (202) 833-8361. Or visit www.hacu.net . Capitol Forum photographs, a list of HACU member and partner higher education institutions and a complete version of HACU’s 2002 Legislative Agenda also can be found at www.hacu.net.
"