Senators Push for $75 Million for Hispanic Colleges - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, June 22, 2000

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, last month urged their colleagues to support a proposal from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities here for record new funds for Hispanic college students and me campuses that serve them.

As co-chairs of the Senate Hispanic-Serving Institutions Coalition, the two senators urged support for a record $75 million in appropriations to Hispanic-serving institutions in fiscal 2001 under Title V of the Higher Education Act. Hispanic-serving institutions received $28 million in Title V funds in fiscal 1999, and $42.25 million in fiscal 2000.

"Hispanics, and particularly Hispanic youth, are the fastest growing group of Americans. Yet despite the fact that Hispanic Americans represent 13 percent of the population ages 18 to 24, they comprise only 5.5 percent of students enrolled in four-year institutions," the two senators wrote in a letter to the chair and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education of the powerful Senate Committee on Appropriations.

The two senators also cited high dropout rates still plaguing this population at the high-school level.

"As a nation, we simply cannot afford to have such a large and growing segment of our population unprepared to face the economic challenges of the next century," the senators wrote. "Key to greater Hispanic enrollment in both higher and secondary education are Hispanic-serving institutions."

"We commend the bipartisan leadership and vision of Sens. Bingaman and Hutchison on this issue of critical importance to the higher education hopes of the nation's fastest-growing and youngest minority population," says Dr. Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic colleges' association.

"We are grateful for this important support from two senators who have proven longtime champions of the Hispanic community."