Washington, DC (January 24, 2007) – On January 12, Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15), chair of the Committee on Higher Education, re-introduced legislation that will establish a grant to help set up long overdue graduate courses at Hispanic-serving Institutions.

H.R. 451, the “Next Generation Hispanic-Serving Institutions Act” authorizes $125 million for graduate programs and increases the authorization level for two- and four-year programs to $175 million for fiscal year 2008.   Grants will go to support fellowships, services for needy graduate students, facility improvements, faculty development, technology and distance education, as well as collaborations with other institutions.

“If we do not invest in advanced education and training for this emerging population, we put our nation’s economic foundation at risk,” said Hinojosa.  “We must support the hundreds of Hispanic-serving institutions that educate nearly 500,000 students.”

In 2000, 32.5 million Hispanics lived in the United States, accounting for 38 percent of the Nation’s overall population growth for the decade.  Hispanics are also fueling the growth of America’s workforce, accounting for one of every three new workers hired and projected to reach one of every two new workers by 2025.  Yet Hispanics continue to have the lowest levels of education attainment of any group in the country.  In the 1999-2000 academic year, Hispanics earned only 6 percent of the bachelor’s degrees, 4 percent of the master’s degrees, 3 percent of doctor’s degrees, and 5 percent of first professional degrees.

“Hispanic-serving institutions are leading the nation in increasing the number of Hispanics attaining graduate and professional degrees,” said Hinojosa. It’s imperative that we support their efforts and provide our Hispanic students more opportunities to pursue advanced study.”