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| Wilson Highlights Effort to Strengthen Hispanic Serving Institutions |
March 11, 2004 |
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Lawmakers, Education Leaders Urge Expanding Funds for Graduate Programs
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Heather Wilson, R-NM, today highlighted the growing role of Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and urged an expansion that includes funding for graduate programs.
Wilson was joined at today’s news conference by Louis Caldera, President of the University of New Mexico; Dr. Antonio Flores, President of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU); and a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Reps. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX), Iliana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Paul Grijalva, D-AZ.
“We need to open the doors to advanced degrees for more minority students so that they are prepared for the jobs of the 21st Century,” Wilson said. “A number of schools have graduate-level programs that meet the requirement of Undergraduate Hispanic Serving Institutions and they should be encouraged and supported.”
Hispanic-Serving Institutions serve concentrations of Hispanic higher education students of 25 percent or more of the student body. Currently there are 250 HSIs, including 18 in New Mexico. Wilson said that important progress has been made in improving HSIs nationwide; including eliminating a 50% low-income requirement that created a barrier for most institutions to prove, and abolishing a two-year waiting period for HSI’s to be eligible for Title V grants.
“Graduate education funding for our HSIs is critical to their efforts to provide advanced knowledge and skills to a population that will have such a dramatic impact on our nation’s economic success and security,” HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores said.
Wilson is a cosponsor of HR 3039, the Expanding Opportunities in Higher Education Act, and H.R. 2238, the Next Generation Hispanic Serving Institutions Act, both introduced by Rep. Hinojosa.
Rep. Hinojosa said: “Federal policy to date has largely focused on elementary and secondary education and access to college. It is time to look for ways to seed the pipeline at the advanced degree level where the acute Hispanic under-representation threatens to retard growth in other areas such as teaching, health, research, and economic development.”
"I am proud to join this effort in raising the importance to address the great need to include funding for Graduate degree programs in Hispanic-Serving Institutions in our country," said Rep. Ros-Lehtinen.
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