In an effort to meet President Obama’s goal of having the highest college education rate in the world by 2020 U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, announced 99 new grants totaling $60.1 million that will be awarded to colleges that enroll a high percentage of Latino students. Duncan believes that if we focus on increasing the college graduation rates of students of all ethnic races and income levels that the United States will have no problem obtaining the President’s goal by 2020.
The 99 grants will be awarded to institutions whose student body is at least 25% Hispanic and can be used in a variety of different ways. This award money can be used to provide outreach to students, including mentoring, scholarships, or improving educational technologies and renovating classrooms.
This announcement is welcomed news when it comes to the higher education of Latinos. Currently only 13% of Latinos have a bachelor’s degree, and a paltry 28% of college-age Latinos are actually enrolled in a post secondary institution. These new grants being offered by the federal government are a great step in educating America’s Latino population.
Many Latinos do not have the means necessary to attend college, which is a huge factor regarding their poor education numbers. The federal grants being awarded to predominantly Hispanic institutions will go a long way in educating the Latinos of America. Hopefully most of the colleges and universities who are lucky enough to receive one of these federal grants will use a bulk of the money to provide scholarships for local Latino students, allowing them to attend college.
President Obama came under a bit of scrutiny after he appeared on television to discuss the state of education with Matt Lauer and failed to mention the Latino population. These 99 federal grants are seen as a positive step in the right direction when it comes to making sure that the Latino population is not left behind when it comes to secondary education.
