Staff Report
Congress is considering a modification of the Higher Education Act that would set aside $125 million for graduate programs at universities with a high percentage of Hispanic students.
The Higher Education Act of 1965 provides financial assistance to postsecondary and higher education students. In 1998, Title V was added to the act. Title V was designed to encourage greater numbers of Hispanics, particularly those with low-income, to enroll in graduate schools, according to its Web site.
To qualify as "Hispanic-serving," at least 25 percent of the student population must be Hispanic - 50 percent of which must be low income. In 2000-01, 29 percent of UNM's 1,209 master's and doctoral degrees were awarded to Hispanic students. Fourteen schools qualify in New Mexico.
U.S. Representative Ruben Hinojosa, a Democrat from Texas, has written a bill that amends Title V to expand the availability of the benefits of Title V and the Higher Education Act.
In addition to setting aside additional money, the bill would eliminate the low-income requirement and the two-year waiting period for grants.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The additional funding and the removal of the low-income requirement will increase the amount of money Hispanic-serving campuses receive in Higher Education Act grants.
UNM is listed as a Hispanic-serving institution by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, a group that supports colleges and universities that are "committed to Hispanic higher education success," internationally.
UNM graduate students are reacting with varying levels of enthusiasm to this idea.
"I think it would help Hispanics to look more toward higher education," said UNM graduate student Cedrick Parker. "This bill may be looking over other minorities. I think it would focus more on Hispanic culture instead of a more diverse environment."
Rosario Hernandez De Santis spent five semesters working on her graduate degree at UNM on scholarship, but she said this resource is thinning, and the state needs to encourage Hispanic students to go to graduate school.
" I think it's great," she said. "I know that Hispanics are a minority group that needs support, especially in New Mexico."
De Santis just finished her doctoral thesis in educational thought and sociocultural Studies.
Hispanic students make up the largest population of minority students at UNM. Almost 20 percent of graduate students at UNM are Hispanic, 23 percent of UNM Law School students are Hispanic and almost 27 percent of UNM pharmacy students are Hispanic, according to UNM's Web site.
