“College is Possible” was the subject of a town meeting in Miami-Dade, Fla., earlier this year. The event was held by a local college and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. It was designed to provide attendees in this Latino populated region with information about college admissions and financial aid. Scholarships, which are a part of financial aid, don’t have to be paid back.
More than 21 percent of Florida’s 18.5 million or so residents are Hispanic, according to the US Census Bureau. By comparison, Census information shows, less than 16 percent of the 307 million people nationwide are Hispanic. Latinos in Florida also tend to have more of an education than their counterparts in other states do, according to Deborah Santiago, ¡Excelencia in Education! vice president for policy and research. The percentage of Latinos with a college or university education, however, is still lower than the average for all populations in Florida, Santiago discussed.
This organization works to help Latino students succeed in their college or university endeavors, in part through research and analysis, and in part by promoting efforts that academically support them.
The Hispanic Scholarship Fund provides community outreach, scholarships and more. Most of the students who have obtained scholarships from this particular Fund to date have been the first in their families to attend a college or university.
By 2025, the ¡Excelencia in Education! website shows, a quarter of the country’s college-age population is expected to be Latino. In Florida, where the K-12 Latino student population is currently at 25 percent, it’s expected to grow to 36 percent as early as 2018, Santiago said. An increasing number of the state’s potential college and university students of Latino heritage are among the first in their families to attend colleges or universities, and many are from low-income families, Santiago said.
Hispanic students can look towards scholarships specifically for them and other minorities. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund itself partners with organizations such as ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, Hormel, Honda, Macy’s and Monsanto, to offer scholarships exclusively for Latino students. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also offers scholarships for which Latinos might be eligible.
Many private scholarships, however, require that students maintain a minimum 3.0 grade point average. Santiago recommended supplying new mothers and middle school students with information about higher education and how to pay for it. She also recommended offering more financial needs-based scholarships, many of which are currently offered by the government.
Financial aid experts recommend that students explore scholarship opportunities and other forms of tuition assistance by getting in touch with the financial aid offices of the colleges and universities they want to attend. Because some scholarships are awarded as a means of encouraging studies in specific fields, experts also suggest that students contact representatives in the academic department that handles their subject area of interest.