Hispanic Scholarship Fund Announces Major Grants.

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) announced several landmark gifts, totaling more than $22 million, which will further propel HSF toward achieving its mission to double the rate of Hispanics earning college degrees. At an event commemorating HSF’s 30th anniversary, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said HSF and private partnerships like these will continue building a college-going culture among Hispanic families, ensure more Hispanics enroll in college, and provide much-needed support to help Hispanic college students earn their degrees.

“Let me congratulate you on an incredible 30 years. You’ve given thousands of students the chance to go to college and live the American dream.” said Secretary Spellings. “And, the mission of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund is more important today than ever before.”

According to HSF President and CEO Sara Martinez Tucker, the new grants are particularly significant in light of new research indicating that, while the number of Hispanic students attending college is increasing, the rate of Hispanics earning their bachelor’s degrees has stayed flat.

“HSF has been focused for 30 years toward creating a college-going culture among Hispanics, while helping parents and students navigate the college preparation and application process and encouraging students to enter college and ultimately graduate with their four-year degrees,” Tucker said.

“We are grateful that Secretary Spellings and HSF’s corporate and foundation partners share our belief in the promise of this country’s Latino children. In our first 30 years, we were fortunate to have tremendous support from major corporations throughout America, and for that we are grateful. Today, with major foundations joining them, we will be able to continue to invest in the future of some of our nation’s most promising young people, in ways that will yield returns on those investments for many years to come.”

New foundation grants announced today include:

— Lilly Endowment Inc. – A $12.3 million grant to launch a new collaborative pilot program with two leading universities, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Georgia. The goal of the program is to identify, implement and evaluate best practices for recruiting, retaining and graduating Hispanic students. The grant also will support initiatives at HSF’s regional offices, including programs and support specifically tailored to local and regional needs.

— The Goizueta Foundation – A $4 million grant to support three innovative programs in Georgia and the Southeast, including scholarships, a partnership with youth organizations to promote college enrollment and graduation by utilizing HSF’s college preparation programming, and a study that will measure success factors for Hispanic students.

— Lumina Foundation for Education – A $1.6 million grant to develop a Peer Counseling Program as part of HSF Scholar Chapters at six universities in the Southeast and Texas. The HSF Scholar Chapters will serve as regional service hubs for peer counseling to high school and community college students to help increase college enrollment and retention.

— W.K. Kellogg Foundation – A $1.1 million grant to launch the National Hispanic Education Alliance (NHEA) with two founding partners: the Inter-University Program for Latino Research at Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, and the University of Southern California’s Tomás Rivera Policy Institute in the School of Policy, Planning and Development. The NHEA unites the nation’s leading education organizations, academics and policy researchers to improve educational outcomes among Latinos.

In addition to these, HSF is launching four new corporate initiatives worth an additional $3.1 million.

— Sallie Mae and The Sallie Mae Fund – Both entities have combined resources to provide $1.1 million for scholarships and to establish peer counseling, educational outreach programs and collateral resource materials.

— The Bank of America Charitable Foundation – A $1 million scholarship program to support graduating high school seniors over four years of college.

— The Goldman Sachs Foundation – A $1 million grant piloting a strategic alliance with two prominent, national non-profit organizations to provide educational outreach to Latino students.

“We know that providing financial aid is only one part of the equation in solving the crisis in Hispanic higher education,” Tucker said. “The funding for these new initiatives – encompassing college inspiration, preparation, enrollment and retention – will help HSF achieve our mission.”

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) is the nation’s leading organization supporting Hispanic higher education. Founded in 1975, HSF’s vision is to strengthen the country by advancing college education among Hispanic Americans, the largest minority segment of the U.S. population. In support of its mission to double the rate of Hispanics earning college degrees, HSF, a 501(c)3 not-for profit organization, provides the Latino community more college scholarships and educational outreach support than any other organization in the country. During its 30-year history, HSF has awarded more than 73,000 scholarships totaling nearly $170 million to Latinos from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who have attended more than 1,700 colleges and universities.