Want to help a Latino kid go to college?

Latino kids need help going to college because they have the highest high school dropout rate in the country. Inner City schools are not the only culprits. The "nicer" suburban schools have a problem with not treating many Latino kids decently - just go to most any suburban school and see what teachers mumble softly so that not too many people will hear.

Whether its poorly equipped schools, or teacher and/or administrators who have problems with stereotypes they carry around - many kids aren't getting the education that all kids living in the U.S. should have.

This makes college harder -

If you really want to do something Latino kids go to college, you can help out the Academic Achiever's Program at the University of Houston. I have known about this program since the mid 1990s. It is an outstanding program - really takes care of the students, provides scholarships, tutoring if needed, mentoring - everything they need to be successful. They have a high rate of success with a significant percentage who make the Deans List every semester.

This is a program really worth helping. If you want to donate to the program, or establish a scholarship, contact the program director Rebeca Trevino -  rtrevino@uh.edu or call her at 713 743 3140. Ms. Trevino does not know I have posted this on dreamacttexas.  

I decided to do this on my own because I think the program really makes a difference - and I know there are people out there who want to help in some way.  

Hispanics travel rough road to higher education
Ethnic group is the fastest growing, but the least likely to enroll in college
By JEANNIE KEVER
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
April 5, 2009, 12:12PM


WHY COLLEGE?

What are the benefits of a college education?

• More wealth: The National Center for Education Statistics says college graduates earn $1.2 million more during their lifetimes than non-graduates.

Less poverty: Unless more people earn a college degree, the Texas State Data Center warns that average household incomes will drop $3,000 by 2030.
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Meet 3 young Latinos determined to beat odds

The future of Texas is sitting in room 318 at Austin High School, and right now, it could go either way.

Students in the after-school program — Hispanic and from low-income families, the group least likely to enroll in college — are optimistic.

But who knows?

“I hope to go,” says Neri Gamez, 17, a high school junior who dreams of being a doctor.

Gamez has an advantage: She is in a program run by the Center for Mexican-American Studies at the University of Houston, designed to help Hispanic students enter college and, once there, earn a degree. Academic Achievers is among dozens of programs that address one of the state’s most intractable education problems.

But Hispanics, the state’s fastest-growing ethnic group, have fallen behind in some key areas, and efforts to change that remain piecemeal:

• Statewide, 68 percent of Hispanics graduate from high school within four years, 10 points below the overall rate.

• Just 42.5 percent of Hispanics who graduated from high school in 2007 enrolled in college or a technical training program the following fall, compared with 45.3 percent of black students and 57.5 percent of white students.

• Texas is “well below target” in raising the number of Hispanics in college, according to a 2008 report by the Higher Education Coordinating Board. Enrollment of both white and black students was “somewhat above target.”

And there are no consequences for schools that don’t raise Hispanic enrollment.

“The good news is, there’s a state goal,” said Paul Ruiz, co-founder and senior advisor to the Education Trust, a national group that advocates for at-risk students. “The bad news is, the institutions don’t get it. They set goals for Latino kids at about half the rate the state says we need.”

The issue is complicated by the rapid growth of the Hispanic population; about 36 percent of the Texas population is Hispanic.

“We’ve made progress,” said Raymund Paredes, higher education commissioner for Texas. “Our challenge is, we started so far behind, and the Latino population is growing so fast.”

Unless the numbers change, the state will be unable to field a well-educated work force. “The Hispanic community is key to the economic future of Texas,” Paredes said.
Enrollment edging up

The state plan, known as Closing the Gaps, began in 2000 with the goal of increasing college enrollment to 5.7 percent of the population by 2015. That would raise college-going rates to the national average. link