—Alejandro Gonzalez, HSF Scholarship Recipient.
For most Latino students, obtaining a college education can be an unattainable, expensive dream. College tuition and fees at public four-year institutions have increased by over 4% every year in the last decade,1 yet financial aid has decreased. While 52% of the full cost at the average four-year public institution was covered by the largest Pell Grant 20 years ago, today it covers only 32%.2
Most of these students come from low-income families with little or no knowledge of the college financial resources available to them. Many come to us for help reaching their college dreams.
Providing scholarships to deserving Latino students remains our core mission. This fiscal year, we awarded nearly $30 million in scholarships to 4,265 deserving students through 148 co-branded scholarship programs funded by foundations, institutions, and corporations that support our mission.
According to economic calculations by a Morgan Stanley consulting group, the future value of after-tax lifetime earnings amounts to $10 for every $1 in scholarships awarded to students who earn a college degree. That means this year’s $30 million in scholarships will generate roughly $300 million dollars in future after-tax earnings.
Profile of an HSF scholar:
1 The College Board. Trends in College Pricing, 2010: Tuition and Fee and Room and Board Charges Over Time. October 2010. http://trends.collegeboard.org/downloads/college_pricing/PDF/Tuition_and_Fee_and_Room_and_Board_Charges_Over_Time.pdf.
2 Reuters, “Federal Pell Grant System Failing to Aid 5.2 Million Low-Income College Students, Study Shows,” May 8, 2008. http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS223945+08-May-2008+MW20080508.