In 2005 Excelencia in Education released the first in-depth and national review of Latino students’ participation in financial aid among all students. Twenty years later, it is revisiting what has changed and what has stayed the same.
The new report shows there clearly been some progress, but the need to expand access to opportunity remains. The brief also examines what some institutions are doing to make college more affordable and examples of institutions that know who they serve and are proactively finding ways to contain costs and identify new sources of support.
Among the strategies and practices highlighted to increase access to a college education and financially support Latino and all students:
1. Align institutional aid to provide funds to mitigate students’ unexpected financial challenges.
2. Offer paid internships or on-campus employment opportunities so that Latino students can offset the cost of their degree while simultaneously gaining transferable skills.
3. Provide support services to help their students make informed decisions about their college costs.
4. Contain student costs by offering OER (Open Educational Resources) for courses.
5. Advance full tuition scholarships to students with family incomes at or below a specific financial level.
6. Facilitate and simplify access to aid by managing joint admissions and financial aid applications between two-year and four-year college partners.