For Hispanic Leaders, College Affordability Is Top Concern: A panel of Hispanic college and university presidents said affordability is greatly affecting Hispanic students’ access to college and offered suggestions for boosting public investment in higher education at a plenary session at the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education’s annual meting.
Time and again the speakers, Dr. Max Castillo, president of the University of Houston’s downtown campus, Dr. Ricardo Fern�ndez, president of Lehman College at the City University of New York and Dr. Marcelina V�lez-Santiago, president of the Pontificia Universidad Cat�lica de Puerto Rico, came back to the issue of affordability.
Castillo described one of the “seismic transformations” in higher education affecting access as the disinvestment of the government in higher education. No matter the state, “it’s not unusual to go into a legislative session and continuously defend your school,” he said in his presentation to the large crowd of Hispanic graduate students, faculty and administrators.
