Report: Texas Still Lags in Hispanics in Higher Ed: Hispanic enrollment in Texas colleges and universities would need to almost double in the next six years to meet the state's goals by 2015, according to a new state report.
The staff report approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board last week looked at progress toward goals adopted by the state in 2000. The board has long considered lagging Hispanic enrollment and graduation rates a major problem.
“Texas is not one of the highest-achieving states in terms of overall education attainment,” Higher Education Commissioner Dr. Raymund A. Paredes said. “And Hispanics are the lowest-achieving of the three major ethnic groups in Texas.”
The Austin American-Statesman reported Friday that the review found Hispanic enrollment had grown faster than that of Blacks or Whites but not fast enough to meet the state's goals. Nearly 129,500 more Hispanic students have enrolled in higher education since 2000, but another 309,000 would need to do so by 2015 to meet the state's goal of 5.7 percent of Hispanics enrolled.
