Latino Education Meeting Considers Tough Higher Education Realities

Latino Education Meeting Considers Tough Higher Education Realities: WASHINGTON – The National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials Educational Fund concluded its three-day national education summit Wednesday with a hard look at the state funding crisis in public higher education despite the need to increase postsecondary success for a far greater number of minority students if the U.S. is to maintain a competitive economy.

As states’ economies have declined, so too has their support for public higher education institutions, according to summit speakers. Two-year institutions are bearing the biggest brunt of budget cuts. According to a report produced by the American Association of Community Colleges, two-year institutions historically have received a mere 20 percent of state tax appropriations for higher education and, in 2007-08, they received only 27 percent of total federal, state and local revenues for public degree-granting institutions even though they serve 43 percent of the nation’s undergraduate students.