Several conclusions can be drawn from these data. First, it is clear that Hispanics participate at increasingly lower rates the higher the level of degree program, whether at HSIS or non-HSIS. Second, at both masters and doctoral levels, HSIS tend to produce a higher percentage of Hispanic graduates than non-HSIS. And the data from Texas show that HSIS tend to have a relatively small number of doctoral programs, with relatively small numbers of students.

In Texas, as around the country, there's a large gap between the academic resources of HSIs and large public non-HSIs, such as the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A & M University, and the University of North Texas.

Finally, despite the large Hispanic population across Texas, the numbers for Texas non-HSIS, in terms of doctorates awarded to Hispanics, resemble non-HSIS around the country more than they resemble HSIs in their own state. In other words, their participation rates for Latinos in graduate programs do not reflect the presence of a large Latino population in their regions.

The challenge for HSIS in Texas is to maintain and increase access while simultaneously improving quality, especially at the doctoral level. Given the condition of the state budget, it is doubtful whether Texas, or any other state, for that matter, can provide the support necessary for HSIS to achieve the proper balance between access and excellence.

Graduate education for Latinos does present distinctive academic challenges, and any targeted support to HSIS from the Federal Government, as represented by H.R. 761, is greatly needed. They will also help Texas move more closely toward the goals of Closing the Gaps in student participation in Texas Higher Education. Thank you.

Chairman TIBERI. Thank you, Doctor.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Paredes follows:]

Statement of Dr. Raymund A. Paredes, Commissioner, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Austin, TX

Good afternoon, Chairman Tiberi and other members of the Subcommittee on Select Education. I am Raymund Paredes, Commissioner of Higher Education in Texas. I am delighted to offer some comments today on the issue of Expanding Opportunities for Graduate Education at Hispanic Serving Institutions. This topic is especially important to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board because it relates to the Texas Higher Education initiative called Closing the Gaps.

Closing the Gaps has various components, but the most relevant here is to increase the number of students enrolled in Texas higher education by 600,000 by the year 2015. In order to achieve this goal, we need to dramatically increase enrollments across the board, in private as well as in public institutions, in two- as well as in four-year institutions, in graduate as well as in baccalaureate programs. And given the demographic trends in Texas, a large percentage of both the undergraduate and graduate enrollment growth we expect to create in Texas will be Hispanic. Put very simply, a failure to reach the participation goals of the Closing the Gaps initiative, with a special emphasis on dramatically higher Hispanic enrollments, will result in gloomy economic and quality-of-life outcomes for all the people of Texas.

Turning to the specific issue of Hispanic participation in higher education, everyone in this room recognizes that while we have made substantial gains both here in Texas and around the country in recent years, we still have a long way to go. Hispanics still lag well behind other groups in college-going rates, retention and graduation rates and participation in graduate education. In 2003, 34 percent of whites over the age of 25 had completed four or more years of college. But for African Americans, the figure was 17.3 percent; and for Hispanics, 11.4 percent. In

2002, Hispanics received 4.2 percent of all masters degrees awarded in the U.S., compared to 62.1 percent for whites and 7.7 percent for African Americans. From 1992 to 2002, the percentage of Hispanics receiving masters degrees rose from 2.6 percent to 4.2 percent. In 2002, the percentage of Hispanics receiving doctoral degrees was 3.1 percent, compared to 57.3 percent for whites and 5.1 percent for African Americans. The share of doctoral degrees received by Hispanics in 1992 was 2 percent.

Clearly, progress in educational attainment for Hispanics has been steady but slow, while the population growth has been dramatic. I often say that, in relation to the Hispanic community, we keep coming up with arithmetic solutions to geometric challenges.

In Texas, where educational data for Hispanics generally reflect national patterns, we have 35 public and private Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), 16 of which offer advanced degrees. Especially at public institutions, the number of graduate programs at Texas HSIS has increased greatly over the past 15 years, largely in professional fields such as education. This growth has occurred in both masters and doctoral degree programs. A quick glance at degree-granting data from Texas HSIs shows clearly that they grant graduate degrees to Hispanics at much higher rates than non-HŠIs. At Sul Ross State University in Alpine, an HSI, of 102 masters degrees awarded in 2004, 42 went to Hispanic or 39 percent. At another HSI, UT Pan American, of 489 masters degrees awarded, 373 went to Hispanics, or 76 percent. At the University of North Texas, a non-HSI by contrast, of 1,512 masters degrees awarded, only 83 went to Hispanics, or 5.4 percent. At the doctoral level, the HSIS that granted the most degrees were Texas A&M University-Kingsville and UT El Paso. Of 31 doctoral degrees granted at Kingsville in 2004, 13 went to Hispanics (42 percent); UTEP granted 24 doctorates, of which 5 went to Hispanics (21 percent). At UT Austin, a non-HSI, 31 of 683 doctorates went to Hispanics (4.5 percent) while at Texas A&M University, the other public flagship, only 15 of 151 doctorates went to Hispanics (2.9 percent). The data for other Texas public universities reveal a similar pattern.

Several conclusions can be drawn from these data. First, it is clear that Hispanics participate at increasingly lower rates the higher the level of degree program whether at HSIS or non-HSIS. Second, at both masters and doctoral levels, HSIS tend to produce a higher percentage of Hispanic graduates than non-HSIS. And, finally, the data from Texas show that HSIS tend to have a relatively small number of doctoral programs with relatively small numbers of students. In Texas, as around the country, there is a large gap between the academic resources of HSIS and large public non-HSIS such as The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and the University of North Texas. Finally, despite the large Hispanic population across Texas, the numbers for Texas non-HSIS, in terms of doctorates awarded to Hispanics, resemble non-HSIs around the country more than they resemble HSIs in the same state.

The challenge for HSIS in Texas is to maintain and increase access while simultaneously improving quality, especially at the doctoral level. Given the condition of the state budget, it is doubtful whether Texas, or other states for that matter, can provide the support necessary for HSIs to achieve the proper balance between access and excellence. Graduate education for Latinos does present distinctive academic challenges and any targeted support to HSIS from the federal government, as represented by H.R. 761 is greatly needed. This will also help Texas move closer toward closing the gaps in student participation in higher education.

Thank you.

STATEMENT OF DR. JOSE JAIME RIVERA, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF THE SACRED HEART, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO Dr. RIVERA. Chairman Tiberi, Congressman Hinojosa, colleagues and friends attending this hearing, my name is Jose Jaime Rivera, and during the last 12 years I've had the privilege of being the President of Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, University of the Sacred Heart, a private Catholic comprehensive nonprofit coeducational institution offering associate, baccalaureate, post-baccalaureate certificates and master's degrees.

It was established as a girls school in 1880, initiated collegiate level programs in 1935, and master's programs in 1985.

In order to meet the 5-minute requirement, I would like to submit my written testimony and concentrate on the following key issues and conclusions.

No. 1, Title V institutional and comparative grant programs have played a fundamental role in strengthening HSIS and in moving them closer to the mainstream of American higher education. Still, as shown in my written testimony, educational attainment of Hispanics still lags that of non-Hispanics, whites and blacks, even though Hispanics represent an increasingly sizable proportion of the new workforce for this century's national economy. Thus we must paraphrase the famous statement of a nation at risk and say that if our military enemies prevent this nation's investment in higher education of Hispanics, this would be as devastating as the bombing of our infrastructure.

No. 2, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has documented that a relationship between educational attainment and lifetime earnings are directly related, so that a person with less than high school will have a lifetime earning of a million dollars. Those with a bachelor's degree will earn 2.1 million. Those with a master's degree will earn 2.5 million, those with a Ph.D. will make 3.4 million, and those with professional degrees will make 4.1 million during their lifetime.

I believe that the rate of return of what is invested in supporting graduate higher education, especially for Hispanics, can be shown to be high. When this return is joined by the savings from meanstested social programs that will not be required by those achieving their educational aspirations, and the tax revenues that such higher incomes will pay, and are accounted for, there should be no hesitation as to the legislation that needs to be approved.

No. 3, given that HSIS provide a nurturing and supportive environment to Hispanic students, and given the income differentials through life that these students will receive by having a graduate education, it is important for Title V to add this new part to provide financial assistance in support of HSIS efforts to develop and strengthen graduate programs.

These funds will assist in developing academic support services, technological infrastructure, administrative support services, recruiting additional faculty, improving physical resources needed to offer these programs, among other uses.

Along the line of providing support for HSIs, there are two areas I would like to add, which may be better served through new programs. One refers to resources for physical construction and renovation, to provide physical facilities for new graduate programs. The second would call for special funds to establish institutional endowments for the long-term support of the graduate programs, to be matched through funds obtained by the HSIS in the format of the Challenge Grants.

No. 5, a similar need has been identified for the creation of a new section of the Title V for a technological enhancement program for HSIS. It is critical for HSIS to have a competitive technological infrastructure to make their students as competitive as those students attending mainstream well-endowed non-minority institutions.

No. 6, it is urgent to act now on the elimination of the 2-year wait-out period of HSIS between grant completion and new application cycles.

A significant number of institutions were affected this year by this absurd requirement, and they are not receiving support from Title V. An even larger number will end their Title V support this year, and if this is not eliminated now, there will be no time to call for a new proposal that can start in October 2005.

Before I finish, I must state my absolute rejection of the establishment of a single definition of a higher education institution. Such a single definition will result in a disservice to Hispanics and other minorities and will divert resources from those institutions that have a commitment and integrity to meet their community needs.

I will finish thanking the congressional members of the Committee and the members of their staff for working to make nation economically and socially viable by ensuring that it remains competitive and capable of living by its creeds.

Thank you.

Chairman TIBERI. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Rivera follows:]

Statement of Dr. Jose Jaime Rivera, President, University of the Sacred Heart, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Honorable Members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, colleagues and friends attending this hearing: My name is Jose Jaime Rivera, and during the last twelve years I have had the privilege of being the President of Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, (University of the Sacred Heart), a private (Catholic), comprehensive, non-profit, coeducational institution offering associate, baccalaureate, post baccalaureate certificates and master's degrees. It was established as a girls school in 1880, initiated collegiate level programs in 1935 and Master's programs in 1985. The University has consortia, academic and cultural agreements with several institutions in Puerto Rico, United States and Europe. Study abroad and student exchange opportunities are available in Spain, Mexico, France, Belgium, and with over 150 universities in the United States through the National Student Exchange Program.

The University has been regionally accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools since 1950 and it holds professional accreditations in nursing (NLN), medical technology (NAACLS) and social work (CSWE).

The University of the Sacred Heart has benefited significantly from the diversity of programs available as a result of the Higher Education Act of 1965 [as amended]. During the last eleven years USH was able to initiate a mayor academic development effort with the support of TITLE III [1994-99] and now, especially through TITLE V [2000-2005]. These programs allowed our University to establish the first digital graphic environment library on the Island in 1994 and latter on, with this powerful project as its foundation, a TITLE V grant allowed us to establish in 2000 a web-enhanced learning project which is impacting all our programs and benefiting over 3,000 students. This technological enrichment project is benefiting our students by allowing them to learn how to learn through web-supported activities that prepare them to enter the work force with very [first world] competitive skills.

Education programs, such as FIPSE have also assisted us in setting two unique curricular projects. The first is a community-based learning model centered on service/learning where all seniors in all majors participate in courses where they work as consulting teams to grass-root, community based organizations that present us with their capacity-building needs. These requests are assigned to corresponding courses where students will spend a semester working in small teams to solve the assigned problem. As a result, since its inception in 1998, over 150 organizations have been assisted by this methodology, developed with FIPSE support. FIPSE also supported the establishment in 2002 of a unique project to integrate language/communication skills in English and Spanish across the disciplines to address the expectations that the labor market has for competencies in oral and written communication. The University also benefits from the TRIO programs which have assisted

hundreds of low-income, first generation students to attend college and improve the persistence and graduation rates. Other federal programs have also contributed to our projects but, if you compare our institution with similar non-Hispanic institutions you will discover significant differences in the sources and scope of support. As stated by HACU: "Yet, HSIs on average continue to receive less than half the funding per student accorded to every other degree-granting institution. According to 2001-02 IPEDS statistics of the Department of Education, HSIS received $8,596. per student on average from all revenue sources, compared to $18,673 per student for all degree-granting institutions." (HACU, Legislative Agenda 2005, p.5).

Needless to say, the contribution of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and its reauthorizations have played a significant role in our capacity to meet community needs. The same can be said of our sister universities in Puerto Rico, both public and private, which, without the support provided by the Higher Education Act could not have impacted thousands of Hispanic students who are now successful professionals as a result of the resources the HEA has provided to us. As more initiatives have been created to specifically address the needs of HIS and Hispanic students, our colleges and universities have been more capable of meeting, at least partially, some equity and quality commitments we have made to our communities. But as the demographics evidence, we still are highly under funded and, because of the demographics and the changing economy, HSIs find ourselves increasingly distant from the capacity to meet the needs of our community

This is why the TITLE V of HEA is so critical not just to our HSIS future but to the future of this nation. TITLE V is a fundamental initiative who's strengthening and expansion we support and promote. Our first TITLE V grant, as described, assisted us in establishing a web-enhanced learning project which has supported training over 68% of our full-time faculty in the use of web-supported teaching strategies. As a result, 135 courses were revised with this methodology, impacting 85% of our General Education courses which make up 45% of the curriculum. In addition, over 75 courses in key majors have incorporated web-enhanced methods. This TITLE V grant also allowed for $238,600.00 to be added to our small endowment, a fund that is slowly growing and should, in the long run, strengthen our financial stability.

Given the leadership role that our University plays in Puerto Rico, with the support of the TITLE V Cooperative Grant, we developed an alliance to establish a virtual library between USH, the Municipality of San Juan Community College, Polytechnic University and American University in Bayamon. Our goal was to create this consortium to help each other in strengthening our virtual collections and join forces in purchasing these collections as well as obtaining expert services to strengthen our web services and their security, provide training and development opportunities for the professional personnel that work in our libraries to better serve the students and community needs. As a result of this TITLE V grant we have achieved the following results:

18,000 Hispanic students are being provided access to 37,808 journal titles 22,240 of which are full-text and which they can access anywhere, anytime. None of these students or their faculty had they been able to access such a wide range of learning resources.

• They can also access over 13,000 books with their full text and a significant art collection of over 1,000,000 images, among other resources.

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• Collectively, our participating institutions have been able to save $1,175,000. This represents what we have saved by buying together instead of individually if we had wanted to purchase such a magnificent collection.

• Hundreds of training and development hours have been provided which would not have been accessible to the individual institutions where it not for this fundamental collaborative project.

Why are these initiatives important to the Hispanic community? Why must they be not only maintained but expanded as a sound investment in the future of the United States economy and social well-being?

The answer rests on the demographic and economic changes taking place in the nation and the world.

As we all know, the future production possibilities and wealth of a country depend on the profile and composition of its workforce. But the profile of its workforce will, in turn depend on the educational choices made by the men and women of that society and the investments made to promote access and the quality of the educational experience.

The 2000 Census discovered or uncovered the fast growing presence of the Hispanic community in the USA. It became evident to all that new indicators had become critical for the profile of the new USA economy and for the emerging new makeup of our communities and society in general. As a result, it has become evi