Follow the Money: More Hispanic College Enrollment = More Federal Funding

By Joe Guzzardi
December 14, 2010

Universities and colleges across America stand passionately united behind the DREAM Act. Their collective support isn’t surprising since increased Hispanic enrollment (and Hispanic students are the main DREAM Act targets) translates into big federal bucks.

How federal funding became available for qualifying universities with large Hispanic enrollments is an interesting study in ethnic identity politics.

Some years ago, the federal government’s ongoing support of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) got the attention and raised the ire of Washington D.C.’s powerful Hispanic lobby.

HBCUs are the 105 federally recognized schools accredited and established before 1964 to educate black American citizens, many of whom suffered civil rights abuses and whose ancestors may have been slaves.

To appease unhappy Hispanic activists, the government created something called “Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs),” a federal program designed to provide aide to colleges that establish as one of their main goals assisting first generation, majority low income Hispanic students.

Then in 1992, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities persuaded Congress to formally recognize campuses with high Hispanic enrollment as federally designated HSIs and to direct appropriations to those schools. With its powerful corporate, deep pockets partners like Wal-Mart, Coca Cola and Aetna, the HACU exerts enormous Capitol Hill influence.

A key requirement for the HSIs is that their enrollment must include at least a 25 percent full time Hispanic student body.

The reward for reaching the 25 percent goal is one of the new 99 grant awards totaling $60.1 million that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced in September is available. With money as the carrot, little wonder that the demand for DREAM Act passage echoes across university campuses nationwide.

What’s important in the big picture is the government’s growing commitment to Hispanic students at what some perceive to be at blacks’ expense.

Even though President Barack Obama proposed last fall that the fiscal 2011 budget should include a $30 million funding increase to HBCU’s, questions remain about his priorities. Last year, for example, black educators had been critical of what they viewed as Obama’s substantial cuts in their funding. Money is so tight at many of the HBCU’s that in recent years, libraries at several campuses explored ways to pool resources and work collaboratively.

Crucial distinctions exist between HBCUs and HSIs.

Students, teachers and administrators at HBCUs are overwhelmingly native-born Americans. On the other hand, the HSI’s enrollment is made up of, in large part, illegal aliens or the American-born children of illegal aliens. DREAM Act benefits, whatever they finally may be, only reward illegal immigrants.

Nearly a decade has passed since, thanks in large part to illegal immigration, Hispanics replaced blacks as America’s largest minority.

Since 2000, the Hispanic population increase has accounted for more than 50 percent of all U.S growth. During those ten years, blacks have fallen into second place behind Hispanics in the race for federal subsidies, Congressional representation and employment even though they have lived legally in the United States since America’s birth.

The DREAM Act, if it becomes law, will eventually put millions of Hispanics into the job market where they will compete directly with blacks for scarce employment opportunities. As unfair as that is, don’t look to the Black Congressional Caucus to correct it. Because of uncontrolled immigration, many U.S. House districts that were once predominantly black are today mostly Hispanic. Accordingly, Congressmen representing districts whose demographics have shifted are all busy drumming up support for the DREAM Act.

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues – since 1990. He is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns have frequently been syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. He can be reached at [email protected].