Testimony of Juliet V. García
President
The University of Texas at Brownsville
and Texas Southmost College

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee on Select Education.

I am Juliet García, President of The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. I appreciate the opportunity to testify today at this hearing on "Expanding Opportunities in Higher Education: Honoring the Contributions of America’s Hispanic Serving Institutions."

Let me first give you a glimpse of our university, our mission, and our student body, and then share my recommendations with you.

The University of Texas at Brownsville in partnership with Texas Southmost College is located in Brownsville, which is about 60 miles from this meeting site at our sister component, UT Pan American. Our university is one block from the border of Mexico.

Our partnership is a unique community university that serves over 10,600 students on campus and through distance education. We offer a wide range of programs-- academic and technical-- with certificate, associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degrees.

Recently, we have experienced tremendous growth in our Workforce Training and Continuing Education division that serves more than 16,000 (duplicated) enrollments per year.

To meet the growing demands for higher education in the fastest growing region in the state, UTB/TSC needs to double its enrollment to 20,000. That will take increased funding for all areas of the university.

Our mission at UTB/TSC is to provide accessible and affordable postsecondary education of high quality, to conduct research that expands knowledge and to present programs of continuing education, public service, and cultural value to meet the needs of community.

We accomplish this mission by ensuring that we maintain the strengths of both the community college and the university. Our primary goal in forming the partnership was to increase student access and eliminate inter-institutional barriers that hinder students from continuing their education.

On average, over 80 percent of our students have received a form of financial assistance. They are students who are predominantly first-generation college students. And, about 93% of our students are Hispanic, and for many, Spanish is their preferred language at home.

Fortunately, we are making progress in enrollment and graduation at every level of study offered at the community university.

I now offer recommendations for how the federal government can appropriately strengthen and enhance programs designed to meet the unique challenges and needs of Hispanic students through the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA).

Our partnership marked its 12^th anniversary last month; we felt fortunate to be left standing and ready to move forward after the budget work during the state’s 78^th legislative session. Given the short time that we have been a university, we had to make a case that our progress would be severely impeded without sufficient state funding. Without sufficient federal dollars, our students’ progress would be stopped. Thus, my recommendations focus on how to facilitate their progress.

I address the recommendations in order of their priority to ensure access to education at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

As you know, too many Hispanics are poor and undereducated. Since Hispanics are the largest and youngest minority group in the country, the effect of the situation is important for individual lives and for the nation.

Our university is situated as follows: in our service area, the poverty rate is twice that in the state. The number of people over the age of 25 in our community without a high school diploma is twice that in the state. Thus, many first generation college students who depend extensively on financial aid to attend college arrive full of hope on our campus each semester. They don’t know if it will take five years or ten for them to graduate. Their measure of success is not a national average; persistence and working through difficult situations make them successful. We need the federal government’s support to make sure that their hope for higher education is not left void due to the lack of money.

My parents taught me the lessons of advocacy for the education of children--mine and others. So when I was asked to serve on the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance (ACSFA), it was a chance to join with others across the nation to understand the impact and advocate for financial assistance. During my tenure as a member and as chair of ACSFA, we produced two reports: Access Denied and Empty Promises.

What was found?

These important national findings apply to too many families in our region. Now, with the state’s budget crisis, my request is that the federal government will help to cover the dire shortfalls and growing need with increased financial funding for students and partnerships with the states.

I will begin with the partnership option. Our state’s program, Toward Excellence, Access and Success (TEXAS) Grant, was created with the best of intentions to help provide additional dollars to the students and incentives to prepare for college. The Texas Grant is a merit based program that favors school district students who have had access to the recommended curriculum.

Based on where they live, some students will have better access to this curriculum. With an influx of students who are better prepared for college and even with this particular criterion, the does not have adequate funding.

At UTB/TSC, in FY03, 872 initial year students were allocated Texas Grant monies; in FY04, 315 initial year students were able to be funded. That is a decrease of more than 60%. This shows that additional partners are needed to ensure the state program succeeds in rewarding students for their preparation. And, in keeping with the spirit of access, other considerations need to be made for students who have limited access to the recommended high school programs.

Next, I will talk about loans. Each year our students have to borrow more money. Finding yourself in steep debt after completing college diminishes your earning power. The federal government needs to find means to help these students. Suggestions may include doing away with any processing fees for students or even forgiving loans for selected students where a greater good could be served with their talents.

In a study sponsored by the Century Foundation, Anthony Carnevale concluded that poor students are the most disadvantaged students in America, particularly those students whose parents did not graduate from high school and earned less than $25,000 per year.

That is a typical student at UTB/TSC.

In the work-study programs, I recommend that additional funding be added to the college work-study program, and you reexamine the distribution formula to take growing institutions into consideration.

Long term immigrants are another group of students who could benefit from college, but find themselves shut out of federal financial aid programs. Long term immigrant students need to be given access to financial assistance. Through no doing of their own, they are in a situation that keeps them away from a route to a better financial status. The HEA could make allowances for students who have been in the country for a continuous period on a long term basis.

Our community university operates more than 30 outreach program. This year, we have added another Upward Bound Program for another school district. We also received a CAMP grant that helped us to fund migrant students into campus housing. Adequate funding for such programs throughout the HEA cycle must be assured.

Our GEAR-UP program is completing its 5^th year, after having served an average of 6,000 in six school districts. My monthly meetings with the area’s superintendents and curriculum supervisors provided partnerships that have forged paths for middle school students to start planning for college and enrolling with the goal to finish.

Let’s increase funding to help this widespread program continue to bring college preparation to the plans of students early in middle school.

Undergraduate education is our start. What about graduate students?

I support Congressman Hinojosa’s H.R.2238 to expand and enhance post-baccalaureate opportunities at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. We certainly hope that the House Committee on Education and the Workforce will support this important bill.

The $2.1M Title V funding received by the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College has helped us to meet the needs of students who were at risk of stopping out of college. Retention is the primary focus of our funding. Between Fall 1997 and Fall 2002, our sophomore retention increased 16.1%; junior retention increased by 19%; and senior retention increased by 25.1%.

The need is as great at the graduate level. As our campus serves a majority of first generation undergraduates, our students need to be recruited into graduate school and assisted in succeeding. Congressman Hinojosa your new provision for Title V would be most helpful in our ability to do that.

Many students in our area are just beginning to realize the possibilities that they can generate with obtaining a graduate degree. In the last 12 years, our master’s programs have tripled, and we are expanding offerings in education, health, and math. The students who go into these programs will help shape our region because they are likely to stay in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Technology is an area that could use a hearing of its own. As a member of Hispanic Educational Telecommunications System consortium, we have benefited from the experiences and assistance of others who are upgrading and utilizing new technology. I will be brief in an example to show how more funding is needed.

In March, we had to send 7% of our general revenue budget back to the state. That return took away our ability to purchase new equipment, particularly computers for the classrooms. Our students should not have to take turns with computer equipment to participate in their classes or study labs. With adequate funding included for technology, the HEA would help HSIs tremendously.

Lastly, in the area of Title V, I believe that the "50% percent low-income" assurance requirement should be eliminated from the funding criteria of Title V. It is a requirement that applies only to HSIs among minority-serving institutions, which adds an administrative burden in efforts to assist students.

Our local schools are short on teachers with master’s degrees and on teachers in the areas of math, science, and technology.

Additional funding for teacher training would help HSIs to address needs at the PK-12 level and, thereby, the college level.

Our partnerships with other University of Texas System components have helped us to produce graduate school graduates in physics and engineering. Yet, certainly there are not enough graduates in those areas who go into teaching. Additional funding targeting those areas would help us to recruit and train people who want to stay in the area to teach.

The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act is an important opportunity to take a stand on the future of this nation. As a world leader, we can set a pace for removing barriers to undergraduate and graduate education by putting adequate funding where the investment could give immeasurable returns. It would be the best way to honor the contributions of Hispanic Serving Institutions.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to testify at this hearing.