Launched in 2005, as a non-profit, 501(C)3 organization the Latin Scholarship Fund’s (LSF’s) primary purpose is to seek out financially disadvantaged, yet academically successful, U.S. students of Latino heritage and help them turn their dreams of a college education into a reality.

Studies have shown that high drop-out rates and other discouraging statistics tend to dominate policy debates over Hispanic educational achievement in the United States. However, the news isn’t all bad when it comes to the classroom showing of the nation’s largest minority group.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), for example, a larger proportion of U.S. Hispanics are now attending college. Nine years ago, 22 percent of 18- to 24-year-old Hispanics were enrolled in colleges and universities, up from 16 percent 20 years earlier.

Moreover, the NCES reports that the number of Hispanic students graduating from college has been increasing rapidly for years. During the 1980s, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanics rose 68 percent. Over the next decade, the number rose 105 percent — faster than for any other racial/ethnic group. Similarly large increases occurred at higher degree levels during the 1990s, with a 128 percent jump in master’s degrees, and a 76 percent increase in doctoral degrees.

The LSF was created to bolster just such trends, and provides this assistance by administering the charitable contributions of both private and corporate sponsors. The demographic information of target population and numbers served is as follows:

• A high school graduate of any age
• A U.S. citizen of Latino heritage, or a Latino permanent resident with a permanent resident card or passport stamped I-551 (not expired)
• Either gender
• No income maximum
• Target population is national in scope

Letters from Students

Receiving the Scholarship from the Latin Scholarship Fund was a great honor. I recently started my Spring quarter at UC Santa Barbara, and have been extremely busy with school and my sorority, Delta Gamma. I have spent a lot of my free time planning our annual philanthropy event, “AnchorSplash”. It is an all university event that raises money for our philanthropy, Service for Sight, and provides aid to the blind. I really enjoy UC Santa Barbara and am currently taking classes in Linguistics, Geology, Sociology, Health, and Spanish. The scholarship has helped tremendously in dealing with college expenses, such as book costs. I am extremely grateful to all those who made this amazing opportunity available to me!

K.Barrero

I want to thank you and the Latin Scholarship Fund for inviting me to the Latin Business Spirit Awards and awarding me the scholarship this year. As you know, obtaining a college education is extremely expensive and your assistance helped me immensely as I started the new school year. It has been a big sacrifice for me financially to obtain my degree and I appreciate the Latin Business Scholarship fund for helping out myself and the other recipients of this year’s awards. I hope to one day be able to return the gratitude and help out others trying to pursue their educational goals. Thank you once again.

P.Gurule

The Latin Scholarship Fund was very helpful in getting me through my final year of my MBA program. After my first year I decided to quit working in order to fully concentrate on finishing school. Thanks to the scholarship, I was able to buy all my books for my first semester. I really appreciate the help I received from the Latin Scholarship Fund and plan to be involved with their events in the future.

S.Olivares