News

Students at a Paying for College Bus Tour stop, Reading PA

Nationwide bus tour launches in Los Angeles to help increase Latino college attendance

The Sallie Mae Fund to offer workshops, community outreach in 22 cities

RESTON, Va., September 8, 2004—The Sallie Mae Fund today launched On the Road: The Paying for College Tour, a 22-city, coast-to-coast bus tour, designed to help educate thousands of Latino families about planning and paying for college. The tour kicked off today with a launch event at Belmont Senior High School in Los Angeles, featuring educators and celebrities.

Jose Huizar, president and District 2 Representative, LA Unified School District, Natalie Reyes, Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, and Harry Pachon, president, the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, joined representatives from numerous Latino civic and community organizations and more than 200 students from Belmont Senior High School at the kick-off event today.

On the Road: The Paying for College Tour is a response to the largest-ever survey of Latino perspectives on college financial aid, which was commissioned by The Sallie Mae Fund and conducted by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California. Results announced in March 2004 revealed that awareness of financial aid options is critically lacking in the Latino community, and that this issue restricts college attendance. Nearly half of all Latino young adults and more than half of all Latino parents surveyed were not aware of a single source of financial aid, according to the research.

The research also showed that Latino families prefer to learn about financial aid from in-person meetings or workshops, provided by guidance counselors or financial aid experts, said Susan Corsini, vice chair of The Sallie Mae Fund. "This tour was created to directly address this need."

Motoring from Los Angeles to Miami, the bus tour will involve more than 125 free workshops and community outreach events (major tour stops listed below). The tour will unite local financial aid experts from area colleges, student-focused organizations and Latino community-based groups to bring financial aid information to Latino families how and where they want to receive it.

To support the tour, The Fund will air radio public service announcements in English and Spanish featuring the tour's national spokesperson, popular Telemundo Network personality, Maria Celeste Arrarás, to publicize the free financial aid workshops and availability of information on planning and paying for college in each of the 22 cities.

"So many of our families are not capitalizing on higher education, because they believe that college is not feasible," said Harry Pachon of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute. "This is not a Latino problem, it's an American problem. It's one that we can solve, by reaching Latino kids earlier in their school careers, to let them know that they have options for college."

Latinos represent the largest and most rapidly growing minority group in the U.S. By the year 2050, one out of every four Americans will be of Latino descent, according to recent U.S. Census estimates. Higher education enrollment and graduation rates for Latinos are significantly lower than their Caucasian and African-American counterparts. Community-based initiatives such as the On the Road: The Paying for College bus tour have the potential to turn around this status quo.

Details for The Sallie Mae Fund's On the Road: The Paying for College Tour, including workshop dates and locations can be found at www.salliemaefund.org.

List of tour dates and locations:

Date	Location
Sept. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12	Los Angeles, California
Sept. 13, 14, 15	San Diego, California
Sept. 16, 17, 18	Oxnard, California
Sept. 19, 20	Palmdale, California
Sept. 21, 22, 23	Tucson, Arizona
Sept. 24, 25	Phoenix, Arizona
Sept. 27, 28	Las Vegas, Nevada
Sept. 30	Albuquerque, New Mexico
Oct. 1, 2, 3	Las Cruces, New Mexico
Oct. 4, 5, 6	El Paso, Texas
Oct. 8, 9, 10	San Antonio, Texas
Oct. 11, 12, 13	Austin, Texas
Oct. 14, 15	Houston, Texas
Oct. 18, 19, 20	Chicago, Illinois
Oct. 23, 24, 25	Long Island, New York
Oct. 26, 27	Jersey City, New York
Oct. 28, 29, 30, 31	New York, New York
Nov. 4, 5, 6	Newark, New Jersey
Nov. 8	Washington, D.C.
Nov. 11, 12, 13	Orlando, Florida
Nov. 15, 16, 17	Tampa, Florida
Nov. 18, 19, 20	Miami, Florida

The Sallie Mae Fund, a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae, achieves its mission—to increase access to a post–secondary education for America's students—by supporting programs and initiatives that help open doors to higher education, prepare families for their investment, and bridge the gap when no one else can. For more information visit www.salliemaefund.org.