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

The Sallie Mae Fund sponsors first national Latino College Dollars Scholarship Directory

Free online and print guide released by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute

RESTON, Va., Sept. 24, 2007—With support from The Sallie Mae Fund, the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute has expanded its Latino College Dollars Scholarship Directory nationwide to meet overwhelming demand for scholarship information on how students can apply for the money they need to attend college.

An unprecedented response to the first Latino scholarship directory of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) in California last year prompted the Institute and its sponsors to produce the national guide. The directory contains clear information on more than 300 scholarships targeting Latino high school, undergraduate, and graduate students across the United States.

The new directory—made possible with grants from The Sallie Mae Fund, The John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, and The Walt Disney Company—follows recommendations from a TRPI study that showed that Latino students often are misinformed or unaware of scholarship opportunities.

The Sallie Mae Fund will publicize the online scholarship directory and distribute an additional 2,500 hard copies to the thousands of Latino students it reaches through its national Paying for College Bus Tour visiting 65 cities this school year.

"Our research has shown that Latino families aspire to send their children to college but are critically lacking in awareness of how to pay for it. We're working to be sure Hispanic parents and students are not caught in a financial aid information divide," said Kathleen deLaski, president of The Sallie Mae Fund, which last year awarded $2.6 million in scholarships to more than 1,000 students nationwide. The directory is aligned with the charitable organization's mission of increasing access to higher education for America's students.

A guide on how to apply for scholarships in both Spanish and English is included in the directory. For the ease of students and parents, scholarship listings are categorized by education level, deadline, minimum GPA, by whether citizenship is required as well as by region.

The directory will optimize existing resources by connecting them to deserving students, according to Efrain Garza Fuentes, director of multicultural programs for The Walt Disney Company.

"We can think of no better investment to make than in future talent," Dr. Fuentes said. "The Latino college community is very important to The Walt Disney Company, and since we had such great success with the directory at the local level, the next logical step was a national effort."

The online directory is searchable by key categories such as grade level, grade point average (GPA) and citizenship. This search functionality makes the online directory extremely user-friendly and positions it as a one-of-a-kind resource in the online space. The Latino College Dollars Scholarship Directory can be downloaded for free at www.latinocollegedollars.org.

The Institute conducted a study in 2006 which identified the directory as a much-needed resource for the Latino community. The study also found that very often scholarship information is conflicting, out-of-date, and not actively disseminated to people who need it. Access the TRPI study at www.trpi.org/PDFs/scholarshipreport.pdf (PDF, 128KB).

In addition, parents will be able to use the guide as a resource to help their children apply for scholarships. In a TRPI study commissioned by The Sallie Mae Fund, 94 percent of Latino parents believe college education is an important part of success in life, but more than half could not name a single source of financial aid.

"This project has been very valuable to Latino students and their parents in California, and now the positive impact will be nationwide," said TRPI President and CEO Dr. Harry Pachon. "We are very excited about encouraging the pursuit of a higher education, about giving Latino students the information they need to help start and finish college by making it more affordable."

Last year's directory of California scholarships was viewed online an average of 7,000 times a month. "We expect demand this year to surpass the pace set last year," Dr. Pachon said.

In addition to distribution through The Sallie Mae Fund Paying for College Bus Tour, TRPI will mail 6,000 scholarship guides to guidance counselors at low-income schools in the five states with the largest Latino populations in the country—California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas.

An additional 1,500 guides will be distributed to community-based and direct service organizations such as The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, Parent Institute for Quality Education, and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund for distribution at town hall and parent meetings.

Also in the 2007-2008 directory:

Complete and up-to-date information on 329 scholarships for Latino students attending or applying for admission to community college, undergraduate colleges and universities, and graduate schools
A guide to applying for scholarships presented in English and Spanish: "Get the Money You Need!" and "Padres: ¡Ayuden a sus hijos a obtener el dinero que necesitan para asistir la universidad!"
Separate listings of scholarships by sponsoring organization, citizenship requirements, education level, minimum GPA, deadline, and state/regional awards
Scholarships for community college transfer students
Customized searches online

As part of its mission to open the doors to higher education for all students, The Sallie Mae Fund also will release a scholarship directory geared for African-American students later this fall.

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The Sallie Mae Fund is a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae. The Fund 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.

Founded in 1985, the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) advances informed policy on key issues affecting Latino communities through objective and timely research contributing to the betterment of the nation. TRPI is an affiliated research unit of the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning, and Development and is associated with the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University. For more information, visit www.trpi.org.