Education grants at CI benefit all

Recently, The Star reported that CSU Channel Islands had been awarded two U.S. Department of Education Hispanic-Serving Institution grants totaling just over $6 million over a five-year period.

The article detailed how the funds from these grants will assist the university’s recruitment, retention and graduation of low-income students of all backgrounds due to at least 25 percent of its enrolled undergraduates being of Latino origin.

The article correctly noted that the HSI grants will benefit all low-income students; however the article’s headline, “CSUCI receives Latino grants” imprecisely informed readers. In actuality, the great majority of grant activities that will be undertaken through 2015 because of access to these federal funds will benefit all undergraduate and graduate students at the university.

These HSI awards, called institution-strengthening grants, are funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program. Channel Islands is one of three, four-year colleges in California and one of six universities in the United States successful in winning both HSI grant awards.

Since more than a quarter of Channel Islands’ students are Latino, the campus was allowed to compete for these funds — which will, indeed, strengthen university infrastructure and programs. They will also further promote Channel Islands’ commitment to fostering diversity and facilitating access to undergraduate and graduate education for socially and economically disadvantaged students in higher education.

Source: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/nov/06/education-grants-at-ci-benefit-all/?partner=yahoo_feeds#ixzz14iVEAejJ
- vcstar.com