Daily News photo by Kay Fate
Jesus Hernandez, a financial aid adviser at Minnesota State University, Mankato, discusses college opportunities with several Hispanic students and their parents.
If Minnesota College Access Network is looking for a poster boy, Oscar Gomez seems like the perfect choice.
A 2007 graduate of Bethlehem Academy, Gomez has been working for a general contractor in Faribault since he was 15, helping to pay his own way through the local private school.
He continued to work while in the carpentry program at Riverland Community College in Austin.
He’s now a student at Dunwoody Institute, majoring in project supervision.
But Gomez is disappointed when he looks around his college classes.
“I’m the only Hispanic in my class,” he said. “The Hispanic community isn’t going to college.”
The statistics support what Gomez sees.
According to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, from 2004-2008 an average of 37 percent of Hispanic high school graduates enrolled in a state post-secondary institution.
That compares to 55 percent of the Asian graduates, 50 percent of the white graduates and 49 percent of the African-American graduates.
The overall enrollment rate within the state was 50 percent.
Jesus Hernandez, a financial aid adviser and loan coordinator at Minnesota State University in Mankato, thinks he knows why the Hispanic rates are so low.
“It’s the fear of the unknown,” he said Thursday. He was in town with MCAN, a program dedicated to making sure every student in the state has access to higher education.
Thursday’s college access family night was focused on the Hispanic population; the Somali community will be the focus on March 18.
Hernandez himself was the first in his family to graduate not only from high school, but from college.
“Many of these parents have never been to college, or attended college years ago or in another country,” he said. “We’re giving them more general information, for
students and parents who need help navigating the process.”
While college finances may be intimidating for any family, there’s also a cultural factor for some Hispanics, Hernandez said.
“For a typical family, taking out a loan may be a bit of a shock,” he said. “They’re used to taking only what they need, just to get by, so when they graduate they won’t have huge debt.”
That’s where Hernandez comes in, discussing the merits of public versus private schools, career plans, continued higher education and what the impacts will be down the road.
“We want to get as many students engaged in college as possible,” said Carolyn Treadway of SHAC, who helped organize the event.
“We’ll help you find out ways to make it an affordable possibility; choosing a post-secondary option is a pathway to your future,” she told the families.
That includes undocumented students, she said. No federal or state law prohibits them from attending public colleges or universities. Although they can legally attend most colleges, they are not eligible for most forms of financial aid.
According to MCAN, roughly 65,000 undocumented children who have lived in the U.S. for more than five years will graduate from high school each year. Between 5 percent and 10 percent of those graduates go on to college.
Under Minnesota law, undocumented students are guaranteed access to in-state tuition rates at 18 state colleges and universities.
“The reality is, they’re here,” Treadway said. “They have to pay for their own college, but at least they’re trying to better themselves.”
Cristian Ponciano will graduate in May from BA. He was at Thursday’s meeting with his mother, his sister and some friends.
“I’m trying hard to succeed,” he said. “Just because you’re first-generation doesn’t mean you can’t (go to college); there are ways to do it. I want to learn more.”
His mother, Maria Conde, wanted to learn about more financial options.
“There are many teens in our community that don’t keep striving to do their best, because they don’t have the information,” she said.
Cristian, the first in his family to attend college, has applied to several, with an eye on Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
“I just want him to follow his dreams,” Conde said.
Minnie Cantu, who was at the event with her son, David Reyna, has been through the financial aspect before. David will be her second child to attend college.
“I don’t see it as intimidating, so much as frustrating,” Cantu said. “You fill all these things out and they say you make too much money.”
Oscar Gomez, who is now helping pay his sister’s way through BA, is doing what he can to inspire other Hispanics to pursue their education.
“My parents always pushed me (academically),” he said. In addition to taking college classes and working, Gomez volunteers for NAVIGATE, a project that makes the college application and financial aid process more navigable for students and their families.
“I want to make a difference with those kids,” he said. “I want to change their minds.”
For the Faribault Daily News online story, click on http://www.faribault.com/news.php?viewStory=97992
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