Xavier Aguilar 
BROWNSVILLE – The Texas Tribune hosted a discussion at the UTRGV Brownsville campus about Hispanic students’ success and difficulties in Texas.
At the forefront of the conversation were health, community, and what the administration is doing to help Hispanic college students.
Guy Bailey, president of UTRGV, talked about the importance of helping Hispanic students.
“What we are talking about right here is not just the future of the Rio Grande Valley, it’s the future of the state so nothing can be more important than that,” said Bailey.
The director of policy and strategy for the Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success at The University of Texas at El Paso, Jacob Fraire emphasized an active approach to increasing graduation rates among Hispanics.
“We are intentional about how do we get more Hispanics into college and how do we get more Hispanics graduating from college with the credential that is meaningful in the workplace. We don’t want to sit here 20 years from now, look back, and say, ‘What could we have done differently?’ Let’s get it done today,” said Fraire.
Many students could face food insecurity, visiting a medical professional,s and family obligations.
According to the former president of the University of Texas at Brownsville, Dr. Juliet Garcia, the Hispanic community is one of the fastest growing populations in Texas and has the potential to become the majority and truly impact the state.
“The way Hispanics go, that is how Texas is going to go, so if we are more educated, if we have better jobs, we have more money to spend on houses and health … when they are successful, they vote, they pay taxes and they defend our democracy and we need them for all of those reasons,” said Dr. Garcia.
UTRGV has implemented a wage increase for on-campus student wages and increased the Tuition Advantage program which covers full tuition and fees for students whose family income is $100,000 or less.
