Hispanic Enrollment in Texas Public Schools
Data based on a report from Texas Education Agency: Enrollment in Texas Public Schools 2005-2006.

• Texas enrollment increased by 22.1% from 1995-2005 while total U.S. enrollment only increased by 12.8%.
• Between 1993 and 2003, Hispanic students showed the largest increase among ethnic groups both in Texas (35.5% to 43.8%) and the United States (12.7% to 18.5%).
• During the 05/06 school year, Hispanics were the largest enrolled ethnic group in the state at 45.3%.
• Hispanics are estimated to become the largest ethnic group in Texas by 2020.

Hispanic Enrollment in Central Texas High Schools
Data based on 2005/2006 Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System per school district and county.

The following chart details the average percentage of Hispanic students in each of the HSC service counties for the 2005-2006 school year.

  The following chart outlines HSC recipient school statistics.

Dropout Rates
Data based on Texas Education Agency: 2006 Comprehensive Annual Report on Texas Public Schools.

The Texas Education Agency uses this definition by the National Center for Education Statistics for a dropout.

The dropout is all individuals who:

• Were enrolled in school at some time during the previous school year;
• Were not enrolled at the beginning of the current school year;
• Have not graduated from high school or completed a state– or district–approved education program; and

  
Of the 271, 218 Texas students who began ninth grade during the 2001-2002 school year and should have graduated in 2005:

• 84% graduated on time,
• 7.9% continued on in traditional high school education,
• 3.8% earned GEDs, and
• 4.3% dropped out

While there were 100,781 Hispanics in that same class of 2005,

• 77.4% graduated on time, 
• 12.3% continued on in traditional high school education,
• 3.4% received a GED, and
• 6.9% dropped out compared to 5.5% of African American students, 1.8% of Asian students, 4.9% of Native American students and 2.0% of White students.
• Hispanics have the highest dropout rate of any ethnic group. 

Curbing the Dropout Rate
Data based on a report from the University of Texas Department of Educational Administration’s Study of High School Restructuring-High School Dropouts: Can We Reverse the Stagnation in School Graduation?

Student & school factors related to dropping out include:

• Family income
• Socioeconomic status of neighborhoods
• Recent immigration status
• Grade retention
• Culturally insensitive school environments

Efforts to curb the high number of Hispanic dropouts include:

• Educate entire families on the benefits of a high school diploma
• Create a caring school climate
• Raise expectations and offer challenging curriculum
• Break down large schools into small school units

Hispanics and Higher Education in Texas
Data Based on Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: Closing the Gaps by 2015: 2007 Progress Report

Enrollment

• In 2006, an estimated 1,235,651 students enrolled in public and independent higher education institutions in the state of Texas.
• 333,964 of those students were Hispanic.  189,474 were attending two-year public institutions, 115, 952 were attending four-year public institutions, and 28,538 were attending independent institutions.
• Hispanic enrollment in higher education grew 40.7% from fall 2000 to fall 2006.
• However, Hispanic enrollment only makes up 3.9% of the population while the rate for other racial/ethnic groups is 5.0%.

Degrees

• A total of 37,196 associate’s degrees were awarded in Texas in 2006.
• A total of 89,780 bachelor’s degrees were awarded in Texas in 2006.
• A total of 3,220 doctoral degrees were awarded in Texas in 2006. 

• 35,385 degrees were conferred in 2006
• 17,414 were from public two-year institutions
• 15,748 were from public four-year institutions
• 2,493 were from independent institutions

Funding for Higher Education in Texas
Data based on Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Report on Student Financial Aid in Texas Higher Education for Fiscal Year 2006

There are currently 13 state programs serving as grant sources for students pursuing higher education. 

• Hispanics make up 49.6% of total recipients and receive $85,247,176 from these funds.

The following types of aid are available to Texas students:

• Work study-1% of aid ($0.062 billion)
• Gift aid-38% of aid ($1.820 billion)
• Loans-61% of aid (2.883 billion)

Those funds stem from these sources:

• Individual institutions –6.8% ($323 million)
• State monies-11.3% ($541 million)
• Federal monies-76.1% ($3627 million)
• Other-5.8% (274 million)

Hispanic Serving Institutions
Data based on Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) public information: www.hacu.net

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are defined as colleges, universities, or systems/districts where total Hispanic enrollment constitutes a minimum of 25% of the total enrollment. 

“Total Enrollment” includes full-time and part-time students at the undergraduate or graduate level (including professional schools) of the institution, or both (i.e., headcount of for-credit students). 

• There are currently 209 Hispanic Serving Institutions in the continental United States and Puerto Rico. 
• They account for 5 % of all institutions of higher education. 
• Almost one-half (49%) of all Hispanic students attend an HSI.

In the state of Texas there are over 40 Hispanic-Serving Institutions including:

• Our Lady of the Lake University
• St. Edward’s University
• St. Mary’s University
• Sul Ross State University
• Texas A & M University (Corpus Christi & Kingsville)
• University of Houston (Downtown)
• University of Texas at El Paso
• University of Texas at San Antonio

The United States Congress formally recognized Hispanic Serving Institutions and began appropriating funds for them in 1992.

$94.9 million were appropriated for HSIs under Title V of the Higher Education Act in 2007. 

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