WSU reaching out to Hispanics

OGDEN — Weber State University is making efforts to meet a growing need in the Ogden area for access to financial aid by Spanish-speaking students looking for a higher education.

"I think there is a high need to find financial resources for Hispanic/Latino students," said WSU Multicultural Services counselor Ruth Patino Stubbs.

WSU officials announced Wednesday the school will hold the second annual Hispanic Recognition and Scholarship Banquet on March 4, 7 p.m., in the Shepherd Union Gallery. The featured speaker will be former Utah Office of Hispanic Affairs director Tony Yapias.

Yapias said "all kinds" of scholarships are available to resident Hispanic students, but getting the word out about the money and overcoming language barriers are hurdles toward students actually getting access to those funds.

"I believe our institutions of higher education can do more," Yapias said.

Federal Pell grants are available to all students, and a state-sponsored program makes available $5 million in need-based aid, which is offered to all qualifying low-income students.

The University of Utah has its own Chicano scholarship program and outreach efforts like the U.'s sponsorship of a Latino soccer league on Salt Lake's west side.

WSU, however, does not have "anything to that extent," Stubbs said.

The first banquet last year raised enough money to give two Hispanic students $2,500 each toward a full year's tuition, which is about $2,800 at WSU. Beyond that, the school only offers two additional smaller scholarships, one being a $500 fund specifically targeted to single Hispanic mothers.

Yet WSU has the highest percentage of Latino students of any public institution while having the second-largest overall Hispanic student population — the U. has the highest — of the state's four public universities.

The fall, 2004, overall head count at WSU showed 662 Hispanic students, making up 4 percent of the school's 18,875 student population. Hispanics made up half of WSU's overall minority student population.

WSU is looking toward future students in light of Ogden School District's 49 percent minority student population, most of whom are Hispanic — only the Salt Lake and San Juan districts have a higher percentage of minorities in their schools.