In recent weeks the University of Southern California’s Center for Urban Education received due press for its report, Tapping HSI-STEM Funds to Improve Latina and Latino Access to STEM Professions. The report looks at how Latina/o science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors are funding their undergraduate education and how Hispanic-Serving Institutions can best use federal funds to support those students. Central to the funding approach are new monies made available through a provision in the March 2010 Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
The CUE study confirms what many higher education practitioners already know—Latina/o students on the whole have higher financial needs than their White counterparts. The report cites U.S. Department of Education data that indicates 60 percent of graduating high school seniors from Latina/o backgrounds work an average of 30 hours or more per week.
If this tendency continues for students once they enter college, these students are statistically less likely to persist to graduation. With this in mind, and given continued increases in tuition and fees nationwide, institutions must provide financial literacy programming and experiential opportunities that are tied to financial assistance, particularly for STEM students.
Student affairs staff should recognize the significant academic demands of being a STEM major. Most STEM fields require laboratory and field work; and, even when not required, research experience and exposure is strongly encouraged. The challenge for universities is to match undergraduate research experiences with financial support—both of which will lead more students to complete STEM degrees; an outcome that every college and university is (or should be) focused on.
Among the most salient findings from the scholarly work on underrepresented students in STEM disciplines is the positive impact of undergraduate research experiences in promoting persistence and the role of financial support in degree completion.
It is therefore no surprise that the most successful STEM retention programs combine research experience with financial aid. The Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is a model example of institutional programming that provides research experience and exposure, community-based academic enrichment, and financial support for a full four years.
Also focused on the provision of financial support for minority student success is the National Action Council for Minority Engineers. NACME provides more than $4 million in scholarship money each year to undergraduate minority students in engineering fields. In addition, NACME leverages its relationships with institutions to help students complete STEM degrees and prepare to enter graduate study.
