2Futuro Meets Needs of a Changing Student Population

Editor’s Note: The following is a feature from the USA Funds^® 2006 annual report. USA Funds Education Access Report is highlighting the students, financial-aid administrators and education-lending professional featured in the annual report to highlight the ways in which USA Funds is a trusted partner in changing times. To access the full report online, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Vernon Bridges describes his school as one that prides itself on its student diversity. Whittier College, the financial-aid director says, takes its federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution seriously.

So when Bridges learned that Whittier College could help test 2Futuro, a new education finance and outreach program for Hispanic students and their parents, he called his decision to take part “a no-brainer.”

“It makes no sense to be an HSI without having this,” Bridges says. “This program speaks to a growing population of families and students entering higher education. We want to make ethnic diversity more than something to which we pay lip service.”

A joint initiative of USA Funds and Sallie Mae, 2Futuro is the only Spanish-first, bilingual loan program with dedicated customer-service support to students, parents and financial-aid administrators. In fiscal 2006, 10 postsecondary schools, including Whittier, began piloting the program, which will be available to schools nationwide in 2007.

In California — where Whittier is located — the Latino population is projected to increase by more than 33 percent between 2005 and 2015, according to a fact sheet underwritten by USA Funds in fiscal 2006. “Latinos in Higher Education in California,” prepared by Excelencia in Education, also notes that in 2002-2003 Latinos represented 33 percent of public high-school graduates in California. By 2013 students of that ethnic group are expected to comprise almost 50 percent of those graduates.

Bridges says his school’s Latino enrollment has been holding steady. A liberal-arts school, Whittier’s overall enrollment is about 1,300.

To qualify as an HSI, schools must maintain a Hispanic enrollment of at least 25 percent, and half of the Hispanic enrollment must be low-income students. Bridges says he sees his office’s use of 2Futuro as a first step in building a broad range of programs that address the needs of this student population.

“We’re excited about it,” he says. “To this point, there was not anything this groundbreaking. There was nothing near what this product offers. I’m proud of our office for taking this step.”

2Futuro and the “Latinos in Higher Education in California” report are among many initiatives offered or supported by USA Funds in 2006 to address the needs of a changing population in higher education. Other support ranged from hosting an annual symposium for representatives of Minority Serving Institutions, to grants to support fund-raising galas of scholarship organizations focusing on minority students.

Simplifying the financial-aid process
The 2Futuro Web site, www.2futuro.com, offers students and families information — in Spanish or English — about planning for college, paying for college and managing education-loan debt. Financial-aid administrators and high-school counselors also can turn to 2Futuro for tools to help students plan, prepare and pay for college.

Nearly half of Bridges’ staff members speak Spanish. He believes the financial-aid section of the school’s Web site, which now links to the 2Futuro site, should reflect that.

Whittier implemented 2Futuro in fall 2006. Though Bridges says it’s too soon to say what impact the program will have on the school’s students and their families, for now he wants 2Futuro to begin alleviating fears that Latino students and their families might have about applying for financial aid.

Latinos received lower average amounts of financial aid to pay for college compared with all ethnic groups in California, according to the Excelencia in Education study.

“One aspect of 2Futuro that’s good is the fact that it attempts to make the financial-aid process less complicated,” Bridges says. “This is a way to draw families into our office, so they don’t just hear ‘financial aid’ and turn away. We want to reach those who might not have considered financial aid beforehand.”