Hispanic Scholarship Fund

Generation 1^st Degree - A Degree in Every Latino Household

The future of U.S. competitiveness depends on increasing the number of Americans with college degrees, and at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund we recognize that Hispanic Americans are a vital component reaching of this goal. That is why in October of 2010, HSF joined groups including the White House, the Lumina Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in calling for a national effort to significantly increase the number of college graduates over the next two decades.

Our initial effort was to launch Generation 1st Degree campaign to close the "degree gap" that exists between Latino students and their peers by helping at least one person in each household earn a college degree so they can, in turn, motivate and help others in the family to seek the same achievement. The goal is to add more than 14 million new Hispanic college graduates by 2025, a number that would bring the degree attainment rate to 60 percent and help close the projected educational disparity that is likely to develop if current trends continue.

The Generation 1st Degree campaign brings together state and national leaders in education, executives from foundations and corporations, with the common goal of strengthening America by making a college education a viable choice for all Latinos in this country.

Working together, we envision a future when every Hispanic household benefits from someone in the family with a college degree - someone who becomes the seed of change that inspires siblings, friends and an entire generation of Hispanics to go to college.

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