The Hispanic Scholarship Fund announced on Tuesday a new public service advertising campaign aimed at encouraging Hispanic teens to attend college, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The fund aims to increase the percentage of higher education degrees in the Hispanic population from 19 percent to over 60 percent by 2025, and also to achieve at least one college degree in each Hispanic family by that time. Estimates show that meeting this goal would result in a $13-trillion increase in incomes among the Hispanic population and boost U.S. tax revenue by $2.2 trillion, The Chronicle reported.
In an effort to promote the election of "education champions," the National Education Association has launched a $15-million advertising campaign in battleground states during this year's midterm election season, with most of the money going to Democratic campaigns, The Washington Post reported. Despite their opposition to some of President Barack Obama's education improvement policies including pay based on performance for teachers in low achieving schools NEA's political director Karen White said that the NEA, the nation's largest union of teachers, is mostly in support of the Obama administration's education initiatives, according to The Post. White told The Post that Democrats in Congress passed a $10 billion education bill last August, and that she hopes the advertising campaign will influence upcoming revisions of the 2002 No Child Left Behind act. Although the NEA primarily backs Democrats, it does support a small number of Republicans who uphold its values, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Reps. Anh "Joseph" Cao, R-La., and Judy Biggert, R-Ill., according to The Post.
Saving for higher education is the top saving priority for 21 percent of Americans, according to new data from Sallie Mae and Gallup. The saving rate was second only to the saving rate for retirement, which 22 percent of Americans said was their first saving priority. Sallie Mae noted that the saving rate for higher education has remained relatively constant despite the recent national economic downturn, Inside Higher Ed reported. The poll also found that of those who are not saving for college, 28 percent said they were unsure of their best options for doing so and 18 percent did not know how.
