The Latin American Educational Foundation is proud to celebrate 60 years of providing access to higher education for Hispanics in Colorado.

With Hispanics comprising the fastest growing minority population in the nation, and the workforce requiring more education than ever before, something must be done to increase the number of Hispanics who complete degrees in higher education-lest more Hispanics end up in poverty. Today, access to Higher Education is critically important in order "to advance the economic and social status of Hispanics the Hispanic community," as demonstrated by the following statistics:

72% of Hispanics students in Denver drop out of school, the worst rate in the country

40% increase in tuition rates at Colorado's universities and colleges in the past five years.

$5.2 Billion would be added to the Colorado economy if minority children graduated at the same rate as whites by 2020.

5,300 scholarships have been awarded to Colorado youth through LAEF, totaling 5.5 million.

These figures show an alarming trend in the lack of advanced education for Hispanic students. A significant barrier to this is the increasing cost of higher education. LAEF addresses these issues by providing programs which increase access to higher educational opportunities for Hispanic students.