More students from across San Antonio will soon be going to college without any financial burden, with a historic $7.2 million grant set to be distributed to a trio of private San Antonio universities from the Hector and Gloria López Foundation.
The institutions receiving the grants, which are intended to help remove barriers for first-generation students entering college from high school, or transfer students, include the University of the Incarnate Word, Our Lady of the Lake University and St. Mary’s University.
The needs-based financial assistance will be awarded randomly, according to a press release from OLLU.
According to multiple press releases on the grants, students must demonstrate financial need, be the first in their family to attend college and live in or graduate from a high school in one of five focus areas — El Paso, Austin, San Antonio and communities in South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.
Recipients, known as López Scholars, will receive tuition assistance as well as funding for a range of expenses associated with higher education, like housing, paid internships, study abroad programs and leadership development, according to the release.
The large grants come at the same time public universities are expanding tuition-free programs for students, putting higher education in reach of more San Antonians than ever before.
Funding will also help remove other barriers for first-generation college students, such as purchasing a laptop, obtaining health insurance or securing childcare.
“This will be a transformative gift for many of our students, about 40 percent of whom are first-generation,” OLLU President Abel A. Chavez said in a statement.
The grant reflects the mission of the Hector and Gloria López Foundation, which was founded in honor of the couple, married business partners and prominent community figures from South Texas.
According to a press release from UIW, the couple “viewed their higher educational opportunities as the basis for their economic prosperity.”
The grants are designed to help students graduate debt-free with the “resources, leadership skills, and support needed to achieve lasting economic success.”
“The University of the Incarnate Word and the López Foundation align in so many ways, but at the heart is our shared belief that higher education is a catalyst for economic and social mobility and key to the growth — and good — of our region,” UIW President Thomas M. Evans said in a statement.
In addition to breaking down barriers for all first-generation students, the grant aligns with UIW’s goal of increasing the number of Latino students receiving higher education.
The university referenced projections by the Texas Demographic Center that estimate four in 10 workers in the Texas labor force will be Latino by 2031.
At the same time, 3 in 10 Texas jobs will require a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the university, meaning that at least one and a half times more Latinos will need to earn a bachelor’s or graduate degree focused on high-demand fields like healthcare, business and finance, computer and mathematical science and education to meet workforce demand in the coming years.
The president of the foundation, Sergio Rodríguez, said the organization was excited for the comprehensive opportunities the funding will provide.
“We believe that, when possible, students should have the opportunity to pursue higher education without financial burden,” he said in a statement.
