No one ever told Irais Vargas she couldn't attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
But no one told her how she could, either.
As a high school senior in 2003, Irais, the oldest child and first high school graduate in her Latino family, didn't know anything about scholarships or financial aid - she didn't even know either existed.
``I didn't think about scholarships really,'' Irais said. ``I didn't know they were out there, and I didn't know that that could have been a way for me to attend UNL.''
And neither did her parents.
They wanted her to further her education. But her mom, an employee at a Tyson Foods meat packing plant in Madison, didn't speak English and didn't know what a college credit was - let alone a Free Application for Federal Student Aid form.
Irais had enough academic talent for UNL - just not enough help getting there.
Which is unfortunate, as the 17-year-old Latina student with a 3.0 GPA likely would have qualified for both state and federal aid as well as a slew of scholarships, including merit-based, need-based and ethnicity-based.So, she did what she knew how to do - attend the affordable and nearby Northeast Community College after graduating from Madison High School.
Irais is part of two growing groups in Nebraska. The first consists of Nebraskan Hispanics - between 1990 and 2004, the state's Hispanic population exploded by 220 percent. The second is Hispanic students who don't come to UNL.
While the university's population of Hispanic students has increased, it doesn't parallel the state's rise - the number of Hispanic students on campus has grown by 104.5 percent in the past five years, the furthest back UNL's Institutional Research could trace.
With nearly every university official stressing the importance of diversity at UNL, the Daily Nebraskan wondered what the problem was.
If the surrounding pool of Hispanic high-school graduates is growing, why is it taking UNL so long to reflect such diversity?
The issue is complex for many reasons, which the Daily Nebraskan will explore in a weeklong series by profiling five Hispanic students as they transition from high school to college.
What the newspaper found, though, wasn't a complete failure on UNL's part. It's not that UNL's Office of Admissions isn't trying to recruit students from Nebraska's growing population of Hispanics. The problem is that many of those students either can't afford to go to UNL or don't meet admission requirements - or both.
UNL officials say they are addressing the state's booming Hispanic population and making strides in many aspects of Hispanic recruitment. But no matter how hard UNL tries to bring Hispanics to campus, they can only do so much.
A number of obstacles stand in the way of the university's drive for diversity, and to overcome them, experts say it's going to take a statewide effort.
And that effort needs to start now, because in 12 years an estimated 25 percent of Nebraska's high school graduates will be Hispanic.
Preparing students
To bring Hispanic students to campus, the university has to not only recruit them, but also prepare them to be recruited, according to numerous UNL admissions officials and high school counselors. Many Hispanics who graduate from Nebraska high schools do so without taking college preparatory coursework.
Although the population of college-aged Hispanics might be rising, the number of those students who are college eligible isn't rising as fast.
One way the university combats this is by making students aware of UNL's admission requirements early on, said Amber Hunter, a UNL admissions counselor who focuses on minority recruitment. The admissions office has implemented programs aimed at high school underclassmen that stress the importance of college preparatory coursework.
``If a student doesn't start out that way as a freshman, it's hard to recruit them as a senior,'' Hunter said.
The admissions office is even talking to students in elementary school.
``We talk about the importance of school to keep them motivated and how education can make dreams come true,'' Hunter said. ``In some of younger programs, the push is just to stay in school.''
In trying to ensure high school students are prepared for college, UNL has gone above and beyond typical recruiting practices, said Colleen Jones, assistant to the chancellor and a clinical assistant professor of management at the College of Business Administration.
But the university is not fully responsible.
``That's an issue for the local communities to address - not UNL,'' Jones said.
Language Barrier
Many high school seniors, although itching for independence, still rely on their parents to help fill out college applications, submit the FAFSA and schedule standardized testing dates. But commonly, Hispanic high school students are forced to face these tasks on their own because their parents don't speak, read or understand English.
Alan Cerveny, dean of admissions at UNL, said in response to this hurdle, the admissions office prefers bilingual candidates when hiring. Through part-time employees who are also bilingual college students, campus tours can now inform both students and parents. Additionally, four of the office's 16 full-time staff members are bilingual.
But even Cerveny admits that is not enough.
``It's one of those things we'd like to work to improve,'' he said.
But in light of Irais's experience, UNL has a long way to go to bridge the communication gap.
As a high school senior, no bilingual university representatives ever spoke to her mother and a translator was never around to help out.
So all the information she learned about scholarships, the FAFSA, residence halls and college in general, she had to later explain to her mother.
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