Project MAPS encourages path to grad school for Hispanic students

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
August 22, 2007

The Making Access and Participation Successful Project (Project MAPS) at Texas State University-San Marcos will host a one-day seminar Sept. 8 to prepare students in gaining admission into the Graduate College.

This one-day event will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the LBJ Student Center’s teaching theatre on campus. It is designed to assist Hispanic, first-generation and other interested students in admission procedures, and will provide attendees with the information needed to prepare for academic and financial success.

Project MAPS has four segments creating an educational pathway from freshman year to graduate school. Segment four addresses the need for Hispanic seniors to compete their senior year, graduate and enroll in graduate school at Texas State. GRE prep, statement of purpose writing and financial aid preparation are among the workshops to be presented.

“Students need to understand that it is possible to go to graduate school,” said Marco Montoya, director of the Texas ENLACE Office. “It’s not a dream but a reality and they need to realize that it requires early planning.”

In the fall of 2006, the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation awarded Texas State University-San Marcos a grant of $224,379.00 to support the project. MAPS is operated by the Texas ENLACE Office (TEO) out of the College of Health Professions at Texas State. TEO seeks to increase the Hispanic presence on campus, and since its inception in 1999 its major accomplishments have included working with area community colleges and Texas State in significantly increasing the number of Hispanic college graduates, and also increasing Hispanic transfer students.

For more information, please contact Rob Silva at (512) 245-9647 or via email at rs1237@txstate.edu.