Woodbury University receives federal grants to provide financial aid for Hispanic students

Woodbury University receives federal grants to provide financial aid for Hispanic students

The U.S. Departments of Education as well as Housing and Urban Development will provide Woodbury University in Burbank, California, with $3.4 million in federal grants to benefit the school's master of architecture program.

The funds will be distributed over the next five years in two different forms.

The $2.8 million Promoting Post-baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) grant will be used to upgrade technology in the university's School of Architecture, add one- as well as three-year programs to the current graduate architecture curriculum and provide financial aid to eligible students.

The university will also receive $600,000 to benefit its Arid Lands Institute that aims to develop solutions for water-related problems in low-income communities in the western part of the country.

The PPOHA is part of the Title V program, which is intended to increase academic opportunities, program caliber and the number of institutions enrolling a significant percentage of Hispanic students. Woodbury's School of Architecture was selected for the funding based on its history of accepting Latino students in the program, who currently account for 40 percent of the school's student body.

Kenneth R. Nielsen, president of the university, said that these grants will help the school offer Hispanic students "significantly increased opportunities and build stronger communities for the future."

Such grants may offer financial aid for members of the Hispanic community who wish to further their education through convenient options such as online education.