$2.7M grant to aid Hispanic students at Nevada State College

Nevada State College has earned a $2.7 million federal grant to assist in expanding education opportunities for Hispanic students on the path to becoming teachers.

The grant, announced Tuesday, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Title V Program, and will be used to attract more Hispanic high school students into the education field, assist them in passing the teacher competency exams and decrease the students’ time to finish their degrees. It is the largest grant in the college’s history.

“I’m thrilled for the college, but I’m most excited for the impact this will have on our terrific students who have chosen teaching as a career that will make such a difference in the future of Nevada,” said Bart Patterson, president of Nevada State College.

The award comes as the college is growing significantly. Patterson said last week that freshman enrollment for 2017 was up 70 percent over last year. Of those 550 freshman, 58 percent are Hispanic. Nevada State College also is set to acquire a building that is next to campus, which will add 20,000 square feed of classroom instruction space.

Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.