Cedar Falls, Iowa, may seem a bit extreme to travel to for a college education, but if it was basically a free education, you might think twice.

In the Fall of 1999, the University of Northern Iowa offered minority students attending Palo Alto College the opportunity to attend their institution on fully paid scholarships. Representatives from the mid-west university traveled to San Antonio on a mission to recruit and diversify their school with Latinos from the San Antonio area.

According to UNI’s website, Iowa mandates that its institutions achieve a minority population that makes up 8.5 percent of its student body. Approximately 4.4 percent of UNI’s population is minority, an all-time high and an increase over last year. The state’s population numbers indicate it would be impossible to reach that mandate by recruiting solely in Iowa.

The solution is one of the most unusual and ambitious campus diversity plans in the United States.

The 2+2 transfer plan between Palo Alto and UNI was seldom used because of cost and family priorities.

Two UNI employees, Roland Carrillo, financial aid director and

Juanita Wright, assistant admissions director, both Hispanics from San Antonio, decided to try harder to tap the Hispanic population there.

“We value diversity and we’ve tried for years to increase our minority enrollment,”said Carrillo. “Now we have this golden pipeline (from San Antonio).”

In all, 18 Palo Alto students accepted the University of Northern Iowa’s offer in the Fall of 2000. Of those 18, only one has returned for personal reasons and was replaced by another Palo Alto student at the beginning of the Spring semester.

Clark Elmer, director of enrollment management and admissions at UNI, said it is expected that a certain number of students in any population will withdraw.

Leslie Prieto, a graduate from Business Careers High School, attended Palo Alto for three years before making the move to Cedar Falls. “It’s great, but not an easy road to take,” said Prieto. “It takes perseverance and courage to be successful away from home, away from your comfort zone. It is definitely a challenge, but I will not quit.”

Prieto overcame the challenges of settling into Iowa life. “You learn your lesson the first year you are here about how to manage time without the support of your family,” she said. “I know God has a purpose for my presence in Iowa. You know you’ve settled in when you are out with your friends and you accidentally say, ‘All right, let’s go home you guys! Oops, I mean back to the dorms.’ This isn’t home; San Antonio is my home,” Prieto said.

In addition to her schoolwork, Prieto has the opportunity to bring Spanish music to Cedar Falls. “I deejay for UNI’s radio station KGRK every weekend, and I play Latino music. No other station in this town plays it,” she said.

According to Prieto, UNI has opened other doors for her. “The benefits are your priceless education, your priceless experience, and priceless new friendships. The world opens all these doors, and it’s up to you to open the right ones,” she said.

Janet Ramirez fellow student at UNI and former Palo Alto student, has kept busy as well. “I am the president of the Hispanic Latino Student Union for UNI, and this is the first year to be active with more than 25 active members,” she said.

The HLSU has participated in many UNI campus activities, such as Diversity Week and the Homecoming Parade, where the HLSU decorated a float bearing resemblance to the many floats in San Antonio’s Battle of Flowers Parade. The group celebrated Hispanic Heritage month in October, and participated in a Bilingual Education Panel Discussion, where they were able to share their points of view with the UNI student body.

Ramirez is also involved in many other organizations such as Ethnic Student Promoters, Student Life and the International Club. “I can’t express how happy I am for every one of us, but also of the commitment, dedication and definitely (the) effort that each of us has done to make our experience at UNI valuable and treasureable with many wonderful memories,” Ramirez said.

She said she has no regrets about attending UNI other than missing her family, but knows she was given this opportunity for a reason. “The reason is because we have brought more salsa to the UNI campus… and that makes me proud. We have a lot to be thankful for because a lot of the students have never been exposed to Hispanic individuals,” Ramirez said.

Janet’s twin sister, Iris Ramirez, also attends UNI, but misses San Antonio’s diverse culture. “I miss having to live in a place where my culture is not well established,” Ramirez said.

According to Iris, the deciding factor for both of the sisters was that either they both would attend UNI or they would both stay with their parents in San Antonio. “At first, my parents did not want for either of us to come to Cedar Falls; it was either both or none. It was pretty hard to make them understand our situation and that this was a great opportunity for both of us. Finally, they just wanted the best for us, and they gave us the opportunity to make a choice,” Iris Ramirez said. “It is also good, because it has helped me to become more independent and to face the world without fear.”

Cesar Hernandez, former Treasurer of the Palo Alto Student Senate, is also glad he made the trip to UNI. “Leaving my family was probably the hardest of all because in my family, and our culture, family is so united. But despite the change, I have adjusted step by step and will by the help of many friendly people here,” said Hernandez.

In January, Hernandez was elected Senator for one of the most diverse halls on the UNI campus, and he has also become involved in the UNI student government. “Balancing academics and extra-curricular activities is a great big task, but it is helping me get prepared for the real world,” said Hernandez. “I found out last semester that I needed to get my time management and my priorities set straight, because it was very easy to waste time.”

He believes he has benefited from his time spent at UNI by his leadership roles, learning experiences in the classroom as well as outside of them, his time management skills and by taking on new challenges.
“We need to take risks because in the long run, it will pay off,” said Hernandez. “It will be bumpy, but there are angels that will help us along the way. We need to take these challenges and opportunities, because they only come once in a lifetime.”

As the school year closes, another group of students will accept the UNI offer and make the journey to Cedar Falls. Daniel Garcia, presently a student at Palo Alto, has made the commitment to join his former Palo Alto schoolmates at UNI. “This is an opportunity to see something else. I was just here at the right time to hear about the opportunity,” Garcia said.

Elmer explains that the Palo Alto students came to the northern university with solid academic credentials. "When students come in with such strong academic preparation, they will typically perform well in this environment," he said.

The success or failure of UNI’s Hispanic students will be determined to a great degree on how much attention and resources the university devotes to making the experiment work, believes Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities in San Antonio.

“They are taking students who have made a concious decision to succeed - and their families are behind them,”Flores said.”The university seems to be supporting them. All the basic ingredients are there.”
The Office of Admissions at UNI reports having more than 80 students on their list of potential recruits for next year.

Transfer Advisor Charley Garcia said that many universities are interested in Palo Alto because of the number of students who transfer to four-year schools. “We are nationally ranked,” Garcia said. “There are a lot of incentives for those who go on to four year universities; I am here to give them their options.”

It sounds as if those options are starting to pay off for the 18 students who made the trip to Cedar Falls. In all, they will receive free UNI tuition, room and board, a $12,000 value, as long as the students keep at least a 2.5 grade point average. The students from San Antonio are responsible for their schoolbooks and a $100.00 residence re-contracting fee that is due yearly.

Traveling to Iowa may not be that extreme after all.