[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 176 (Wednesday, September 11, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 73555-73556]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-20703]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 11, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 73555]]

                Proclamation 10804 of September 6, 2024

                
National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week, 2024

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Education is a ticket to a better life, and for more 
                than 4.7 million Hispanic and Latino students, 
                Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) make it possible. 
                The over 500 HSIs across our country are home to over 
                half of Hispanic and Latino college students. During 
                National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week, we 
                celebrate these critical postsecondary institutions, 
                which empower our students to pursue the full limits of 
                their talent and ambition.

                HSIs are engines of opportunity, success, and upward 
                mobility. They serve Dreamers, first-generation college 
                students, and many who come from low-income and 
                underserved communities. HSIs empower their students, 
                no matter the students' backgrounds, to obtain their 
                degrees and begin building a more secure, prosperous 
                future for themselves and their families.

                My Administration is committed to giving HSIs the 
                resources they need to support the students they serve. 
                That is why we invested over $15 billion in HSIs, 
                including $11 billion through the American Rescue 
                Plan--the largest investment in Hispanic and Latino 
                college students in our Nation's history. I also 
                established the first-ever White House Initiative on 
                Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic 
                Opportunity through Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 
                which will support HSIs in building their capacity to 
                provide a high-quality education, identify 
                opportunities for these institutions to participate in 
                Federal programs, and help to ensure HSIs can continue 
                to be engines of educational opportunity and economic 
                mobility.

                We are also working to make college more affordable for 
                every American and to relieve the crushing burden of 
                student loan debt. We have approved the cancellation of 
                nearly $170 billion in student loan debt for nearly 5 
                million people through various actions. We repaired the 
                Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), giving 
                more breathing room to teachers, nurses, law 
                enforcement officials, first responders, and other 
                public servants. My Administration has already provided 
                relief to 946,000 borrowers through PSLF--before I took 
                office, only 7,000 public servants had received debt 
                relief through this program. We secured a $900 increase 
                to the maximum Pell Grant award--the largest increase 
                in over a decade--lowering the cost of higher education 
                for underserved students. We are also taking steps to 
                help borrowers manage their payments through income-
                driven repayment and get access to benefits through 
                fixes to public service loan forgiveness, borrower 
                defense, and other key types of discharges. And earlier 
                this year, I laid out my Administration's new plans 
                that would provide debt relief for more than 30 million 
                Americans when combined with everything we have done so 
                far.

                The promise of America is big enough for everyone to 
                succeed--we just have to make sure we keep the doors of 
                opportunity open. This week, may we celebrate the more 
                than 500 HSIs, which support our Latino students, put 
                new possibilities within their reach, and give them a 
                fair shot at the American Dream.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 9 
                through

[[Page 73556]]

                September 15, 2024, as National Hispanic-Serving 
                Institutions Week. I call on public officials, 
                educators, and all the people of the United States to 
                observe this week with appropriate programs, 
                ceremonies, and activities that acknowledge the many 
                ways these institutions and their graduates contribute 
                to our country.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                ninth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2024-20703
Filed 9-10-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P