MARIETTA - Over the past five years, Hispanic enrollment at Southern Polytechnic State University has grown by 3.1 percent, following a trend at other universities in the state.

In 2004, Hispanics made up 2.5 percent of SPSU's enrollment. Five years later, Hispanics constituted 5.6 percent of the technology school's total enrollment of about 5,100 students in 2009. As a result of the increase, SPSU recently received a $450,000 grant from the Goizueta Foundation.

The university has announced that it will use the grant to provide need-based scholarship assistance to Hispanic students and hire a bilingual Hispanic student enrollment counselor. The position is expected to be filled in mid-March after the current search process is completed.

It was the third time that the Goizueta Foundation has given SPSU a major grant for educational programming that primarily benefits Hispanic students. The late Coca-Cola CEO Roberto C. Goizueta established the foundation in 1992 to support educational programs.

Since 2002, SPSU has received $1.75 million in grants from the foundation to help boost enrollment and recruitment of Hispanic students.

Hispanics represent a quickly growing segment of Georgia's college-age students.

Hispanic enrollment increased by 29 percent, from 9,874 students in the fall of 2008 to 12,734 students last fall. Hispanic students now constitute 4.2 percent of total University System of Georgia enrollment. In fall 2004, there were 6,425 Hispanic students at the state's public colleges and universities.

In the late 1990s, SPSU President Dr. Lisa Rossbacher chaired a task force that studied how the USG should address the growing population. Nearly one in four college-age students in the U.S. is expected to be Hispanic in 15 years, according to estimates.

"The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia was remarkably foresighted when they created a Hispanic Task Force 12-years ago," Rossbacher said.

"The regents were aware that the growing Hispanic population in our state would create a unique set of challenges and opportunities, and they were focused on the role that higher education could play."

In January, Kennesaw State University announced that it was awarded a $660,000 grant by the Goizueta Foundation to develop strategies aimed at improving the retention and graduation rates of Hispanic students. The university reported that it has had moderate success over the years at recruiting Hispanic students, with Hispanic enrollment representing 5 percent of the university's 22,380 current students.

KSU has contracted with Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm, to carry out its study over the next few months.

Rossbacher said scholarship funds provided by the Goizueta Foundation has enabled many students to attend SPSU who would not otherwise have been able to do.

Dr. Ron Koger, SPSU's vice president for student and enrollment services, said Hispanic students and their parents "are looking for jobs that are more applied and related to the local industry and that is what we offer at SPSU."

The increase in the number of Hispanic students on SPSU's campus has had a positive impact on both campus life and outreach efforts, said Rossbacher.

"For example, SPSU's student chapter of the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers has been actively working with local high schools and Junior Achievement of Georgia to help encourage students to attend college," she said. "Many of these Hispanic students have also volunteered to work with other students who are studying Spanish, helping them improve their language skills. They enrich the campus experience for the entire Southern Polytechnic State University community."

Ronald Rodriguez, 21, of Griffin, is a junior at SPSU majoring in mechatronics engineering. He is also a member of the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers and a recipient of the Goizueta Scholarship.

"We've come here to try to make a better living," said Rodriguez, who emigrated from Guatemala to the U.S. at age 4 with his parents. "We've always tried to succeed in everything that we do and just trying to succeed has turned out for the good of not just individuals, but for everybody."

BY THE NUMBERS: HISPANIC ENROLLMENT ON THE RISE

* 2004 - 2.5 percent

* 2005 - 2.6 percent

* 2006 - 3.0 percent

* 2007 - 3.8 percent

* 2008 - 3.8 percent

* 2009 - 5.6 percent

Source: Southern Polytechnic State University