Texas Border Business
South Texas College, the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, and the Consulate of Mexico in McAllen formalized an official IME Becas Memorandum of Understanding that will lay the foundation for a partnership seeking to increase the educational attainment level of Mexicans or persons of Mexican origin living in the US.
The Consulate provided South Texas College with $7,500 to provide scholarships to qualifying students, and STC will be matching these funds of a total of $15,000.
The IME Becas scholarship funds will be used to benefit a total of 15 eligible students at South Texas College at $1,000 per student. Scholarship funds will be distributed and designated to pay for tuition & fees, and textbooks in accordance with the terms outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Consulate and STC.
A signing ceremony was held on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at the Consulate offices in McAllen. Matthew Hebbard, Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management accepted the funds on behalf of South Texas College.
“This helps a lot of our students, especially our undocumented students,” Hebbard said. “It gives them the ability to attend school and it helps them to be able to graduate on time, which is very important to us.”
IME stands for “Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior” or “Institute for Mexicans Abroad” in English.
The “IME Fellowship Program” of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America has as its mission to improve access opportunities for Mexicans and individuals of Mexican origin in all educational levels through its adult education and higher education programs in the United States of America.
“This means support for the student Mexican community at these institutions,” said McAllen Consul Guillermo Ordorica Robles. “This has benefitted over 60,000 students of Mexican origin in the United States since 2005. We are very pleased to present these checks to institutions that are so close to the Mexican community and the consulate.”
