The question to Miami educators was straight forward:

If we want more Hispanics students attending college, what do we need to do?

``We want to hear from you directly and ask you what would you tell the president if you could,'' Juan Sepulveda, director of the White House's Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, asked during a visit to Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus.

``And more importantly, we need you to sign up and join us to create a national network of folks with a common goal,'' he added.

Sepulveda, who attended Stanford, Harvard and Oxford, and is only the third Hispanic to be named a Rhodes Scholar, visited MDC as apart of a ``community conversations'' tour to get feedback to take back to the administration.

Since starting his new job, Sepulveda said he's been traveling traveling and talking education reform. Miami is the 25th community he's visited. In all, he'll visit 18 states and make 40 stops. Sepulveda capped off each session by inviting six audience members to come to the stage, take a chair and tell him what advice he should take back to the White House. Among those taking part in Monday's session were local college professors and administrators, students and also Miami Dade School Board member Marta Pérez, who recommended parental involvement was crucial to getting more Hispanic students into college.

Sepulveda said President Obama has earmarked $100 billion in $767 billion stimulus money for education -- mainly to help keep more kids in high school and get them into college. ``That's more resources than you've ever seen before,'' he said.

And more than than $6 billion in available college loans will be infused into the system, he said.

A large slice of that pie should go to community colleges, like MDC, he said, a haven for Hispanic students.

``There are not enough of us Latinos going to college, but when we do go, this is where we go -- a community college,'' Sepulveda said. ``So how can we help elevate what is happening at community colleges?''

Sepulveda said one important immediate reform is making the complex financial aid forms easier to fill-out by January. ``We have dramatically reduced the pages of question by 67 percent,'' he said.

Last year, an estimated 1 million students eligible for financial aid did not complete the form.

College affordability for Hispanic students is crucial and Pell grants can help. ``Currently, the amount is set at $5,000; we want it to be $5,500 and increase annually.''

Sepulveda said the administration also supports passage of the DREAM Act, which will allow undocumented students to enter college.

``We need your help in working on the Florida congressional folks to get this passed,'' he said.

Sepulveda will hold a similar ``community conversation'' throughout Florida and the Caribbean.

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