"Dándole Alas a Tu Éxito/Giving Flight to Your Success" travel award program

Southwest Airlines, in conjunction with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), launched its annual educational travel award program today. Celebrating its fourth year, the "Dándole Alas a Tu Éxito/Giving Flight to Your Success" program provides roundtrip tickets to undergraduate and graduate students across the country with socio-economic need who travel away from home to pursue a higher education. Students can apply online at http://www.hacu.net/hacu/lanzate_EN.asp.

"Southwest Airlines is proud to support Hispanic youth achieving their dreams of a higher education," said Laura Nieto, Senior Manager of Southwest Airlines Corporate Community Affairs. "We are also happy to provide affordable air travel to families with students away from home. Southwest keeps family bonds strong while students receive a college education."

In this year's program, each student is eligible to receive between one and four roundtrip tickets for the student and/or parent to use when traveling to/from the university. National education advocates and community leaders will determine the winners based on specific criteria including academic standing, financial need, and a written essay. The complimentary airline ticket(s) can be used for travel to any of the 64 destinations that Southwest serves.

Experts on Hispanic college students believe attainment levels would improve if students were more willing to travel longer distances to colleges well suited to meet their needs according to a Pew Hispanic Center report. Because proximity to home continues to be a barrier to achieving educational goals for Latino students, Southwest Airlines and HACU are addressing Hispanic college student success while keeping them connected to family.

Travel award recipients will be notified the week of July 28, 2008. HACU, which has its national headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, represents more than 450 colleges and universities, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), which collectively serve more than two-thirds of all Hispanic higher education students in the United States. HACU's international membership includes leading higher education institutions in Latin America and in Spain.

www.southwest.com

For additional information, contact:
Lorena Blanco
Executive Director of Development and Marketing
HACU
(210) 576-3224
Development@hacu.net

Click here for more information
http://www.hacu.net/hacu/lanzate_EN.asp