LaGuardia Community College today is expected to receive $4.5 million in federal grants to increase education opportunities for Hispanic and low-income students, and to help prepare veterans to re-enter civilian life.

With Hispanic students lagging behind other groups in earning bachelor’s degrees, the Bush administration is seeking to close the achievement gap by awarding $17.2 million in grants to colleges that enroll a high percentage of Hispanic students.

About two-thirds of LaGuardia students pursuing college degrees are recent immigrants to America, and 80% of the student body needs help learning basic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic.

The college, which enrolls 54,000 students a year, has a graduation rate that is 60% higher than the national average for community colleges.

LaGuardia, an affiliate school of the City University of New York, is also aiming to fund new programs that will help war veterans make a smooth transition to civilian life.

The school received more than $1.25 million from the federal government last month to help prepare veterans to enter college, and a $45,000 grant from CUNY to create an outreach program for those veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat of Manhattan, together with the president of LaGuardia, Gail Mellow, will announced the latest grant this afternoon at a news conference in the Long Island City section of Queens.