Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Launches New Initiative to Double the Number of Low Income Students in the U.S. Who Earn a Postsecondary Degree by Age 26

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced grants totaling $69.8 million to organizations working to improve college enrollment and completion rates in the United States, including grants to organizations in New York City, New Mexico, and California that primarily serve Latino students. With a goal of getting more young people to and through college, the foundation aims to double the number of low-income students who earn a postsecondary degree or credential with genuine value in the workplace by age 26 — an increase of approximately 250,000 graduates each year.

“When our co-chairs asked what else we might do in the United States to reduce inequities, everything was on the table. But the evidence led us back to education. There is no greater door to opportunity in this country than access to a quality education,” said Allan Golston, president of the foundation’s U.S. Program. “Today, Americans without a college education live close to the poverty line for a family of four. That is why we are making a long term commitment to dramatically increase college completion — a goal that is both ambitious and necessary.”

The launch of this new domestic initiative reflects the foundation’s commitment to continuing to strengthen educational opportunities for everyone in the U.S., and its optimism that in a period when resources are constrained, innovation is essential, and success is possible. While a distinct initiative, this work will leverage the foundation’s ongoing work to improve college-ready graduation rates.

While U.S. rates of high school students going to college continues to rank among the highest in the world, most U.S. students who enroll in college will never graduate, including a disproportionate number of Hispanics. Overall, the U.S. postsecondary completion rate currently ties for tenth for among industrialized nations. Only about 25 percent of low-income students will earn a postsecondary degree and the rate for African-American and Hispanic students drops to about 20 percent.

“College enrollment rates have grown rapidly over the past forty years, but completion rates haven’t kept pace,” said Hilary Pennington, who will direct the foundation’s postsecondary success work. “Getting students to college isn’t enough — we must help them get through college. We are proud to join other foundations that are already working on this important effort.”

The grants announced today reflect the foundation’s commitment to using data to shape its investments by building on the most promising programs and policies already underway, catalyzing innovation in areas where there has been limited success, and, over the longer term, bringing the most promising practices to scale.

First, the foundation will work to build commitment among key policymakers, educators, business, and community leaders to increasing postsecondary completion rates. Grant-funded work will begin to establish an evidence base for change through awareness-raising research and reports, like Measuring Up, and the development of policy recommendations to drive greater access and completion. Additionally, given the nation’s economic challenges, it is critical now more than ever that young people are learning the skills necessary to prepare them for the future. Investments in research and best practices will begin to give educators, students, and policymakers a better understanding of which postsecondary degrees produce the biggest returns in the labor market.

“Hispanics continue to grow as a proportion of the labor force, and yet they are not getting the postsecondary degrees that will prepare them to excel in the modern economy,” said Gil Conchas, Ph.D., senior program officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “With these new grants, organizations will be able to help more young people get through college.”

The foundation will also invest in efforts that ensure the postsecondary education system can support increased completion rates in two- and four-year colleges. When they get to college, minority students are more likely than white students to need costly remedial coursework, as are first-generation students. Nearly half of all college students require some remedial instruction, a number that rises to nearly 60 percent in community colleges. This often delays student progress and limits completion rates. Foundation investments will be aimed at accelerating success in remedial courses in community colleges, including a grant to MDC to build on successful pilot programs within the Achieving the Dream network of schools. MDC will also support data systems in up to five states that are willing to publicly track and assess remediation education performance in two and four-year colleges.

“The Achieving the Dream Network of colleges has made significant progress in developing innovative programs designed to improve remedial education, some of which show real promise,” said Jamie Merisotis, president of the Lumina Foundation, a charitable organization that invests in postsecondary success efforts. “We will now be able to scale up the most promising of these programs in order to impact more students and begin significantly increasing completion rates.”

Finally, the Gates Foundation will invest in initiatives aimed at ensuring young people have the financial, social, and academic support to succeed in college. For example, MDRC will work over four years to grow and evaluate its Pay for Persistence initiative in two and four-year colleges. Initially piloted in Louisiana, the performance-based incentive program will grow to four areas around the country and give students cash and other benefits for enrolling in college full-time and maintaining a minimum GPA in colleges. Grantees such as YouthBuild and the National Employment Youth Coalition will work in San Francisco, Portland, Philadelphia, Columbus, and other U.S. cities to help low-income young adults get on a pathway to college.

The Gates Foundation will work with other philanthropic partners including: the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the College Access Foundation of California, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Lumina Foundation for Education, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Since 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has invested nearly $4 billion in grants and scholarships to increase opportunity in the U.S. by improving high school graduation and college readiness rates, and expanding access to college. The postsecondary success initiative will build upon these investments to help the foundation and its partners prepare more young people for success in life and work, ultimately ensuring greater access to opportunity for more Americans.

For a complete list of Postsecondary Success Initiative Grants, please contact Juanita Panlener at (202) 331-4323 or jpanlener@vancomm.com.

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