On Top of the News
Improving Economic Diversity at the Better Colleges
2/5/14 | New York Times Opinionator

Behind the Headline
‘No Excuses’ Kids Go to College
Spring 2013 | Education Next

The proportion of children from low-income families who obtain a college degree is low — around 9 percent — compared with 50 percent of children from affluent families, notes Peg Tyre in the New York Times. “The reasons for these disparities are clear but the remedies are complicated,” she continues.

Recently, Tyre notes, some colleges and universities have taken steps to create more economically diverse student bodies. She goes on to describe what is happening at Franklin & Marshall College, a small liberal arts school in Lancaster, Pa. that boosted financial aid to low-income students and then sought out the most promising low-income students in the nation, in part by working with high-performing charter networks.

In the Spring 2013 issue of Education Next, Robert Pondiscio took a close look through the pipeline from the other end.  In ‘No Excuses Kids Go to College: Will high-flying charters see their low-income students graduate,” he described efforts by KIPP and other charter networks to help their students enroll in and graduate from top colleges.

-Education Next