Diana LeRoi-Schmidt

Spring 2019 Newsletter

April 2, 2019 By Diana LeRoi-Schmidt

Quarterly Newsletter

Presidential Perspective: David A. Greene, Colby College

Over the last few years, Colby College has made a concerted effort to diversify its student body. From 2015 to 2018, Colby more than doubled the number of Pell-eligible students in the incoming class and has launched targeted financial aid programs to ensure that access to a Colby education includes low- and middle-income families. We sat down with President David A. Greene, who shared how Colby is making this transformation possible.

"The question for us was: How do you send a very clear message to families that a Colby education can be available to them? … The Colby Commitment and the Fair Shot Fund allow about 87 percent of families in the country—the vast majority—to consider Colby an option.”

– David A. Greene, Colby College.

Q: Why did you personally want to be involved in the American Talent Initiative?

A: The American Talent Initiative has brought together the country’s top universities and colleges all committed toward a common goal. Although, as a whole, higher education institutions are a collaborative and collegial network of organizations, we also compete with one another, so finding areas where we all have a shared interest in making substantial progress is critical. ATI has identified one of those areas, and it’s allowing us to leverage our shared efforts to do something that is of great importance to our institutions and the country.

Q: What were the biggest challenges facing Colby in reaching and enrolling more low- and moderate-income students?

A: Colby is not immune to the fundamental issues facing the nation’s top liberal arts colleges. One is that we’re seen as expensive, so affordability is critical. And for many lower- and moderate-income families, a focus on applied learning and access to the first job has become the calling card for a set of fields like engineering, for example, that are not the backbone of liberal arts colleges. Understanding the purpose and mission of a liberal arts college and the extraordinary opportunities provided by this type of education may be challenging for families who are unfamiliar with the liberal arts. I think those two things—affordability and communicating the mission and opportunities afforded at a liberal arts college—present a challenge in reaching families who may be lower-income or who may not have had experiences at places like Colby.

Q: A concern from ATI members and the public is that middle-income students could be squeezed out as institutions expand access for low-income students. Colby has two initiatives that specifically address affordability for both low- and middle-income students—one that provides zero family contribution for families who make less than $60,000 a year, and another that guarantees families who make less than $150,000 will pay no more than $15,000 annually.

Tell us about the thinking that went into the design of these incentives.

A: The question for us was: How do you send a very clear message to families that a Colby education can be available to them? Financial aid policies are often opaque, and it can be difficult to tell how decisions are made. And there’s no doubt that what we do is expensive. The kind of education we provide is faculty-intensive and requires extraordinary resources for undergraduate students. It’s a living learning community with an expansive infrastructure, and all these things are expensive to deliver. My goal is to always be disciplined on the expense side but to appreciate an extraordinary education is expensive to provide while focusing on the affordability issue. We had to send the signal to all families that our doors are open to their children if they are talented, driven, will make the most of a Colby education, and will contribute to the community. We want them here.

The first program we designed to show families they really can afford a Colby education is the Colby Commitment program, which, among other things, makes it possible for families with a household income of $60,000, the median in the U.S., or less to send their child to Colby with no parent or guardian contribution. And we package all financial aid with grants and no loans. This sends an important message to lower-income families, as loans can be a very significant impediment to college choice.

So through the Colby Commitment, about half of the parents in this country will not have to worry themselves about providing a contribution. The other program is called the Fair Shot Fund, which is intended to help middle-income families more broadly—families who feel squeezed out of higher education right now and might think they can’t send their children to schools like Colby. We again considered how to simplify the financial aid process so people would understand it clearly and see that Colby is within their reach. The program has a sliding scale from $60,000 to $150,000. At the top end of that, for those with a family income of $150,000, the expected annual contribution from parents or guardians will be no more than $15,000 a year. Colby’s comprehensive fee is currently about $70,000 a year, so that’s a very significant discount. This makes us less expensive to families than state universities, where the total fees average around $22,000 to $23,000 a year. If Colby is the right place for a student from a middle-income family, it will also be one of the most affordable colleges, and certainly one of the most affordable top colleges, in the country for them.

The Colby Commitment and the Fair Shot Fund allow about 87 percent of families in the country—the vast majority—to consider Colby an option.

Q: These are ambitious financial aid policies. What went into making them possible?

A: A combination of things made these programs possible—primarily philanthropy and institutional commitment.

The Fair Shot Fund came out of an incredible financial commitment following conversations I had with a Colby alumnus. His grandfather immigrated to the United States and worked in a quarry so he could send his children on to top colleges and universities. Then those children had extraordinary opportunities because of the education he provided, and their children have done well, too. We wanted to make sure that all families who are hard-working and trying to do their best in this country also have the opportunity for a great education. How do we keep the American Dream alive for these families?

Having a great gift to start off is important, but the second piece, which is equally important, is having an institutional commitment to getting this work done. That means allocating our own resources toward financial aid. There are many colleges and universities that can do these kinds of things if they make the commitment. It’s fundamentally about whether or not it’s a priority. We wanted to make sure that access and affordability would be a priority for Colby and that we would allocate our resources as well as raise money necessary. One way or another, we were going to get it done since we felt it was so essential to our mission, who we are as an institution, and what our broader place in the world is all about.

Q: It’s still early, but do you have a sense of the impact these policies are having on recruitment and enrollment of low- and moderate-income students?

A: It is early, but there are a few telling statistics. When I came to Colby in 2014, we had 5,000 applications for admission. This year we have 13,584 applications. The vast majority of those students would need significant financial aid to attend. We’ve been able to reach students we hadn’t been able to reach before—both geographically and demographically—which is important to us. The growth and diversity in our applicant pool along all different measures has increased significantly over that time.There are other indicators, too, like our Early Decision pool. Early decision typically attracts students from highly resourced families, but this year, more than 20 percent of the students accepted Early Decision were Pell-eligible.

I’d contrast this to a handful of years ago, when 9 percent of the entire student body at Colby was Pell-eligible. That’s climbing up very significantly. Last year 14 percent of the incoming class was Pell-eligible. Also, in the Early Decision cohort, we’re now at more than 30 percent students of color, which is a real high point for Colby. We’re seeing this demographic diversity shift in our pool because of the work we’re doing, and it’s been so encouraging. And on every measure we look at for academic quality, these students are the most prepared and qualified we’ve ever seen. I think for institutions that are committed to diversity and excellence—and the two things are completely intertwined in my view—having the right financial aid programs and the right messaging around them is a critical component of making that objective a reality.

Q: Part of ATI’s theory of change is that members can benefit from learning from each other about what works and what doesn’t. What lessons have you learned from creating these policies that might benefit your fellow ATI presidents—especially those at smaller private institutions like Colby?

A: I think for all of us, it’s about ensuring that access is an absolute institutional priority.

There are many different calls on the resources of our colleges and universities, and we make decisions every day about those. When we determine something is a high priority we always find a way to make it happen.

I think, for all of us, seeing this as a critical component of higher education is so essential. There are lots of creative ways that institutions can make progress. We’ve found ways that will work for us, others will find their own ways, but it all begins with setting it as an absolute top priority for institutions.

Q: What do you see as ATI’s potential impact on higher education more broadly?

A: ATI encourages the nation’s leading institutions to focus on access as a top priority. The second thing it will do is, by doing the first, it can actually help to change the opportunities we provide, the demographics of our institutions, and ultimately change leadership throughout this country. These are institutions that have long been educating leaders in various fields, and if we are to be able to do that in a way that focuses on diversity and access, we can give all people a chance no matter their background or financial means and allow them to have the very best opportunities in life. That to me is one of the most fundamental things that higher education can do, and ATI is helping to push us all in that direction in a way that will have a major impact not just on our institutions but on the country as a whole.

Beyond Pell: The American Talent Initiative’s Approach

Emily Schwartz, Elizabeth Davidson Pisacreta

In January, economists Caroline Hoxby and Sarah Turner published a study cautioning that efforts to increase enrollment of low-income students at selective colleges could backfire. They posit that using national measures (like Pell or quintile rankings) to evaluate institutional enrollment of low-income students does not fully account for circumstances that vary by state, including the qualifications, preparation, and income levels of states’ high school graduates. In addition, the authors argue that by focusing on increasing Pell enrollment alone, institutions may be incentivized to change their enrollment practices in ways that disadvantage students right above the Pell eligibility cutoff. Hoxby and Turner raise important points that have been the subject of on-going discussion amongst ATI staff, steering committee members, and institutional representatives, including ATI presidents.

ATI uses students’ receipt of Pell to measure our collective progress toward the 50,000-by-2025 goal because it is currently the best publicly-available measure that is comparable across all institutions, allowing ATI to track progress among members and institutions that are eligible for ATI but not currently members. Members have indicated that they find the Pell designation valuable to guide their participation in ATI, and many have set goals for enrolling Pell students, understanding that they are underrepresented at many high-graduation-rate institutions.

However, Pell is not the only measure being used by members in connection to ATI. Many ATI members have set goals related to increasing enrollment, success, and financial aid for non-Pell, moderate-income students; first-generation students; and other underrepresented students. This reflects an understanding among members that, while Pell approximates the bottom half of the income distribution, they can benefit by considering the implications of their enrollment management strategy on the fuller income distribution.¹

ATI staff regularly evaluate our approach to this issue, and over the past year have devised multiple strategies for exploring enrollment changes beyond Pell. These strategies include:

Collecting data on the detailed income distribution: Each year, members are encouraged to submit detailed data on the full income distribution of their enrolled students. In 2018, 55 percent of members that submitted data elected to participate in this voluntary collection.
Setting and reporting on goals that go beyond Pell: Through the Collective Impact Framework, members are encouraged to set enrollment, financial aid, and graduation rate goals for moderate and/or middle-income students, defining income cutoffs in ways that align with institutional and state circumstances.
Facilitating strategic collaborations: ATI is facilitating a collaboration with the CLIMB initiative, which uses tax data from the IRS to help interested members better understand the full income distribution of their students and how those students fare in terms of post-graduation earnings. Learn more about this collaboration by reviewing our May 2018 webinar (deck and recording).
Strengthening practice-sharing: ATI staff have already facilitated a few conversations related to defining “moderate-income,” and are eager to connect members interested in continuing the conversation or learning more. To learn more about past conversations, please review the March 2018 webinar (deck and recording) on this topic.
Robust data analyses: In the coming months, ATI staff will continue to explore the member-submitted data to better understand the relationship between Pell increases and changes in the composition of enrolled students. We look forward to sharing more.
If you have any questions or comments about ATI’s approach or strategies in this area, please reach out to Emily Schwartz.

1. The detailed income distribution data collected from ATI members in 2018 indicated that there is substantial overlap between Pell and the bottom three income categories (incomes $0-$75,000) for students who attend ATI institutions.

The American Talent Initiative

Fall 2018 Newsletter

December 7, 2018 By Diana LeRoi-Schmidt

Quarterly Newsletter

Presidential Perspective: Chancellor Robert Jones, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has shown a commitment to lower-income students, expanding its number of Pell recipients by more than 1,000 during a time of budgetary crisis in the state. The ATI team connected with Chancellor Robert Jones to discuss the institution's success, goals, and investment in ATI.

Q: What made you want to be involved in the American Talent Initiative?

A: It’s pretty simple. I’m extremely passionate about access to and affordability of higher education, and it didn’t start when I became chancellor or president of a university. It goes all the way back to the good old days when I was running my research lab and the first activity I got pulled into outside of my lab was trying to recruit more under-represented minorities, particularly more African American students, into STEM careers. It is one of those grand challenges that all institutions of higher education need to be more strategic and intentional about when thinking about how we solve this complex issue. When I learned about the players and partners involved in ATI, and given my knowledge of the work Illinois was doing to address these issues, the only answer was yes. We’re enthused to be a part of this.

Q: How do you talk about expanding opportunities for low-income students? How do you work with your leadership team, board, or other stakeholders on issues of access and success?

A: It doesn’t take rocket science to understand that if we are to remain and advance as a competitive nation, we’ve got to think about educating the entire masses of the population. And that we then make sure that educational access and affordability is there for a growing segment of our population that heretofore has been underinvested in—and we haven’t done all that we should to prepare them to be successful in higher education. To me, it comes not only from my sense of University of Illinois moving in an important, strategic direction, but to me this is at the core of what excellence and access to success means for a university. It’s an opportunity to make a very profound statement as chancellor of what is, I think, one of the greatest institutions not only in the country but in the world. Our values–equity, diversity, and inclusivity–are at the core of the value proposition for the University of Illinois. So, for those reasons, it was easy for me to articulate my sense of value around this issue of educational access and affordability.

I also had members of my leadership team around me to send a strong message that this will remain a top priority. We will not cut back because of financial constraints. We’re investing in the future of the university’s reputation as a land grant university and the future success of Illinois and, therefore, the future success of the nation. Our trustees also played an important role as well. While the Illinois commitment didn’t require board approval, I made very, very clear that I had each of their verbal support for this before we rolled it out. I needed to make sure it aligned with their value proposition and the fiduciary governing responsibilities they have for the university. Every last one of them was very excited and very complimentary that we would make this kind of financial commitment and that we were rolling it out in an unusual fashion—with billboards up across the state advertising “Free Tuition- Illinois Commitment.” We noted it as one of the things that our board understands—the proposition that this is an amazing university, and that perhaps we’d been a bit too “Midwest modest” and instead to be bold and forthright about what we value and what we invest in. We make sure our trustees are deeply engaged in the big transformative ideas, so they can be supportive when constituents call and ask questions. And so, in many ways, they are our greatest governing entity but also the greatest advocate for advancing the strategic vision of the university.

Q: You expanded the number of Pell recipients enrolled by more than 1,000 during a time of budgetary crisis. What were some of the hard choices you had to make to continue to keep focused on that priority?

A: Illinois had already started down this path before I became the chancellor. I was absolutely committed that we would continue this work, and also that we needed to have an even greater sense of urgency moving forward. We have the largest first-year cohort in the history of the university this year—the most diverse class in the history of the university, with the highest number of first-generation college students. It kind of evolved out of the last strategic plan that was a three-year process that my colleague Dr. Wise rolled out as chancellor. We decided across the board that we would build on that plan, rather than what happens far too often, which is a new leader comes in and decides to reset everything around their vision of the world and where the institution needs to go. The issues that ATI has been formed to address are at the core of that strategic vision, not at the margins.

During the budget crisis, we were able to do an external analysis of our equity and diversity work and create, for the first time, a senior chief diversity officer position. When the state didn’t pay our monetary award program for a couple of years, we had one option: You could pass it along to the students, students that could really ill-afford another item on their bill statement, but we decided very early to protect the students and our faculty as much as we could from the budget crisis. So not only did we cover the cost of the monetary award program, we also increased our investments in financial aid. By the end of my first year, I’d made a commitment to increase by another $10 million. So even in the times of deep budgetary and other challenges, you have to try to protect things that are core to your mission. Access and affordability, and what I call “access to success.” We provide not only access to the university, but access to great careers.

I hope I’m not making it seem like it was simple–it’s not simple–but it comes from a deep sense of commitment that this is at the core of what we care about as an institution, and it should be at the core of those who have been entrusted with future generations of educational attainment and the role that institutions must play in driving the economic vitality and competitiveness of this nation and the decades ahead. While we are very proud of the number of underrepresented groups, first-generation students, low- and middle-income students that we admit, we have to do more. But we know fundamentally that we can’t do this alone.

Q: What opportunities has joining ATI created for you at Illinois?

A: Being a part of ATI has allowed us to take this internal effort that we care greatly about and make it become part of a national strategy. We really do believe that that is the only way you end up having the impact that you are seeking. It has provided a very visible, high-profile platform for us to talk in a clear and unambiguous fashion about how important this is. Everybody sits up and listens when you start talking about being in the company of institutions like the 108 that are a part of this. They are all sending the same message—that this is very important to us all—and Bloomberg’s investment and deciding that this is an important strategy carries a lot of weight in the circles that I run in.

Q: When you think about your fellow presidents who have also joined ATI, what lessons or insights do you have to share from your own experience for how they can transform their culture or establish this set of priorities?

A: You know that old saying, “If you want to know my priorities, then follow the money.” I certainly hope that we’ve set an example that even in the midst of a budgetary crisis that did have a reputational impact on us, we decided to not do what is typical in these moments–retreat from access, diversity, and equity—but to strategically invest in it. I can tell you that was the right thing to do. It sent a very strong message about our priorities, and I certainly hope that others can learn from that. We didn’t get a full operating budget, and that did cause some challenges. But we made a strategic decision about every dime that we spent during that period—continuing to invest in excellence, continuing to invest in academic access, and then, coming out of that, making a very strong commitment to send a different message about affordability.

That’s why the Illinois Commitment, which covers tuition and fees for up to four years for all qualified in-state students, is so powerful. It sends the very strong message that regardless of your social and economic status, if you work hard and you prepare yourself and get admitted to the university, then you too can have an Illinois education. We found that optics around sticker price was driving behavior that was antithetical to the goals that ATI and others are interested in. Students were saying, “Well, I can’t afford to go to a place like Illinois, so if I go to college, I’m going to go elsewhere.” We wanted to send the message that at the end of the day, if you meet the profile to be accepted, then you don’t have to worry about what it costs. Prepare yourself, and you too can benefit from an Illinois education. I think there are some lessons in there about sticking to your goals, making sure your strategic priorities align with your vision, and making sure that your budgetary allocation process supports those core values in your strategic plan for moving the institution forward.

Q: What do you see as ATI’s potential impact beyond its membership?

A: I think that ATI will be a prime example of the value proposition and the effectiveness of collective impact strategies, because these societal challenges regarding educational equity are too big and too complex for any university to solve alone. It is going to be critically important that we are all rowing in the same direction, that we all have a common set of goals and objectives that we are working toward. It won’t be just hype; it will be, “Look at the numbers.” That speaks volumes. I fundamentally believe that we are going to surpass our goals, at least at my institution. And I have to institutionalize that. When I’m no longer sitting in this chair, it needs to be such a part of the culture of the university that no one thinks about touching it, just like no one would think about reducing the size of our research enterprise or not having undergraduate teaching at the heart of what we do.

ATI Launches the Veterans Community of Practice

On November 14th, at a conference hosted by the CollegeBoard and Ithaka S+R, leaders from higher education, military, and veterans’ organizations met to commit to improving higher education opportunities for military veterans. During the conference, University of Dayton president Eric F. Spina – a member of ATI’s Steering Committee – shared the exciting news that 34 ATI Institutions have joined together in a community of practice committed to improving student veteran access and success at high-graduation-rate institutions. Many ATI members participating in the community of practice have longstanding commitments to serving veterans and are interested in improving their existing programs and sharing their best practices with peers, while other ATI members are just beginning to think about veterans’ access and success. Through the new community of practice, participating ATI members will set goals related to improving access and success of veterans; share best practices about recruiting and enrolling veterans, and supporting them once they are on campus; develop better, simpler pipelines for veterans transferring from community colleges and with prior credits; report data on veterans’ enrollment and success; and press for changes that will improve veterans’ college choices.

ATI members had a chance to participate in the CollegeBoard-Ithaka conference, gaining insights from panels on the student veteran experience, the institutional perspective on the benefits of veterans, and recruiting, admitting, and supporting student veterans on campus.

ATI will continue to provide updates as this community of practice moves forward. If your institution is interested in joining the Veterans’ Community, please contact Emily Schwartz.

Allegheny College
Amherst College
Bard College
Bates College
Bowdoin College
Carleton College
Claremont McKenna College
Columbia University
Cornell University
Emory University
Fordham University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Indiana University
Johns Hopkins University
Juniata College
Lebanon Valley College
Lehigh University
Marist College
Muhlenberg College
The Ohio State University
Penn State University
Princeton University
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
St. Mary's College of Maryland
Swarthmore College
University of California, Davis
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Dayton
Vassar College
Williams College
Yale University

The American Talent Initiative

Summer 2018 Newsletter

July 30, 2018 By Diana LeRoi-Schmidt

Quarterly Newsletter

Presidential Perspective: Chancellor Carol Folt, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has set a goal to double—from 100 to 200 students—the size of its Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program, a deep partnership with some of NC’s community colleges that provides intensive advising and support for talented two-year students and was featured as an exemplar practice in the recent ATI research report. We sat down with Chancellor Folt to discuss her involvement with ATI, work at UNC, and perspective on how higher education institutions can better serve lower-income students.

Q: Why did you personally want to be more involved in the American Talent Initiative?

One of the main reasons I came to Chapel Hill was because of Carolina’s legacy and deep commitment to affordability and accessibility. As chancellor, I wanted to build upon that legacy to expand access to talented students across our state. ATI provides a chance to share best practices and our institution’s aspirations with colleagues at a range of institutions, from private to public, from big flagship schools to smaller institutions.

Q: What has UNC been doing to ease the transition for first-generation students and help them graduate?

Approximately 20 percent of our students are first-generation college students, and we want the opportunity of a university education to be a reality for these students, particularly for those who are on the margins and might never dream of the possibility of going to college. We know that, so often, financial barriers stand in the way of realizing the dream of higher education.

Before my arrival, Carolina was already meeting full need and was a need-blind institution. For a public university, that’s an extraordinary commitment, especially since we had been hit hard by large cuts in our public funding during the recession. When I arrived, the first thing I did was reaffirm our commitment to affordability. We had to say that if this is a priority, then any expendable funding must go to aid.

Even though it keeps getting harder, we will continue to hold firm to this commitment. We focus on students from all backgrounds, with a particular emphasis on students who come from two standard deviations below the poverty level. About 14 percent of our students are in a program called the Carolina Covenant, which allows them to graduate debt-free. We are also reaching out to nontraditional first-generation students; for example, we are working on programs to assist military veterans.

Q: While per-student funding in North Carolina remains below pre-recession levels, UNC steadily increased and then maintained the proportion of low-income students enrolled. How have you maintained your commitment to opportunity for lower-income students in the face of financial uncertainty?

I really believe it’s a matter of choice. Every institution has different financial backgrounds and different commitments, but we did several things to continue to be successful. One is our commitment to affordability. If you’re already meeting full need and are need-blind, there’s a shared commitment at the university to continue to focus on lower-income students.

Coming from this background, we upped our philanthropic and foundation efforts. We are raising $1 billion in our capital campaign for student aid, which is quite a bold statement of what a great university can do. Whenever I have access to discretionary funding, my first priority is student aid, and the second is faculty and staff salaries. Narrowing my own focus enables us to use our funding strategically.

We have momentum, and we’re not going to waver from something we believe in.

Scenes from the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a snowy winter day. January 17, 2018.
(Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Q: What is your perspective on community college transfer as part of ATI’s 50,000-by-2025 goal?

UNC’s Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program is particularly meaningful to me because it reflects my own personal history as a community college student who transferred into the University of California system. As chancellor at Carolina, I have witnessed how C-STEP, working hand in hand with community colleges, provides entry to the opportunities of higher education and unlocks the full potential of these students.

Beginning at a community college is a path to UNC-Chapel Hill for many of our students. The first couple of years are hard for some students. Through C-STEP, we are reaching these students early on at their community colleges, focusing on the impediments they face, and offering them a direct path to Chapel Hill. We want students to be excited about coming to Chapel Hill and make them feel like they’re part of our community before they arrive on campus.

We are working on doubling this program because it’s been so successful. It’s wonderful to watch transfer students quickly embed in the life of the university. We’re pairing good advising programs early on with transfer and military-affiliated students. It’s making a difference in their success rates. C-STEP students’ graduation rates are almost the same as those of students who have been at Chapel Hill for all four years. These students have led student government and student organizations on campus, and have been successful in all areas of Carolina.

Q: As leader of UNC, what would you want your fellow presidents and chancellors to know about increasing opportunity through community college transfer?

I’d want them to know that the potential pool at community colleges is incredible and that these students usually have grit and determination like no others. Community colleges are a great place from which to draw more students with a diverse set of backgrounds who will enrich an entire student body.

These students are worth every ounce of assistance you can provide. My advice is to seek out those students, see them for the asset that they are, and provide that early support.

Q: One important goal of ATI is to connect institutional leaders and create the opportunity to share practices. What practice that UNC employs do you think other institutions could successfully implement?

Targeted aid is a big part of why we have been successful. For example, you can provide students aid throughout their time at school, but sometimes you can add a little bit more in the summer so they can finish their degree. A little bit of aid can go a very long way to get students to graduation.

Working closely with high schools is another practice that is working for us. We already have the Carolina College Advising Corps—we are in 77 of the lowest-income schools in the state, and we want to be in even more. In those schools, we’re providing college advising for students who may not see college as an option. The success rate of those students, once you get a full-time counselor talking with them, is nothing short of spectacular. Another example is Project Uplift, our 50-year-old program that brings high school students to campus and shows them the possibilities at Carolina.

Spring campus scene on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. April 17, 2018.
(Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Q: Looking ahead five to 10 years, what do you see as ATI’s impact on higher education?

ATI helps change the narrative that universities aren’t reaching out. We can say, and demonstrate, that our goal is to do more to make opportunities available to people who would not have necessarily found their way to college in the past.

It also helps to create a friendly competition, and all the schools in ATI want to share best practices. This is the kind of work that none of us want to keep quiet about; we want everyone to know what we’re doing – and hear about what everyone else is doing – so we all can do it better. ATI provides that place, that incentive, and it helps set goals that all the schools can use.

Even if, or when, we achieve the numerical goals that ATI has set, we will need to go even further. ATI can help be a reminder that says there is no “good enough”; we are going to continue to do this until we erase all barriers to higher education.

The Talent Blind Spot: ATI Research on Community College Transfer

In June 2018, the ATI team published a two-part research paper focused on community college transfer to ATI institutions.

The Talent Blind Spot demonstrates that, each year, more than 50,000 high-achieving, low- and moderate-income community college students do not transfer to a four-year institution. Approximately 15,000 of these students have a 3.7 GPA or higher, which suggests they could succeed at even the most competitive schools. The report also demonstrates that high-graduation-rate colleges and universities—the American Talent Initiative schools—enroll far fewer transfer students than other four-year institutions. The report offers a path forward based on the work of several ATI member institutions that have demonstrated that creating robust community college transfer success is possible through strong, leadership-driven partnerships, early outreach and advising, and dedicated, holistic supports.

The Talent Blind Spot is divided into two parts.

The Case for Increasing Community College Transfer to High Graduation Rate Institutions

Understand the community college transfer landscape at high graduation rate colleges with data from the report.
Download the companion slide deck to help make a strong case for transfer at your institution (coming soon)

The Practical Guide to Increasing Community College Transfer to High Graduation Rate Institutions

Use the “Fundamental Principles” as a strategy audit to assess how your institution compares to others.
See what is possible by learning from the “Transfer-Friendly Ecosystems” of three exemplary institutions: Smith College, the University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and the University of California-Los Angeles.
Read the “Transfer Tactics Repository” to access case studies of institutional practices that respond to specific challenges.

The Talent Blind Spot was co-authored by Dr. Tania LaViolet, Benjamin Fresquez, McKenzie Maxson, and Joshua Wyner. If you have questions about the research, please email Tania LaViolet.

As a follow-up to the release of The Talent Blind Spot, on July 20, 2018, the Aspen Institute and Ithaka S+R convened more than 40 participants—including representatives from both ATI member institutions and community colleges, as well as transfer field experts—to engage with the recommendations in the report. Participants discussed concrete measures to increase transfer student access and success, developed relationships with community college partners, and jumpstarted a longer-term effort to increase community college transfer opportunity across the ATI sector as part of our shared work toward reaching ATI’s 50,000-by-2025 goal. If you would like to learn more about these efforts or get involved, please contact Benjamin Fresquez.

Changing the Odds for Community College Students

“At PTK, we see many students beating the odds and successfully transferring to their dream schools — the ATI member institutions. But, unfortunately, this is the exception and not the rule. With your help, we believe this can change.” – Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner, President and CEO, Phi Theta Kappa

What Phi Theta Kappa is:

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society is among the largest and most prestigious honor societies in higher education, with over 3.5 million members inducted since 1918 and over 250,000 members currently attending college. While we primarily serve community colleges, we have active chapters at many open-access institutions throughout the country and on over 60 campuses outside the United States.

What sets us apart:

Like other honor societies, induction ceremonies and graduation regalia are outward expressions of the first part of our mission — to recognize academic achievement. What sets us apart from all others is the second half of our mission — to provide students with opportunities to grow as scholars and leaders.

We are guided by the belief that there is an equitable distribution of talent among the nation’s community college students but an unequal distribution of opportunity. We have been working for over 100 years to open the doors of opportunity to high-achieving, low-income community college students and have been successful in changing the narrative for so many of them.

Who we serve:

We offer membership at the first glimpse of a student’s academic success. We then provide a local campus, regional, and international network of peers, mentors, advisors, and staff to deliver innovative programming, service and soft skills learning, undergraduate research opportunities, and access to more than $40 million annually in transfer, academic, and certification scholarships.

Take a look at these stories of three amazing PTK members and community college students now attending three American Talent Initiative colleges:

From Community College of Baltimore County in Maryland to Cornell University. Sagar Chapagain immigrated to the United States from Nepal with his family in 2011. A first-generation college student, he enrolled at the Community College of Baltimore County in Maryland in 2012 as a part-time student while he worked full-time to help support himself and his family. Sagar became a Phi Theta Kappa member in 2013 and served as the Vice President of Scholarship and Leadership of the Chi Theta Chapter. He then became chapter president, and he used his role as an opportunity to reach fellow international and immigrant students and help them understand the resources available on campus. He was awarded a Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship in 2015. In his words, “If I keep working hard, some day something awesome is going to happen to me.” More on Sagar’s story here: https://youtu.be/xiRyLFo9dqs

From Lone Star College-CyFair in Texas to Washington University in St Louis. By the time Michael Aguilar was 18, he had lived in 16 different homes. This instability led him to act out — in middle and high school, he was suspended 15 times for bad behavior and ended up in a disciplinary school. He watched friends struggle with the juvenile justice system and found himself caught in the same school-to-prison pipeline. His life completely changed, though, when he enrolled at LSC-CyFair. He found a support system at the college and through his PTK chapter that gave him confidence and inspired him to give back. Michael led his chapter in an undergraduate research project, “Pens, Not Penitentiaries: An Examination of the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” through which more than 60 PTK members mentored 400 at-risk high school students at the same disciplinary school he had previously attended. The Beta Lambda Mu Chapter was named PTK’s Most Distinguished Chapter in 2017. After serving as a chapter officer, Michael was elected president of the Texas Region. Michael recently addressed the nation’s community college presidents in his speech at the All-USA Academic Team Luncheon during the 2018 American Association of Community Colleges’ annual meeting. Here’s what he had to say: https://bit.ly/2zxuTXC

From Bergen Community College in New Jersey to Rutgers University. Amanda Karpinski started her education at Bergen Community College immediately following her high school graduation, receiving a full-tuition scholarship through the New Jersey Stars program. Amanda’s parents saw community college as a way to save money, and, at first, she didn’t want to be there — that is, until her first Phi Theta Kappa chapter meeting. Amanda became president of her chapter and, as a sophomore, was elected International President from among 250,000 active members, the highest position of student leadership within the Society. She was recently elected Alumni Representative to the Phi Theta Kappa International Board of Directors. “Phi Theta Kappa has the ability to transform you into a person that you never thought possible,” she said. “The biggest benefit is realizing your own potential.” As International President, Amanda gave a keynote address at Phi Theta Kappa’s annual convention and Centennial Celebration, PTK Catalyst, in Kansas City, Missouri in April. Watch Amanda’s speech here: https://bit.ly/2zyrNCB.

At PTK, we see many students beating the odds and successfully transferring to their dream schools — the ATI member institutions. But, unfortunately, this is the exception and not the rule. With your help, we believe this can change.

Like Phi Theta Kappa, ATI is working to change the narrative and rewrite the ending to more student stories. We want to personally thank you for your commitment and work as an ATI institution to move from stories of “beating the odds” to a mindset of “changing the odds” for this special population of high-performing and high-potential students.

Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner is president and CEO of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. If you would like to reach Lynn, please contact her at lynn.tincher-ladner@ptk.org.

Milestones and Key Dates

ATI 2018 Data Collection Submissions
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the 90 percent of members who have submitted their 2018 data! We rely on these data to measure our collective progress, and we look forward to sharing insights from the aggregated data in our inaugural ATI Impact Report this fall. Completed data submissions can be sent to Emily Schwartz.

ATI Collective Impact Framework (CIF) Self-Assessment and Review Period
July-September 2018
Members who submitted CIFs more than 6 months ago are revisiting their institutional goals to evaluate progress and adjust for shifting priorities. This review is an opportunity to engage with ATI stakeholders on your campus to reflect on work thus far. We often turn to CIFs as inspiration for featuring institutions across ATI’s research efforts, and having up-to-date information about the work being done will allow us to even better elevate the efforts of our members.

College Admissions Fair in New York City for American Talent Initiative Affiliates
September 13, 14, & 15, 2018
Location: New York, NY
The Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), in cooperation with Princeton University’s Office of the Provost, will host a College Fair for Admissions Representatives from ATI institutions in conjunction with COE’s 37th Annual Conference at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, September 13-16, 2018. COE believes this will provide college admissions officers a unique opportunity to speak with counselors and administrators working in pre-college programs preparing over 560,000 talented, motivated low-income and first-generation students for college annually.
Register for the fair here. With any questions, please contact Patricia Mahomond in the COE office at 202-347-7430.

Improving College Opportunity for Veterans
November 13 & 14, 2018
Location: Arlington, VA
This invitation-only conference will bring together higher education and veteran leaders to generate new ideas and offer practical guidance on how to enroll more veterans at high graduation rate, well-resourced colleges across the United States.
ATI members who are interested in participating in a “strategic collaboration” to work together to enroll, support, and graduate more military veterans should contact Liz Pisacreta and Emily Schwartz for more information.

If you would like to include an announcement or other information in the ATI newsletter, please contact McKenzie Maxson.

The American Talent Initiative

Diana LeRoi-Schmidt

Quarterly Newsletter

Quarterly Newsletter

Quarterly Newsletter

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