Measuring Progress
The American Talent Initiative (ATI) launched in 2016 with a clear goal: to increase enrollment of talented low- and middle-income students at the nation’s colleges and universities with the highest graduation rates. ATI members are a subset of these high-graduation-rate institutions, all of which graduate at least 70 percent of their students within six years.
Our aim is to provide a clear, data-informed picture of collective progress and how the membership as a whole is expanding opportunity for lower-income students, while recognizing that each institution operates in a distinct context.
How We Measure Progress
ATI’s primary measure of progress has historically been Pell Grant enrollment—the number of students receiving Pell Grants at member institutions. Pell is widely used as a proxy for low- and middle-income status and provides a well-understood benchmark for tracking access over time.
In 2024, the FAFSA Simplification Act changed how Pell eligibility is determined, expanding eligibility to more lower-middle-income students. These policy changes, enacted independently of the initiative, make year-to-year comparisons of Pell data more complex.
To provide a clearer view of progress, ATI supplemented Fall 2024 Pell data with data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) neighborhood income measure (detailed more in the Fall 2024 report) .
Progress Since 2015
Despite significant headwinds—including a period of pandemic-related enrollment decline—ATI members have made substantial gains in enrolling lower-income students.
By Fall 2024, as a result of nearly a decade of sustained institutional efforts and a recent expansion in federal Pell-eligibility to more lower-middle income students, the number of Pell Grant students ATI members have enrolled since the initiative’s launch increased by nearly 75,000. After removing the impact of the Pell eligibility expansion, we estimate that ATI members still would have added nearly 40,000 lower-income students since 2015 due to institutional efforts.
What Is Driving Progress
The story of ATI’s progress is not only about the numbers—it is about the strategies that member institutions have implemented over nearly a decade.
Common areas of focus include:
- Strengthening community college transfer pathways
- Investing in affordability and financial aid
- Supporting student success
For a deeper look, please see the latest ATI Progress Report.
Prior Year Reports
Released in Spring 2024, ATI's fifth progress update is the first to report institutions' progress toward their individual Accelerating Opportunity goals.
Released in August 2022, ATI's fourth progress update includes details on the initiative's progress through Fall 2021 and relevant insights from the launch of ATI's Accelerating Opportunity campaign in Summer 2021.
Released in June 2021, ATI's third report provides an update on ATI's progress through Fall 2020 and describes plans to accelerate opportunity in response to both pre-COVID and COVID-era challenges.
Released in February 2020, ATI's second report highlights Pell growth amongst the ATI-eligible institutions through the 2018-19 school year, but points to initial signs of a leveling off of progress.
Released in December 2018, this first public report on ATI's progress shares notable Pell growth amongst ATI members between 2015-16 and 2017-18.