Cooke Foundation Awards $10 Million for College-Readiness Programs

March 26, 2007 Published in Philanthropy News Digest

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in Lansdowne, Virginia, has announced $10 million in grants for initiatives designed to increase college enrollment and graduation rates among low-income high school and community college students.

Modeled on a successful program created by the University of Virginia, efforts at ten colleges and universities will receive $1 million each to help students apply to a wide range of postsecondary institutions that fit their individual academic profiles, career goals, and personal circumstances. The programs will provide college admission and financial aid guidance to disadvantaged students.

The institutions receiving grant are Brown University, Franklin & Marshall College, Loyola College in Maryland, Penn State University, Tufts University, the University of Alabama, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Utah.

In addition, the University of North Carolina, in partnership with the National College Access Network, will house the National College Advising Corps coordinating office, which will work to support the development of the programs and encourage other universities to start similar efforts. The College Advising Corps will recruit and train college seniors to work full time as advisors for one or two years following graduation.

"We are squandering a huge national resource when millions of America's best high school graduates never get to college, or fail to advance beyond a two-year community college program," said Cooke Foundation executive director Matthew J. Quinn. "Our foundation is committed to addressing the college enrollment gap by providing crucial information to promising students facing financial barriers."