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 Community Colleges: Across the United States nearly 1,200 community colleges play a vital role in higher education. They enroll more than 11.5 million students — nearly half of all undergraduates — and they attract high proportions of low-income, minority and first-generation college students. Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count is a national initiative to help more community college students succeed, particularly students of color and low-income students. The initiative works on multiple fronts — including efforts at community colleges and in research, public engagement and public policy — and emphasizes the use of data to drive change. More... |
Lumina Foundation announces 75 grants to improve college access and successIndianapolis -- Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education has announced 75 grants totaling almost $24 million to expand college access and student success nationwide. Grants approved by Lumina Foundation in the fourth quarter of 2003 are listed below, grouped by the Foundation's primary theme areas: postsecondary access, success and adult learners. Approved grants also reflect Lumina Foundation's emerging interest in student access and success at the nation's community colleges.AccessMany financial and nonfinancial factors inhibit college access. The following grants address some of these barriers.Academy for Educational Development (Washington, DC) -- A $3 million grant to develop sustainable partnerships among community colleges, four-year institutions, K-12 schools, businesses and community organizations to ensure that they address critical local issues that affect postsecondary access and success. American Youth Policy Forum (Washington, DC) -- A $187,600 research grant to help policy-makers better understand the effective structures and student outcomes of programs that link secondary and postsecondary education. The Education Resources Institute, Inc. (Boston, MA) -- A $116,750 research grant to develop a research plan to improve student aid program design, operations and marketing to enhance low-income students' access and success. Educational Policy Institute, Inc. (Stafford, VA) -- A $67,300 research grant to gain a better understanding of key stages in the personal and academic development of Latino students as compared with students from other groups. Illinois Student Assistance Commission (Springfield, IL) -- A $92,500 research grant to study the effects of Illinois' need-based Monetary Award Program on student access and retention. Institute for Higher Education Policy (Washington, DC) -- A $252,500 research grant to better understand the nature, extent and distribution of private scholarship aid. National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) (Olympia, WA) - An $87,700 research grant to make the NASSGAP survey and reports more accessible and promote their widespread use. National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) (Washington, DC) - A $75,000 research grant to continue the funding of NASFAA's Sponsored Research Grant Program. National College Access Network (Cleveland, OH) -- A $1,891,200 grant to implement a plan that will expand successful models of college access services to underserved students and families in high-need communities. National Public Radio (Washington, DC) -- A $237,300 grant to raise awareness about issues of postsecondary access and success. State Higher Education Executive Officers (Denver, CO) -- A $60,940 planning grant to explore a knowledge management system for state policies that relate to access, retention and adult learners among the 50 states. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL) -- A $212,600 grant to examine new curricular models that extend from high school to college. University of Maryland College Park (College Park, MD) -- A $323,800 research grant to inform Southern and border-state policy-makers about diversity and equity issues in public higher education. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) -- A $902,000 research grant to better understand the perceptions of and access to financial aid and college access information by low-income urban youth and their families. Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (Boulder, CO) -- A $1 million research grant to encourage policy-makers to integrate state and federal financing policies and practices in order to increase participation, access and success in postsecondary education for students and families.
Student Success/AttainmentOnce in college, many students confront stumbling blocks that inhibit them from reaching their educational goals. The following grants promote student persistence and goal attainment.Rhodes College (Memphis, TN) -- A $155,625 planning grant to explore student work and determine how to make student jobs more meaningful as a way to reduce costs and improve retention. The Education Trust (Washington, DC) -- An $888,700 grant to raise awareness about disparities in degree attainment and make reliable information about the relative effectiveness of colleges and universities more widely available. The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (San Jose, CA) -- A $71,000 research grant to better understand the background characteristics of students who borrow but do not complete their education programs. Trustees of Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) -- A $1,202,400 grant to increase retention and graduation of all college students in Indiana by improving the effectiveness of student support programs. Adult StudentsToday's learners include a growing proportion of older students, as well as students who attend school part time and intermittently throughout their lives. The following grants focus on the special needs of adult students.Center for the Study of Accelerated Learning, Regis University (Denver, CO) -- A $747,700 grant to establish a self-sufficient network of colleges and universities with accelerated degree programs to collaborate and enhance the learning, persistence and degree completion of working adults. Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (Chicago, IL) - A $150,000 grant to extend by one year the Adult Learning Focused Institutions Initiative while enhancing the project's evaluation. Southern Regional Education Board (Atlanta, GA) -- A $1,026,400 grant to establish a regional campaign to increase the participation of adult learners in postsecondary education in the South. Community CollegesCommunity colleges serve the highest concentration of historically underserved students, who are more at risk of dropping out of school. Lumina Foundation places special emphasis on student success at community colleges, and the following grants are part of that effort.American Council on Education (Washington, DC) -- A $905,600 grant to establish leadership fellowships for future community college leaders. American Indian Higher Education Consortium (Alexandria, VA) -- A $785,000 grant to benchmark tribal college student success indicators and assess data collection and analysis efforts at 35 tribal colleges. Brown University, The Futures Project (Providence, RI) -- A $100,000 grant to conduct a "listening tour" among policy-makers and community college stakeholders in six states about policies to improve community college access and success. Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University (New York, NY)
San Francisco Community College District (San Francisco, CA) -- A $2,550,400 grant to design and pilot-test the Articulation and Transfer component of CollegeStepz, an interactive Web-based system, before its national rollout in 2006. Scholarship America (St. Peter, MN) -- A $1,500,000 grant to design and test an emergency financial aid program to provide emergency assistance to students at community colleges. University of Massachusetts (Boston, MA) -- A $163,800 research grant to enhance the ability of community college administrators to conduct effective evaluations of campus-based programs that promote students' success. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) -- A $349,500 grant to improve and effectively measure African-American and Hispanic students' progress toward transferring between two-year and four-year institutions. Indiana-focused InitiativesAs an Indiana-based foundation, Lumina Foundation sets aside a modest portion of its grant money each year to fund projects that are specific to its home state. Most of these grants are focused on the Foundation's education mission; a relatively modest number support charitable civic participation.Hispanic Education Center, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN) - A $200,000 grant to support the Center's pre-college access program, El Puente. Indiana Black Expo, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN) -- A $73,500 grant to fund college access programs through the Circle City Classic Youth Educational Outreach Initiative. Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation (Indianapolis, IN) -- A $19,100 grant to develop a plan for the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library to help current and prospective postsecondary students pursue and achieve educational goals. Ivy Tech Foundation (Indianapolis, IN) -- A $10,000 grant to help students persist in college by promoting emergency funds for students in crisis. The Trustees of Indiana University (Indianapolis, IN) -- A $12,400 research grant to assist staff at the Center on Philanthropy in exploring Indianapolis' role as a philanthropic center. Breaking the Cycle -- Nearly 800 Indiana youth age-out of foster care each year. Studies indicate that only 1 to 11 percent of former foster youth who enroll in a four-year college graduate with at least a bachelor's degree. Lumina Foundation launched Breaking the Cycle, an Indiana-based pilot project, to help former foster youth prepare for and transition to college. The following organizations are testing projects that may help close the gap in postsecondary achievement for former foster youth.
Special GrantThe Foundation periodically considers grants that seek to improve the state of philanthropy.The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Stanford, CA) -- A $75,000 grant to examine and improve the strategic and practical connections among foundations, higher education and schools. Lumina Foundation for Education, a private, independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school. Through research, grants for innovative programs and communication initiatives, Lumina Foundation addresses issues surrounding access and success -- particularly among underserved student groups, including adult learners. The Foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people. For more information contact David Powell, Director of Communication, at 317-951-5834. |
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