Access to AP, Pell Grants, and Social Mobility
September 15, 2017 – Here’s our weekly roundup of education news you may have missed. Advocates discuss access to AP courses and Pell Grant funding. The interactions between higher education and social mobility receive sizable media coverage.
We are currently accepting applications for our Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, a program for community college students, and our College Scholarship Program for high school seniors. Both scholarships provide up to $40,000 per year, along with opportunities for internships, study abroad, and graduate school funding.
Youth-serving nonprofits in the Washington, DC metropolitan area (including parts of Northern Virginia and Maryland) may apply now to our Good Neighbor Grants program.
Elementary & Secondary Education:
- A new report says state policies can influence the expansion of access to Advanced Placement (AP) courses in rural schools. District Administration summarizes the recommendations.
- The 74 covers the latest House and Senate updates to the 2018 education spending bill. Both versions differ from the budget cuts and changes requested by the Trump administration.
Higher Education:
- “Right now, we often talk about ways to help first-generation college students and lower-income students survive in the college environment,” writes Vox. “The better question might be: How should colleges change to stop being institutions that reproduce wealth?”
- MarketWatch reports that Ivy League graduates often have less student debt, because “they don’t enroll many poor students.”
- Recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program contribute approximately $2 billion a year in taxes. Brookings states that the cost to repeal the program would be “mind-boggling.”
- Separate articles in The Washington Post and Inside Higher Ed describe concerns surrounding proposed changes to Pell Grant funding.
Cooke Foundation Highlights:
- “Once ladders of social mobility, universities increasingly reinforce existing wealth,” writes Politico. The article cites recent Cooke Foundation research on the topic.
- Community College Daily features the stories of two Cooke Scholars – Tao Hong and Kiana Estime – with information on the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.
- Cooke Scholars also shared their experiences in campus news outlets this week. Sofia Medina-Pardo and Valentina D’Empaire explain their concerns about how ending DACA would affect peers and friends in The Johns Hopkins News-Letter. Jennifer Myers writes about her first Cooke Foundation Scholars Weekend for the Thomas Jefferson University student blog.
Social Media Spotlight: