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Expanding the Doors of Educational Opportunity By: Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, Spelman College President Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum When the President of the United States wants to bring attention to an important issue, there are two important tools he can use. To quote President Obama, “I have a pen and a phone - I can sign executive orders and I can call people together.” It was the President’s convening power that was in evidence on January 16, 2014 when a select group of college and university presidents, foundation heads, elected officials, and higher education policy experts were invited to attend the White House Summit on College Affordability, a gathering focused on how to increase the pipeline of academically prepared, low- income students to college, and how to ensure their success once they are admitted. The need for the Summit is clear when we understand that educational opportunity is the primary route to economic advancement in our society, and yet only 9% of low-income students will get a college degree as compared to 54% of students from the top 25% income quartile. President and Mrs. Obama both want to change that statistic, and they called upon college and university presidents to take action to expand the doors of opportunity to these underserved students. In fact, prior to participating in the Summit, everyone in attendance was asked to make a public commitment to doing at least one new thing that would make a difference for low-income students. For many schools, that commitment begins with admitting more of them. According to an article in the New York Times (July 31,2013), among the top 50 most competitive (and well- resourced) colleges, on average, only 15% of their students had family incomes low enough to be eligible for a Pell grant. By comparison, most HBCUs have a much higher percentage of Pell- eligible students. At Spelman, approximately 50% of our students are Pell-eligible. Consequently, our commitment to action was focused on retention and graduation rather than admission. Our goal is to help as many of our students make it all the way from matriculation to graduation as possible. Right now our graduation rate, which averages 77% over the last six years, is the best in the nation among HBCUs, but we want it to be better. So what was our commitment to action? We know that low- income students are more likely than affluent students to be derailed by an unexpected family hardship such as unemployment or family illness. They often need additional financial assistance in the latter years of their academic program as family resources have run out. One solution - and our commitment - is to ensure a permanent, reliable source of funding to meet these emergency needs by securing funds to endow the President’s Safety Net initiative. That effort was given a jump start by the prize money I received as part of the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award in December. Other donors, inspired by the Award, have joined in this effort, now with $300,000 already pledged toward our $1,000,000 goal. This commitment, combined with those of other colleges and universities across the country, will open the doors of opportunity at least a little wider for economically disadvantaged students, an outcome that will benefit all of us. 10 Feb/March 2014 SpelmanPaper@gmail.com The BluePrint $