Diversity focused access & success strategies

1. Diversity focused access & success strategies April 13, 2011

2. Lumina’s big goal: To increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. Lumina’s Mission and Goal The mission of Lumina Foundation for Education is to expand access and success in education beyond high school, particularly among adults, first-generation college going students, low-income students and students of color. This mission is directed toward a single, overarching big goal – increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025.

3. MCAN Mission MCAN will dramatically increase the college participation and completion rate in Michigan, particularly among low-income and/or first generation college students of all ages. MCAN Vision In order to build and sustain a vibrant economy and strong communities based on a highly educated population, MCAN will work to ensure that everyone in Michigan has the opportunity to access and succeed in postsecondary education. MCAN Goal Increase the proportion of Michigan residents with college degrees or high-quality credentials to 60% by the year 2025. MCAN strengthens existing like-minded and mission-aligned college awareness, access, affordability and success initiatives.

4. Data A closer look at Michigan’s current high school and college attainment rates.

5. Michigan’s population 2010 Michigan Total State Population by Race: 9,883,640

6. Attainment rates by ethnicity • Michigan data: • 5.3 million working age adults (25-64) • More than 35% have at least a 2 year degree • Closing the attainment gap between first generation, low income and students of color will require “concerted and strategic efforts over many years” A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education, Lumina Foundation for Education (Sept. 2010), pg. 54

7. Economic impact • Those with bachelor’s degrees earn about 3 times as much as high school dropouts and about twice as much as high school graduates. • Greater income means: • Increased purchasing power • Greater accumulated wealth • Higher taxes paid • Decreased use of social services • Decreased use of public healthcare • Alliance for Excellent Education, The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools, Issue Brief, August 2009 • www.all4ed.org If all racial/ethnic groups in Michigan had the same educational attainment and earnings as whites, total annual personal income in the state would be about $12 billion higher. (Measuring Up, 2008)

8. Economic impact The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools, Alliance for Excellent Education, Issue Brief 2009

9. Social impact • Less likely of be a teen parent • Longer life expectancy • More likely to raise better educated children • Less likely to commit crimes • Less likely to rely on government programs and services • More likely to be involved in civic activities • More likely to vote • More likely to volunteer The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools, Alliance for Excellent Education, Issue Brief 2009, pg. 3

10. Michigan’s need for college educated workers How do we know that Michigan’s economy will demand more college graduates? • According to a recent analysis by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce • 62 percent of Michigan’s jobs will require postsecondary education by 2018. • Between now and 2018, Michigan will need to fill about 1.3 million vacancies resulting from job creation, worker retirements and other factors. • Of these job vacancies, 836,000 will require postsecondary credentials, while only about 491,000 are expected to be filled by high school graduates or dropouts. A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education, Lumina Foundation for Education (Sept. 2010), pg. 53-54

11. Michigan’s lost students Complete College America, Michigan Report www.completecollege.org

12. What are the experts saying? Complete College America, Michigan Report www.completecollege.org

13. Where is the gap?2008 college graduation rates by public university

14. Closing the gap • It will be impossible to reach the Big Goal without significantly increasing college success among: • working adults • low-income students • first-generation students • students of color • Attainment gaps among racial and ethnic groups have persisted in Michigan for decades, and the most recent degree-attainment rates for the state continue to reflect such gaps. • Closing these attainment gaps is clearly a challenge, but it is one that can and must be met. A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education, Lumina Foundation for Education, pg. 54

15. College affordability in michigan • Current In-state Tuition with Room & Board for Freshman: • U of M $24,167 • MSU $19,542 • Wayne State $ 19,821

16. What does this data tell us about the 60% goal for 2025? • Understand the data • Ensure diversity is reflected in oversight of college access initiatives • Assess particular needs in local community • Incorporate diversity into college access planning and strategies • Develop measurement tools and methods to continuously monitor progress toward the 60% goal

17. Proposed MCANDiversity Council

18. mcAN Diversity Council Proposed Diversity Council Formation of an MCAN Diversity Council is proposed to ensure that equity and inclusion are infused and embedded across the network by: Formalizing MCAN and its partners’ commitment to achieving positive equity outcomes in all of its college awareness, access, affordability and success programming. Committing our efforts to Michigan’s 2025 goal with proportional growth in college graduation rates among students of color. Developing strategies to maximize leadership, programming and service delivery around diversity. Sharing resources and best practices aimed at eliminating the equity gaps in local communities, as well as across the state.

19. Workshop questions • What are your reactions to this idea of an MCAN Diversity Council? • What other roles and responsibilities would you include? Would you delete? • With MCAN providing the staff, how might volunteers be enlisted to shape this model? • Do you know of any folks within the MCAN family who might be approached to lend assistance?

20. The Imagine fund

21. THE Imagine Fund • History • Passage of Proposal 2006 – 2 which amended the Michigan state constitution, banning affirmative action in the public sector • Subsequent chilling effect on our public college campuses • Unanticipated effect on targeted scholarships • Grass roots effort launched to provide scholarships • Planning and pilot implementation supported largely by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek and the DTE Energy Foundation, Detroit

22. IMAGINE FUND Mission The mission of The Imagine Fund (IFund) is to ensure access and expand equal opportunity to higher education for students based on their race, color, sex, ethnicity, national origin and/or other cultural characteristics. Our goal is simple: to ensure that diverse, first generation, academically qualified and economically challenged students throughout the state of Michigan have the resources to pursue higher education and achieve their dreams of a college degree. The founders of The Imagine Fund are committed to inclusion and equity on the college campus and fully appreciate the benefits of diversity in the workforce.

23. Post proposal 2006-2 • For the 2008-09 academic year, several Michigan public universities reported a decrease in minority enrollment, as follows: • The number of under-represented minority freshmen at the University of Michigan decreased by eight percent • Combined Black, Hispanic and Native American representation entering the University of Michigan School of Law fell from 14.1 percent in 2006 to 9.1 percent in 2008 • At Wayne State University’s medical school, under-represented minority enrollment dropped from 17.1 percent in 2006 to 6.1 percent in 2008 • Despite the institution admitting its largest class in history, minority enrollment among incoming freshmen at Grand Valley State University dipped 29.6 percent from 2007-08 to 2008-09

24. Post proposal 2006-2 • In spite of its best efforts, the University of Michigan acknowledged declining numbers of under-represented minority students in the 2009 freshman class. • To be specific, while the number of applications and admissions offers exceeded the previous year’s, the freshman enrollment of Black, Hispanic and Native-American students actually dropped by 11.4 percent. • The last class in 2006 fully admitted prior to passage of Proposal 2 comprised 12.6 percent of under-represented minorities, but the number of students has dropped each year since. • This institution cites its inability to confer recruitment scholarships and other forms of financial aid with consideration to racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, among other factors, as a constraint in its commitment to access and equity for diverse student populations.

25. The IMAGINE FUND • Opportunities to donate: • Named endowed scholarship (minimum $30,000) • Named non-endowed scholarship (minimum $5,000) • Contribute any amount to the first annual “Imagine the Next Year” Annual Fund for unrestricted gift support for operations and scholarship awards. • Host a house party or community event specifically to raise funds • Individual donation, by check, credit card, or on-line • www.theimaginefund.org

26. The IMAGINE FUND • Opportunities for Future Alignment • Possible criteria for IFund signature scholarships: • Graduation from an LCAN or Promise Zone community • Attendance at Achieve the Dream community college • Required service by scholarship recipients with College Positive Volunteers or MI College Advising Corps members • Establishment of a Research Institute to engage in substantive research and report out at least annually on disparities in higher education among students of color and other underrepresented students

27. 2010-11 scholarship recipients Mark & Elizabeth Murray Scholarship, Grand Rapids Jessica Young, Senior, Pontiac Senior, Grand Valley State University Public Administration & Non-Profit Administration major Health Alliance Plan (HAP) Scholarship, Detroit Lekeya Davis, Ypsilanti Senior/First Year Graduate Student, Eastern Michigan University Occupational Therapy major The Imagine Fund Signature Scholarships Theresa Almanza, Fennville Senior, Michigan State University Interdisciplinary Studies and Community Relations Nina Chaney, Pontiac Senior at University of Michigan-Flint Human Biology major The Imagine Fund scholarships are typically $5,000/year, the average annual indebtedness of public university students in Michigan.

28. Eric K. Foster, Director of The Imagine Fund foster@theimaginefund.org 517.316.1430 Nanette Lee Reynolds, Ed.D., President Emeritus & Co-Founder, The Imagine Fund nanette@micollegeaccess.org 517.974.7423 Liliana Hoyos Stoneback, Consultant liliana@micollegeaccess.org 248.676.9787 Workshop presenters April 13, 2011