Official photo courtesy the White House.
As an effort to increase enrollment numbers and include more low-income students in colleges, President Barack Obama opened the White House to more than 80 college presidents this week to kick off his new campaign to encourage socioeconomic diversity on campuses nationwide.
Obama, at a White House event attended by Chicago area leaders, asked college leaders to create or expand programs that will allow more low-income students access to higher education.
Obama’s goals for the campaign will include: connecting young people to schools that are a match for them, initiating early intervention efforts to make more students prepare for college, increasing more college advising and test preparation opportunities and increasing remedial education opportunities in campuses.
In response to Obama’s call for action, the University of Chicago announced a $10 million gift that will fund a new program aimed at addressing Obama’s four initiatives.
The university’s College Success Initiative plans on training educators and policy makers to ensure more low-income students will be prepared to attend college.
Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro was, according to reports, also in the early consultation process with the White House.
This story produced by The Chicago Bureau.
