Gates Foundation gives $16M to colleges - Triangle Business Journal:

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million to 15 community colleges and five states in an efforr to help struggling studentscomplete college. The Developmenty Education Initiative will award the fundingto Connecticut, Ohio, Texas and Virginia, as well as communit y colleges in each state plus one more in Northu Carolina. No colleges or programs in Washington statse will receive funding underthe program. For a completer list of recipients, . The funding, first announced in Decembetr oflast year, will be awarded to and distributer by , a North Carolina-baseed nonprofit. “They wanted us to identify programs and policies that are alreadh being tried andhad promise,” said Richare Hart, spokesman for MDC.
The initiative seeks to supporty programs that help students enrolledd in remedialprograms — so-calles refresher courses for studentws who are not up to grade level in a given The goal is to improv e classroom performance so students can go on to take advancefd courses and eventually graduate with a degrede or certificate. A cited by the Gatese Foundation found that nearlg 60 percent of students enrollingh inthe nation’s community colleges must take remedial courses. Such coursez cost taxpayers $2 billion a year, accordingh to the report.
The grants are part of the Gatese Foundation’s work to help more students graduate from collegew oruniversity programs, an important educatio n milestone that the foundation says is essentia to earning a livintg wage in today’s economy. The grants will supporrt various state andcollege programs, including efforts to collect data and betterd track the performance of remediap students. The Development Education Initiativse is also being supportedwith $1.5 million from the of Indianapolix to pay for evaluation and communications.