College For Every Student (CFES) and Trinity College Dublin will take the lead in a global campaign to help one million disadvantaged youth attain college degrees by 2025.

“We will leverage the knowledge and commitment of our networks to ensure that these young people capitalize on the radical changes occurring in higher education,” said Rick Dalton president and CEO of CFES. “They’ll succeed by turning challenges into assets, and by acting on innovative new opportunities to achieve their potential.”

The One Million More Campaign

The One Million More Campaign grew out of a summit in early April where 60 educational, corporate and philanthropic leaders from seven nations explored how to get more low-income students to and through college and what higher education will look like in 2025.

Here’s a link to a white paper that summarizes findings and provides details on the College 2025 Summit.

The attainment of college degrees by low-income students is a global opportunity crisis that is most pronounced in the United States, where low-income students are twelve times less likely to attain bachelor’s degrees than their high-income peers. Bill Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard College, calls this “an outrage, a human rights issue.”

“We can solve this crisis by understanding how very different the college experience will be in the near future – and by making sure more students have the will, the means and academic staying power to succeed when they get there,” said Cliona Hannon, director of the Trinity Access Programmes at Trinity College Dublin.

The Summit white paper cites these qualities and characteristics of colleges in 2025:

• Most students will no longer enter and complete college in a fixed timeframe;
• Colleges will face greater demands for accountability when it comes to cost, debt and graduation rates for low-income students;
• Digital learning will lower college costs for many;
• The gap between high and low resourced colleges will widen significantly, pushing colleges that are unable to evolve to extinction.

CFES and Trinity College Dublin will create an International Task Force to carry out the One Million More Campaign through partnerships with colleges, corporations and nonprofits, raising resources and creating more effective pathways to higher education for economically disadvantaged young people.

“There’s a better world out there for our children, and a college degree is the best path to that world of opportunity,” said Dalton.

Summit Organizers

College For Every Student (CFES) is a nonprofit organization committed to raising the academic aspirations and performance of underserved youth so that they can gain access to and succeed in college. CFES currently serves Scholars from schools across 24 states and Ireland. (www.collegefes.org)

Trinity College Dublin, founded in 1592, is situated in Ireland’s capital city, Dublin. As Ireland’s premier university, the pursuit of excellence through research and scholarship is at the heart of a Trinity education. The Trinity Access Programmes (TAP) are a central part of Trinity’s plan to encourage students with ability and potential from low income backgrounds to participate in higher education and to realize their potential. The University serves 16,646 students from 122 countries. (www.tcd.ie)

Summit Participants

The gathering, held in Essex, NY, drew participants from 12 secondary schools, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The GE Foundation, Google, Ernst & Young, Harvard University, Middlebury College, University of Michigan, Beijing Normal University and other organizations.

Related articles

• CFES Global Summit in Essex Featured in Huffington Post (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• The College 2025 Conundrum (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• CFES Summit: Prepare for College 2025 (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• CFES Abroad in Ireland (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
• College for Every Student (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)