When it comes to broadening college access and enhancing student success throughout the United States, philanthropic foundations have increasingly taken a leading role in helping to shape the national dialogue.
There’s little doubt that, without the financial support from foundations to support growing research and scaling, policy experts and political leaders would face a much harder time identifying key problems and finding solutions.
While there are many multi-issue grant-making foundations in the philanthropic world, the focus on college access and attainment has only become a priority in recent years.
“Higher education was a pretty sleepy place a decade ago,” says William F.L. Moses, managing director of the Education Program at The Kresge Foundation, which was founded in 1924. “There was not a lot of innovation. But as technology took off, there has been a growing interest in attainment.”
With an approximately $20 million yearly budget, the Kresge Education Program supports postsecondary access and student success for low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students living in cities in the United States and South Africa.
In the United States, Kresge’s education team works nationally, with a special focus on California, Florida, Michigan and Texas — states that have high populations of underrepresented students.
“Our focus is on anyone who has not been well served by higher education,” says Moses. “We think there is value in supporting the pipeline.”
