North Carolina Schools Join Initiative To Enroll More Low-Income Students

A national initiative is being launched to boost the number of low-income students at top universities, and three North Carolina schools are already on board.

UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and Davidson College have signed on to be a part of the American Talent Initiative.

The goal is to educate an additional 50,000 low- to moderate-income students by the year 2025.

Josh Wyner is Vice President and Executive Director of The College Excellence Program at The Aspen Institute, one of the nonprofits helping to facilitate the project. He says ATI is working with 30 schools that have some of the highest graduation rates in the country - 70 percent or higher.

“Not enough low- to moderate-income students are at these top colleges in the country," says Wyner. "The group that's coming together in the American Talent Initiative, are all committed to a single goal, and that is to make sure that every student's talents can take them as far as their hard work will enable.”

ATI will work with Ivy League schools, small liberal arts institutions and larger public universities to measure what recruitment and retention tactics work best.