White House College Opportunity Day of Action Attracts Essex Educators

The White House College Opportunity Day of Action was designed to help support President Obama’s commitment to partner with colleges and universities, business leaders, and nonprofits to support students across the country to help our nation reach its goal of leading the world in college attainment.

Essex County College President Dr. Gale E. Gibson joined President Obama, the First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Biden along with hundreds of other college presidents and higher education leaders. At the summit, new actions to help more students prepare for and graduate from college were announced.

The summit took place on Thursday December 4 and was the second College Opportunity Day of Action, and included a progress report on the commitments made at the first day of action on January 14, 2014.

Other educators representing New Jersey included Rutgers University-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Camden County College President Raymond Yannuzzi.

Thursday’s participants were asked to commit to new action in one of four areas:

• building networks of colleges around promoting completion
• creating K-16 partnerships around college readiness
• investing in high school counselors as part of the First Lady’s Reach Higher initiative,
• increasing the number of college graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known as STEM.

Essex has teamed up with Rutgers University – Newark and New Jersey Institute of Technology, through the Newark City of Learning Collaborative, to increase the percentage of city residents earning college degrees, certificates and other academic credentials.

The initiatives include:

• developing a high school to college pipeline with the city public schools and local charter schools
• increasing post-secondary attainment with the help of transfer agreements between Essex and four year institutions
• increasing financial, academic and socio-emotional supports to increase retention and graduation.

Essex sends the most transfer students to Rutgers University-Newark and New Jersey Institute of Technology, as well as Montclair State University, than any other two-year college in the state.

Gibson is also spearheading a number of other initiatives to increase student retention at Essex, as well as increase job opportunities in and around Newark.

At the summit, President Obama announced new steps on how his administration is helping to support these actions, including announcing $10 million to help promote college completion and a $30 million AmeriCorps program that will improve low-income students’ access to college.

Expanding opportunity for more students to enroll and succeed in college, especially low-income and underrepresented students, is vital to building a strong economy and a strong middle class.

Currently, only 9 percent of those born in the lowest family income quartile attain a bachelor’s degree by age 25, compared to 54 percent in the top quartile. In an effort to expand college access, the Obama Administration has increased Pell scholarships by $1,000 a year, created the new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth up to $10,000 over four years of college, limited student loan payments to 10 percent of income, and laid out an ambitious agenda to reduce college costs and promote innovation and competition.

Information and Image Courtesy of the Essex County College Office of Marketing and Communication