Education leaders to discuss college access barriers
July 9, 2008
University of Richmond president Edward L. Ayers will host five other higher education leaders in a July 14 panel discussion about barriers preventing minorities and low-income students from attending college.
Recent data indicating a widening gap in higher education enrollment and graduation rates among minorities and whites, and low-income and middle-income students, prompted the panel. A recent Brookings Institution study specifically shows declining numbers of African-Americans and Hispanics earning college degrees compared with whites and Asians—a trend that will hinder African-American and Hispanic financial growth into middle- and upper-income brackets, the report says.
Joining Ayers will be: Jeff Brenzel, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale University; Idalia P. Fernandez, president of the Hispanic College Fund; Michael L. Lomax, president of the United Negro College Fund; J.B. Schramm, founder of College Summit; and Robert G. Templin Jr., president of Northern Virginia Community College.
The six panelists will discuss discrepancies in resources and support available to public versus private high school students and the impact on college admissions; growing controversy over affirmative action in admissions; socio-economic barriers facing minority and low-income groups; how community colleges can partner with four-year schools to generate student interest in higher education; the role of an active support network in students' college careers; and student retention issues.
Jim Dyke, former Virginia secretary of education, will give opening remarks, and Gene Lepley, a news anchor with Richmond NBC affiliate WWBT-TV12, will moderate.