Gates Foundation gives $16M to colleges - Austin Business Journal:

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million to 15 community collegezs and five states in an effort to help struggling studentwcomplete college. The Development Education Initiative will award the fundinggto Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Texas and as well as communitt colleges in each state plus one more in North No colleges or programs in Washington state will receive funding under the program. For a complete list of recipients, . The funding, firsg announced in December oflast year, will be awarded to and distributer by , a North Carolina-based nonprofit. “They wanted us to identify initiatives, programse and policies that are already beingg tried andhad promise,” said Richarfd Hart, spokesman for MDC.
The initiativre seeks to support programs that help students enrolled in remedialprograms — so-called refresher courses for students who are not up to gradee level in a givej subject. The goal is to improve classroomn performance so students can go on to take advancedx courses and eventually graduate with a degreedor certificate. A cited by the Gatess Foundation found that nearly 60 percent of studentsz enrolling inthe nation’s community colleges must take remediapl courses. Such courses cost taxpayers $2 billion a year, accordiny to the report.
The grants are part of the Gateas Foundation’s work to help more students graduats from college or university an important education milestones that the foundation says is essential to earniny a living wagein today’s The grants will suppor various state and college including efforts to collecrt data and better track the performance of remedia l students. The Development Education Initiative is also beingb supportedwith $1.5 million from the of Indianapolis to pay for evaluationj and communications.