Financing College: Success Innovations to Promote Readiness, Access and Completion
Channel: New America
Date: 2012-06-01

Financing College Success:
Innovations to Promote Readiness, Access, and Completion

Thursday, May 31, the Asset Building Program hosted an event Financing College Success: Innovations to Promote Readiness, Access, and Completion. We were particularly excited to host Martha Kanter, Under Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education and Congressman Chaka Fattah from Pennsylvania to speak about their respective work to promote access to higher education. Reid Cramer, Director of the Asset Building Program, introduced our speakers and moderated the conversation. He began by noting that the recent focus on student loan debt has driven attention to earlier interventions to help students afford college. Successful college attendance is a process that begins many years before students reach the end of high school and has a significant financial component. Savings, public benefits, and other programs play a role along the way to give students a sense that college is financially within their reach. The Asset Building Program is particularly excited about the recent announcement that the Department of Ed is going to use at least $8.7 million in funding to conduct a college savings demonstration project with students in the GEAR UP program (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs).

Participants

Opening Speakers
Martha Kanter
Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education

The Honorable Chaka Fattah
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Featured Panelist
Debra Saunders-White
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education

Featured Speakers
Willie Elliott III
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
University of Kansas

Kevin Carey
Policy Director
Education Sector

Evelyn Ganzglass
Director, Workforce Development
Center for Law and Social Policy

Reid Cramer
Director, Asset Building Program
New America Foundation

http://www.newamerica.net/events/2012/financing_college_success