“Lifting Kids to College”
https://nyti.ms/2q4a2Cs
I’m very proud that my DS’s U is taking many steps to insure that going to college is not just affordable for smart, poor minority kids from LA, but that they are prepared to succeed when they get there.
Other top Universities, including those with far bigger endowments, should so what USC is doing.
Great article! USCal is a great neighbor and does tremendous outreach to its community. My kids were very happy there and I’m pleased they are alums from there.
Very good program they have going. UCSD has a charter school on campus called the Preuss School that is intended to give low-income students a path to college. The Wikipedia page about the Preuss school says that Davis and Berkeley did something similar, but I don’t know about those.
Kudos to USC but it isn’t totally altruistic here. A common practice of schools located in not so great areas to improve the area around them to have a benefit on campus.
Cmon @Dolemite you are nitpicking. Some of these schools supported by USC are in other parts of L.A. And so what if making sure the disadvantaged students admitted to USC are better prepared and stand a better chance of ultimately graduating from USC also helps USC grad retention rates, helps USC reputation in the community, and actually improves the community. All outreach programs are, ultimately, not completely altruistic. Making the world a better place necessarily makes it better for everyone, including the institutions lending the helping hand.
I said kudos. But the article mentioned the schools being in their geographic area and it’s that way for a reason.
It’s silly and mean-spirited imho to criticize institutions who are doing good because hey, they benefit because it makes their corner of the world better.
@Dolemite – a “common” practice?
Can you name some other elite schools that invest and recruit so heavily from their not-very-good neighborhoods? I can’t. What’s the percentage of poor New Haven residents attending Yale? Or POC from “The Flatlands” attending UC Berkeley? How many poor African Americans from Harlem are at Columbia?
USC doesn’t have to do this – it’s doing quite well attracting rich children from all over the world. The fact that it does as much as it does for impoverished LA residents seems to me unique. Certainly above and beyond the standard town and gown PR move…
@katliamom I was surprised to find that Berkeley has a similar connection with a public charter school: http://cep.berkeley.edu/cal-prep
@youcee – Thanks! As a Cal grad (who lived in the flatlands) I totally approve. Go Bears.
If there is a need in my geographic area how is it better to ignore it in favor of one in a different area…
Good for them!
Of the schools mentioned, Yale stands out, but probably not in a good way in the context of this thread.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/economic-diversity-among-top-ranked-schools
Pell grant percentages:
34% Berkeley
31% Columbia
24% USC
13% Yale
The University of Chicago has numerous outreach programs to Chicago Public Schools. They also offer a scholarship specifically for sons and daughters of Chicago Police and Firemen.
Overreact much. It’s not mean-spirited, it’s fact. UPenn does it. They give money to the local Public Elementary that makes the neighborhood more desirable to Young Families. It helps gentrify the neighborhood, lowers the crime rate thus making UPenn more desirable. Maybe the fact that most if not all of these institutions don’t pay local property taxes might also contribute to these local initiatives. Sure there are people at these places whose heart are in the right place but the people in charge of the bottom line make sure these initiatives benefit the institution.
how about Princeton, Dolemite? That’s where you go, correct?
what % students there receive Pell grants?
Princeton is one of the richest U’s in the world- far richer per student than USC, Penn or Chicago.
What are they doing to help poor, local students?
This sounds like a great program. My d has USC on her list, and this makes me more inclined to visit.
" But the article mentioned the schools being in their geographic area and it’s that way for a reason. "
have you looked at how large geographically LA is compared to any other city in the US?
there are schools many miles from USC that benefit from their outreach program.
your posts reads like someone looking down on a less deserving relative and saying
“kudos- but not really”. >:P
another program USC has that it pretty good is one that encourages students to tutor in local schools. One of my kids has done 2 semesters of it and it has been really good for her (and hopefully the kids she tutors!) I’ve also interviewed a few kids who have had USC student tutors in their school and they mentioned more than once that those kids inspired them to look at college as a realistic option.
And, obviously, it is not something restricted to USC. One would think, come to think of it, that any major Uni with an early education department should be running a school like UCLA’s SEEDS, but it should be targeted to provide opportunity to neighborhood kids. Many probably do.
WUSTL and Vanderbilt also have excellent K-12 outreach programs for local kids.
Obviously you’ve never been to Princeton, NJ 
Range Rovers per capita is probably the highest outside of Beverly Hills 
Anyway I’m not denigrating USC or any of these schools that have these programs but pointing out that their motives are not entirely altruistic. These schools are huge businesses and they have business people running them.