WASHINGTON — At an education summit addressing the U.S. high school dropout epidemic, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday an administration plan to enlist governors into pushing their states to boost college graduation rates while providing millions in financial incentives for colleges to do the same.
Appearing at the first annual Grad Nation Summit, which focuses heavily on K-12 reform, Biden used the occasion to trumpet the Comprehensive Grant Program, a competitive program that makes $20 million available to colleges to support innovative practices aimed at increasing completion rates. He also released a new college completion “toolkit” that features a variety of “low-cost or no-cost” strategies also aimed at increasing college graduation rates. The strategies include aligning high school graduation standards with minimal college requirements.
“When President Obama and I talk about leading the world in college graduates by 2020, it isn’t about winning bragging rights,” Biden said. “It’s about ensuring that every child in this country has the ability to reach his or her potential. If we don’t do this, kiss goodbye to leading in the 21st century.”
The vice president also lamented that less than half of all college students earn a degree within six years of enrollment. “We’ve got an education system that works more like a funnel than it does like a pipeline,” he said.
According to Biden, the grants will be awarded later this year. Community colleges will also be eligible to compete.
Biden also said the battle to boost college completion must be fought in the realm of secondary education. “The single best predictor of successful college completion is not family income, it is not parental education, it’s not race. What it is, is how academically rigorous a student’s high school curriculum is.”
