Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Education is rejecting grant applications from nearly 40 colleges and organizations because there are minor infractions of technical rules like double-spacing or font usage, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- The grants help fund Upward Bound programs throughout the country, which offer tutoring and mentoring services for low-income students to help them properly prepare for college.
- Congressmen and other supporters of the program are pressuring Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to “apply some common sense” and not revoke opportunities for students due to what may be minor clerical errors, arguing the programs have bipartisan support.
Dive Insight:
Overly bureaucratic processes can be destructive on the educational careers of students, particularly during the college admissions process. Onerous and complicated applications, particularly for private and selective schools, can be difficult for the most astute student to handle, and it can be even more difficult for students who do not have parents who have previously undergone the admissions process, or do not have adequate support staff, including guidance counselors, in their high schools to guide them through the convoluted applications.
But it isn't just admissions in which technicalities can hinder student success. Just as the Department of Education is coming under fire for failing to "apply some common sense" in the approval process, many institutions face their own common sense challenges around convoluted pathways to graduation, unclear curricula, fees which may serve to inhibit students from persisting or obtaining a diploma, "weed out" policies in low level courses which encourage students to drop out and any other number of processes, policies and procedures which stand in the way of student success and, ultimately, the institution's bottom line.
Autumn A. Arnett contributed to this piece.