Dive Brief:
- Eleven public universities have formed an alliance to help low-income and first-generation college students get degrees.
- The group, called the University Innovation Alliance, will share and test best practices from its member schools for retaining students and helping them graduate.
- The alliance will match the $5.6 million it has raised to help its cause, the Iowa State Daily reports.
Dive Insight:
The schools in the alliance are Arizona State University, Oregon State University, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Purdue University, the University of California-Riverside, the University of Central Florida, the University of Kansas, the University of Texas at Austin, and Iowa State University. One initiative that Michigan State will share is its neighborhood engagement centers, designed and located to provide academic, social, and health resources close to where the students live, lowering academic probation rates and improving freshmen retention, the Detroit News reported. Iowa State plans to share its learning communities concept, where peers and mentors offer support and resources to students. Another tool the alliance will use is predictive analytics, which help students see how they will perform in classes and what majors they can succeed in.