Bloomberg’s $140 Million Push to Get Lower-Income Students Into Top Colleges Falls Short
The bulk of Bloomberg’s millions have gone to a remote college-counseling program. Bloomberg Philanthropies, the ex-New York City mayor’s charitable arm, also invested in the American Talent Initiative, a group of college presidents that aimed to attract 50,000 more lower-income students to schools with high graduation rates.
Bloomberg Philanthropies now says the college counseling has had “minimal” impact, according to a presentation shared with The Wall Street Journal. And the American Talent Initiative has shelved its big goal after falling off track.
“We think we have moved the needle. We have not solved the problem,” said Howard Wolfson, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ education work.
Behind the spending is Michael Bloomberg’s belief—a belief shared by other large donors and nonprofits—that the path to economic mobility runs through America’s leading colleges.
One reason these programs haven’t found strong success is that scalable, lower-cost strategies—such as distributing packets about colleges or encouraging students to work with counselors online—struggled to get through to students. Several studies have found that more-intensive, in-person college counseling programs tend to be more effective.
