The Feel-Good Summit

Career College Central summary:

Last week, President Obama's daylong White House summit assembled more than 100 college presidents and dozens of other nonprofit, corporate and foundation leaders to discuss how to better recruit and graduate more students from low-income families. While the president urged higher education to do more to expand access to such students, he (and key members of his administration) complimented college leaders on the commitments they had made in that direction — commitments the administration had won with its invitations to the summit.

Last Wednesday’s summit was, politically, the administration’s latest effort to advance its agenda in a gridlocked Congress. Obama reiterated Wednesday that he had (and would use) a "pen to take executive actions where Congress won’t, and I’ve got a telephone to rally folks around the country on this mission.”

For college leaders, the price of admission to the event was to make a “new commitment” to helping more low-income students attend and complete college. More than 100 college presidents and 40 organizations made promises, which the White House unveiled Thursday. He praised the new commitments by college leaders as “an extraordinary accomplishment,” adding that he “didn’t pass a bill to do it.”

Click through for full article content.

INSIDE HIGHER EDUCATION