Giving Compass' Take:

• Bridget Burns and Peter J. Taylor explain how 11 universities are cooperating to provide services and support to raise graduation rates for low-income students. 

• How can funders help to improve and spread this model? What other organizations are making progress to improve graduation rates for low-income students? 

• Learn more about programs for low-income college students. 

Bryce Nelson, a marketing major at the University of Central Florida, had a full class schedule and worked 35 to 40 hours a week at jobs on and off campus, to make ends meet.

By his sophomore year, Nelson was about to drop out of college. The university stepped in, helping Nelson find more flexibility through online courses and a new major that was better suited to his goals. Financial-aid counselors helped him secure additional financial support.

Thanks to university advising, the ending to this story is a happy one, and Nelson is on track to graduate next May.

These kinds of supports are changing the lives of thousands of students. Up to 40 percent of students at four-year institutions do not complete their degrees in six years. That’s why the University Innovation Alliance, a group of 11 public research universities serving 400,000 undergraduate students, decided to collaborate instead of competing with one another.

Today, the 11 institutions — Arizona State, Georgia State, Iowa State, the University of Kansas, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon State, Purdue, the University of California at Riverside, the University of Central Florida and the University of Texas at Austin — have increased degrees awarded to low-income students by 29 percent, and they are on track to graduate nearly 100,000 additional students overall by 2020.

Read the full article about working together to raise graduation rates for low-income students by Bridget Burns and Peter J. Taylor at The Hechinger Report.