Giving Compass' Take:

• A report from Third Way proved that the University of California school system is doing much better at enrolling, retaining, and ensuring that their low income students graduate. Not to mention, UC schools provide supportive resources for these students while they are currently enrolled.

• How can other schools emulate UC's efforts to support low income students? Can partnerships in with philanthropists play a role in this?

• Learn about the unsuccessful model of 'free college' when it comes to low income students.

The idea is clear, simple, and generally agreed upon: Colleges need to do more when it comes to enrolling and graduating low-income students. If college degrees are “the great equalizer”—though some research has disputed that characterization—then expanding access to those degrees will help make society more equal. Are any colleges succeeding in doing that?

A new report from Third Way, a center-left think tank, tries to answer that question—and the results for many colleges are not pretty. One of the most common ways to understand how colleges are serving low-income students is by looking at how well they are helping students who are eligible to receive Pell Grants, or need-based federal grants for low-income students.

The report finds that fewer than half of first-time, full-time Pell students graduate at the institution they started at within six years. By contrast, those who do not receive a Pell Grant are doing much better, and nationally are 18 percent more likely to graduate within that time period.

But the report found that one system stands out: Schools in the University of California system are doing significantly better than other four-year colleges and universities in the country when it comes to enrolling low-income students and seeing them across the finish line.

Why is that? The state money available for higher education makes a big difference—and the UCs have remained among the better-funded colleges in the country, as institutions in other states have seen sharp cuts.

They devote a good portion of that funding to getting low-income students onto campus in the first place.

Though the UCs are making a concerted effort to enroll and retain low-income students, it is also worth noting that the schools’ efforts are buoyed by a healthy state economy.

Read the full article about UC schools success in supporting low-income students by Adam Harris at The Atlantic