Sallie Mae And Delaware State University Announce Partnership to Address Barriers to College Completion
December 11 2023 - 11:00AM
Business Wire
The Sallie Mae Fund Commits $1 Million to
DSU to Research Completion Gaps and Identify and Re-engage Those
With Some College and No Degree
Sallie Mae® today announced a $1 million research endowment to
Delaware State University (DSU) to help close the college
completion gap. The grant from The Sallie Mae Fund will support a
comprehensive three-year “Persistence and Completion Pilot Program”
that will study and identify barriers to degree completion, help
students return to school and complete, and help advance policy
recommendations and best practices to enhance student
re-engagement.
The $1 million contribution will endow a research fellow,
further support DSU’s current completion program, and include
$125,000 in scholarships to help cover tuition, fees, and
unexpected costs for DSU students who show financial need. The
program will be housed at DSU’s School of Graduate, Adult, and
Extended Studies.
“The Institute for Black Economic Mobility at McKinsey &
Company already makes the case that nontraditional investments like
this one coupled with the natural talent pipeline that HBCUs
continue to provide could increase Black worker incomes by around
$10 billion in addition to strengthening the economy and decreasing
student-loan debt by $300 million,” said Tony Allen, President,
Delaware State University, and the President’s Board of Advisors on
Historically Black Colleges and Universities. “When I think about
the millions of talented students that stop going to school because
of unexpected family obligations or financial challenges that
simply could not be overcome, it is a loud alarm to us all that we
should be doing more. Sallie Mae is answering the call, and I am
hoping many other education solutions providers will join
them.”
The number of students with some college experience but no
degree has reached 40 million, 6.5 million of whom are Black
students. For Black students, particularly those from low-resource
communities, HBCUs are the best return on investment and remain the
primary driver of moving low-income Black people into the middle
class. Additionally, HBCUs advance students from lower-income
families to higher incomes at roughly twice the rate of
non-minority serving institutions.
“We know the promise of a higher education comes from earning a
degree, yet too often, underserved and underrepresented students
face obstacles that cause them to stop-out or drop out altogether,”
said Jon Witter, CEO, Sallie Mae. “Our mission-aligned partnership
with DSU aims to remove barriers to degree completion so that more
students have the resources they need to cross the finish
line.”
Through a collaborative, student-centered and data-informed
approach, research findings and learnings will be presented at a
future DSU HBCU Philanthropy Symposium to offer outcomes and
recommend solutions that can be broadly considered and implemented
at HBCUs and institutions nationwide.
“Ensuring every institution of higher learning here has the same
opportunity to provide an unparalleled educational experience is a
priority of Delaware’s congressional delegation,” said U.S.
Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and U.S. Representative Lisa
Blunt Rochester (all D-Del.). “We applaud Sallie Mae not just for
their national financial leadership providing access to educational
opportunities, but for being a good faith corporate citizen looking
to lift up neighbors and strike at the heart of systemic
inequality.”
Details of the new strategic partnership were announced at the
Delaware State University Scholarship Ball in front of supporters
and members of the Delaware congressional delegation.
For more information visit www.salliemae.com.
Category: Community and Philanthropy
Sallie Mae (Nasdaq: SLM) believes education and life-long
learning, in all forms, help people achieve great things. As the
leader in private student lending, we provide financing and
know-how to support access to college and offer products and
resources to help customers make new goals and experiences, beyond
college, happen. Learn more at SallieMae.com. Commonly known as
Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored
by or agencies of the United States of America.
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Tacy Cresson 302.265.5616 tacy.cresson@salliemae.com
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