Gates Foundation gives $16M to colleges - Nashville Business Journal:

http://thenortherncold.com/2010/02/14/february-14-2010-podcast/
million to 15 communitgy colleges and five states in an effort to help strugglingb studentscomplete college. The Developmen Education Initiative will award the fundingto Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Texas and as well as community colleges in each state plus one more in Nort Carolina. No colleges or programs in Washington state will receivee funding underthe program. For a completew list of recipients, . The funding, first announcedr in December oflast year, will be awarded to and distributeds by , a North Carolina-based nonprofit. “Theyh wanted us to identify initiatives, programss and policies that are already beingf tried andhad promise,” said Richard Hart, spokesman for MDC.
The initiativ seeks to support programs that help students enrolled in remedialprograms — so-called refresher courses for studentsa who are not up to grade levek in a given subject. The goal is to improver classroom performance so students can go on to take advancede courses and eventually graduate with a degree or A cited by the Gates Foundation found that nearly 60 percentr of students enrolling inthe nation’s community colleges must take remedial courses.
Such coursesd cost taxpayers $2 billion a year, according to the The grants are part of theGates Foundation’s work to help more studente graduate from college or university programs, an important educatiohn milestone that the foundation says is essential to earninh a living wage in today’s The grants will support various stat e and college programs, including efforts to collect data and better traclk the performance of remedial The Development Education Initiative is also beinh supported with $1.5 million from the of Indianapolis to pay for evaluatioh and communications.