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UM Signs on with American Talent Initiative

The growing alliance of public and private colleges and universities aims to enroll and graduate talented students regardless of socioeconomic status.

By UM News

The University of Miami has joined a growing list of impressive universities nationwide committed to helping low- to moderate-income students succeed in achieving a degree in higher education.

Launched in December 2016, the American Talent Initiative is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and was founded with a national goal of educating 50,000 additional high-achieving, lower-income students at the 270 colleges and universities with the highest graduation rates by 2025.

The American Talent Initiative (ATI) announced recently that 38 more colleges and universities have joined its ranks, including the University of Miami.

The addition of these new members has more than doubled the number of top-performing institutions dedicated to substantially expanding the number of talented low- and moderate-income students at America’s undergraduate institutions with the highest graduation rates. (Full list of ATI member institutions below).

“The University of Miami’s membership in the American Talent Initiative is directly aligned with our Access to Excellence Roadmap to a New Century initiative,’’ said John Haller, vice president of enrollment management at UM.

“As part of our membership,” he added, “the University is working to meet 100 percent of the demonstrated financial need for all admitted undergraduate students. Our goal is for our students to pursue their dreams of attaining a University of Miami degree regardless of socioeconomics.”

Recent research suggests that at least 12,500 high school seniors per year have SAT scores in the top 10 percent with a 3.7 grade point averages or higher – and still do not attend the colleges where they have the greatest likelihood of graduating.

These students have earned the opportunity these schools offer, but for a variety of reasons—including a lack of information about their options, confusion about costs, and inadequate financial aid offers—many of them simply lack access.

The American Talent Initiative supports institutions with the highest graduation rates and best track records for post-graduate success in their efforts to attract, enroll, and graduate those “missing” students.

"Too many students from low-income families are missing out on opportunities to attend top colleges because they think those colleges aren't affordable – when most often, they are. This growing coalition is helping to fix that,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term Mayor of New York City.

ATI members are sharing lessons learned as well as institutional data, and through the coming years, will annually publish aggregate progress toward meeting the national goal of 50,000 additional lower- income students by 2025.

American Talent Initiative Participating Institutions (*members joining in January–April 2017)

Allegheny College*

Rice University

Amherst College

Rutgers University*

Bard College*

Saint Michael’s College*

Bates College

Smith College*

Baylor University*

Spelman College

Brown University*

Stanford University

Bucknell University*

Swarthmore College*

California Institute of Technology*

The Ohio State University

Carleton College*

University of California, Berkeley

Claremont McKenna College*

University of California, Davis*

Colby College*

University of California, Irvine*

Columbia University*

University of California, Los Angeles

Cornell University*

University of Denver*

Dartmouth College

University of Maryland, College Park

Davidson College

University of Massachusetts, Amherst*

Dickinson College*

University of Miami*

Duke University

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Elizabethtown College*

University of Minnesota*

Fordham University*

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Franklin & Marshall College

University of Pennsylvania*

Georgetown University

University of Richmond

Georgia Institute of Technology

University of South Carolina*

Gettysburg College*

University of Southern California*

Harvard University

University of Texas at Austin

Johns Hopkins University

University of Virginia*

Kenyon College*

University of Washington

Lafayette College*

Vanderbilt University

Lawrence University*

Vassar College

Lebanon Valley College*

Wake Forest University*

Lehigh University

Washington University in St. Louis

Marist College*

Wesleyan University*

New York University*

Williams College

Pomona College

Wofford College*

Princeton University

Yale University