Community colleges in the spotlight.THE BRIGHTEST HIGH SCHOOL seniors often vie for a spot at some of the most prestigious--and expensive--universities, but in the current economy community colleges are also enjoying their fair share of attention. A recent survey of 2,500 users of the Web site www.meritaid.com, an Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the service providing information on colleges and scholarships, found almost 60 percent of graduating seniors were considering a less prestigious school for money reasons as a result of the economy. In addition, an unprecedented range of policymakers and philanthropic phil·an·throp·ic also phil·an·throp·i·cal adj. 1. Of, relating to, or marked by philanthropy; humanitarian. 2. Organized to provide humanitarian or charitable assistance: organizations are also setting their sights on community colleges to wrestle with some of education's most intractable intractable /in·trac·ta·ble/ (in-trak´tah-b'l) resistant to cure, relief, or control. in·trac·ta·ble adj. 1. Difficult to manage or govern; stubborn. 2. problems--low achievement for poor and minority students, and embarrassing college completion rates. Prominent foundations such as Lumiha, Kellogg and Ford have begun focusing on community colleges, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, philanthropic institution founded in 1994 by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, to improve the lives of the poor throughout the world, primarily through grants for projects relating to global health care, recently announced it would spend up to half a billion dollars over the next four years on a college completion initiative. The initial focus of the program would be on twoyear schools. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "More young people are enrolled in college this year than ever before," Melinda Gates Melinda French Gates (born Melinda Ann French on August 15, 1964) is a former unit manager for several Microsoft products: Publisher, Microsoft Bob, Encarta, and Expedia. In 1994, she married Bill Gates, founder, chairman, and former chief software architect of Microsoft. said during the announcement of the initiative. "But the payoff doesn't does·n't Contraction of does not. come with enrolling in college; the payoff comes when a student gets a postsecondary degree that helps them get a job with a family wage." |
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