Dive Brief:
- The $700 million Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is working with technology companies to create free tools that will help high school students search for colleges and receive counseling.
- The project will also help the foundation’s marketing, getting its name out to the public as the largest scholarship foundation in the U.S., Inside Higher Ed reported.
- Foundation president Harold Levy sees the ultimate product developed with the tech companies as a virtual advisor, like Apple’s Siri, to help low-income and first-generation students who may not have access to a live college counselor.
Dive Insight:
The foundation has been working on the under-matching problem — talented low-income students being less likely to enroll in schools with academics that match their talent — since it was founded in 2000. Its “last-dollar” scholarships pay students up to $40,000 a year over three years for college, and for those working to increase higher ed access, the foundation awards researchers with fellowships and organizations with grants. In 15 years, the foundation has awarded more than $125 million in scholarships to about 1,800 students, as well as $79 million in grants.