Minds Worth Meeting

More people from lower-income backgrounds may be going to college, but they continue to drop out at higher rates than their higher-income peers. They also struggle to manage both work and academics and face enormous levels of student-loan debt whether they graduate or not. One problem is that educators and policymakers have been focused only on access – getting students into college – rather than on success, or what happens to them once they’re there. How can we ensure that more people, especially those from lower-income backgrounds and disadvantaged groups, not only get into college but thrive once they are there, and graduate with minimal (or no) debt? In this episode of Minds Worth Meeting, we speak with Melissa Fries, executive director of the College & Alumni Program (CAP) at the Making Waves Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports students of the Making Waves Academy charter school. Serving the underprivileged students of the Richmond, California area, Making Waves emphasizes long-term col