Opening Doors

October 2009

Greetings,

Recently, I've had several questions from some of our partners on the College Access and Completion Innovation Fund (CACIF). In my role as a resource for you, I wanted to share some information from a recent call provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

The main purpose of the fund is to promote innovation in postsecondary education by institutions of higher education, states, and nonprofit organizations to improve student success, completion, and post-completion employment, particularly for students underrepresented in postsecondary education. The fund also assists states in developing longitudinal data systems, common metrics, and reporting systems to enhance the quality and availability of information about student success, completion, and post-completion employment.

Over a five year period, the CACIF will provide $600 million to promote student persistence and help achieve President Obama's goal of graduating five million more Americans from community colleges by 2020.

The money will be distributed in four parts:

• One quarter of the fund, $150 million, will allow the College Access Challenge Grant program to continue. The program will use the same formula that has been used for the past two years, but the amount will increase from $66 million to $150 million.
• Half of the money, $300 million, will be awarded to states on a competitive basis to promote student persistence in, and completion of, postsecondary education. In order to receive the funds, states must agree to close enrollment gaps, target connections with the workforce, improve coordination between two- and four-year institutions, and develop a statewide longitudinal data system.
• Twenty-three percent of the money, or $138 million, is set aside for grants awarded on a competitive basis to institutions of higher education, states, non-profits, philanthropic organizations, and other programs. The minimum award is $1 million. The awards will be given to programs that show innovation in college access and completion.
• The final $12 million will be used to conduct evaluations of the programs that were funded and determine which programs had the strongest impact.

Keep in mind that this structure of the CACIF is only proposed and could still change significantly – the bill was passed by the House Education and Labor Committee and awaits action in the House and Senate. Once the bill is passed, it promises to help open the doors to higher education for millions of our students.

Until next time,

La Toya Sykes, Director
Outreach and Access Awareness

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