Report highlights Rutgers efforts to improve opportunities for low-, moderate-income students

A report by a nationwide alliance of colleges and universities highlights Rutgers University-­New Brunswick’s efforts to improve opportunity for low- and moderate-income students.A report by a nationwide alliance of colleges and universities highlights Rutgers University-­New Brunswick’s efforts to improve opportunity for low- and moderate-income students.

Rutgers-New Brunswick is one of 108 member institutions that comprise the American Talent Initiative and is cultivating new pipelines of New Jersey high school students through its Rutgers Future Scholars program.

The program has provided academic preparation courses, cultural events, tutoring and mentoring for more than 2,000 New Jersey high school students, all of whom receive free or reduced-price lunch and would be first-generation college students, according to American Talent Initiative’s “A 2018 Report on the Progress of the American Talent Initiative in its First Two Years,” released Monday.

Nearly 100 percent of students involved in the Future Scholars program graduate from high school. Of those, 69 percent attend Rutgers, 16 percent attend other four-year institutions and another 16 percent attend community college with the hopes of transferring to Rutgers, according to the report.

More than 30 percent of Rutgers-New Brunswick students receive Pell grants, one of the highest rates among American Talent Initiative public members, according to the report.

Members of the American Talent Initiative have increased enrollment of students who receive federal Pell grants by 7,291 since the 2015-16 school year. This momentum, according to the report, indicates the initiative is on track to reach its goal to make America’s top colleges more accessible for 50,000 additional low- and moderate-income students by 2025, according to the report.