Six local school districts chosen for grants to develop plans to boost college enrollment

The Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation on Monday announced the six Marion County public school districts that will receive grants to develop four-year plans to increase college enrollment among their students.

The grants are part of the $10 million second phase of the foundation’s College Matters: Reversing the Trend initiative.

“[The districts] will be receiving short-term planning grants as they develop four-year plans to increase college enrollment rates, using proven or innovative strategies that they have identified to address some of those key barriers that their students are facing,” said Kami Nielsen, senior program officer at the Fairbanks Foundation.

Nielsen told Inside INdiana Business the foundation was excited to receive 20 applicants for the grant funding, but the six awardees stood out.

“We were reviewing these six applicants and realized that they had a very strong understanding of the barriers that their students were facing, and how they will be able to address those specific barriers using one of those three evidence-based strategies that was identified through our our technical assistance partner, Mathematica, to significantly increase college enrollment rates in their school,” she said.

Those three strategies were strengthening college and career counseling; increasing families’ financial awareness and help students apply for financial aid; and bolstering students’ academic preparation for college.

The six grant recipients are:

• Franklin Township Community School Corp.
• Indianapolis Public Schools
• MSD of Pike Township
• MSD of Warren Township
• MSD of Wayne Township
• Victory College Prep

Each school district is receiving a $20,000 grant to develop their plans to boost college enrollment. They have until July 31 to submit their proposals that could earn them up to $1.5 million in implementation grants from the foundation.

“Each plan is a little bit different and still kind of shifting throughout the planning phase,” Nielsen said. “So it’s hard to say exactly what metrics we’re going to be tracking, but we do have a robust evaluation plan in place so that we are tracking those metrics that really matter for each individual grant.”

Nielsen said Marion County has seen a significant drop in college enrollment. The rate went from 62% in 2011 to 48% in 2021, which she said is problematic for a number of reasons.

“Low college enrollment is not only a challenge for individuals’ well-being but also for the economic vitality of our community,” she said. “We continue to hear from Indiana employers who report difficulty in hiring and finding talent with education and skills needed to fill [their] positions. When fewer Marion County residents have college degrees, especially in many of our peer cities, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage.”

The College Matters initiative officially launched last September with nearly $5 million awarded to Marion County schools, community organizations, and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to help more students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

Once the six school districts have submitted their four-year plans, Nielsen said the foundation hopes to announce the implementation grants in August.

“It’s going to take collaboration by a lot of different people, schools, colleges, state agencies, community based organizations to really increase that number of students who go on to college, but it is really imperative that we work together to ensure that we have enough Hoosiers who can fill those those great jobs and really ensure the well-being of all Hoosiers in Marion County as well as across the state.”

You can learn more about the College Matters initiative by clicking here.