News

Partnership aims to boost minorities' access to college

By Lightning Reports, Published: December 11, 2017

A philanthropic organization dedicated to making a college degree more affordable and accessible for Latino and African-American students on Monday announced a partnership with the Henderson County public schools and the local chapters of the NAACP and El Centro.

Modern States Education Alliance recently launched “Freshman Year for Free,” the first-ever catalog of tuition-free online courses for 40+ core collegiate freshman subjects, enabling learners to earn traditional academic credits at more than 2,900 major colleges and universities. Taught by professors from leading schools, Modern States’ free courses prepare students for the well-accepted Advanced Placement and College Level Examination Program exams offered by the College Board.

“The Modern States courses provide a wonderful opportunity for our students to earn college credit tuition-free,” said Jan King, the school system's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. “District administrators believe in providing our students with alternative paths to college. Modern States is another resource we can offer to help them define and reach their college, career and life goals.”

To help enroll additional participants in the Modern States program, the Henderson County NAACP is developing a coalition of partners to assist with promoting, tutoring, mentoring, monitoring and otherwise motivating prospective enrollees.

“We are developing a promotional program in collaboration with local high schools to assist in ensuring that students are aware of the Modern States opportunity,” NAACP chapter secretary Harold Hellickson said. “We hope other NAACP chapters in North Carolina and elsewhere will join us.”

As part of the partnership, El Centro of Henderson County, an organization dedicated to creating a more inclusive community for Latinos, will assist high school students with realizing their educational goals.

“We have leaders in different areas of the community and are effective in helping get the word out,” said Carolina McCready, co-director of El Centro of Henderson County. “We think this is really exciting.”

Earlier this year, Modern States announced it will pay the College Board test fees for the first 10,000 students who complete a Modern States course. The offer enables learners to earn a single college credit or up to a full year's worth of credits for free, reducing the cost of a traditional four-year college degree by 25 percent.

“Many students across the nation want a college education but can’t afford it. I founded this philanthropy to help make a college education accessible for everyone,” said Steve Klinsky, founder and CEO of Modern States. “I am enthusiastic about our new partners in North Carolina.”

The Modern States courses are taught by faculty members from some of the nation’s best universities, including Columbia, Purdue, Rutgers, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Baruch College, University of Texas and Cal Berkeley.

Modern States aspires to help more than one million learners earn credit at no tuition cost, saving students and taxpayers approximately $1,000 per course and over $1 billion in total, while also creating a practical “on-ramp” into the traditional college system for anyone who seeks it.