Access Without Support is
Not Opportunity
Vincent Tinto
Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University
Lecture: 4 - 5:30 p.m.
Reception 5:30 - 6 p.m.
Campus Center Theater
While the gap in access to higher education between high and low income students has diminished over the past several decades, the gap in the completion of four-year degrees has not. That this is the case reflects a range of issues not the least of which is the fact that too many low-income students enter higher education without the academic and social resources they need to succeed.
Therefore while the recent push to increase access to higher education among low-income youth is welcomed, it will do little to change their rates of completion unless institutions take seriously the need to provide students the academic and social support they need to translate the opportunity access provides into success in college.
Professor Tinto explores what this requires of institutions and the sorts of actions they must take to ensure that more of their low-income students complete their college degrees.
About the speaker:
Vincent Tinto is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University and the former Chair of the Higher Education Program. He has carried out research and has written extensively on higher education, particularly on student success and the impact of learning communities on student growth and attainment. His book, Leaving College, published by the University of Chicago Press, lays out a theory and policy perspective on student success that is considered the benchmark by which work on these issues are judged. His most recent book, Completing College, also published by The University of Chicago Press, lays out a framework for institutional action for student success, describes the range of programs that have been effective in enhancing student success, and the types of policies institutions should follow to successfully implement programs in ways that endure and scale-up over time.
He has received numerous recognitions and awards. He was awarded the Council of Educational Opportunity Walter O. Mason 2012 Award for his work on the retention of low-income students, the Council of Independent Colleges 2008 Academic Leadership Award, the National Institute for Staff Development International 2008 Leadership Award and was named Distinguished Fellow in the Council of Learning Assistance and Developmental Education Associations. He has some 50 notable publications, including books, research reports, and journal articles, to his credit and has lectured across the United States, South America, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. From 1990 to 1996 he was associate director of the National Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. He has worked with a number of organizations, foundations, and government agencies on issues of student success and sits on a number of advisory boards including the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and the Lumina Foundation.
