PBS NewsHour Explores the Future of Higher Education During Month of ‘Rethinking College: Climbing the Ladder’ Reports

WASHINGTON, DC (May 1, 2018) – On Tuesdays May 1 – 22, 2018, the PBS NewsHour with anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff (check local listings) will air its special four-part series “Rethinking College: Climbing the Ladder.” PBS NewsHour correspondent and NewsHour Weekend anchor Hari Sreenivasan traveled across the country to view how higher education boosts social mobility for non-traditional students. Economists say higher education is one of the surest ways into the middle class, but getting a degree can be a real challenge for students from low-income families. “Rethinking College: Climbing the Ladder” features innovative ideas to help students climb the ladder of college, class, and economic stability.

Coverage of “Rethinking College: Climbing the Ladder” will carry over to NewsHour online, with original stories from NewsHour’s reporting team and partners at the Hechinger Report, Education Week, WGBH OnCampus and Inside Higher Ed.

A schedule for the series’ broadcast content is below. PBS NewsHour’s “Rethinking College: Climbing the Ladder” series is funded by the Lumina Foundation. Education coverage is also supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and American Graduate: Getting to Work.

May 1, 2018: Misconception of the modern student
At LaGuardia Community College in New York, 77 percent of students come from households making less than $25,000 a year, and a quarter of matriculated students work 30 or more hours a week to make ends meet. “The idea of college as being this time away right after high school — it’s not true,” said Gail Mellow, president of the college. Mellow and her colleagues are working to shift perceptions of the so-called “average college student” to make college more accessible for non-traditional students and decrease the dropout rate.

May 8, 2018: Prescription for diversity
With a student populace of only 3,000, Xavier University in New Orleans manages to graduate more African-American students who go on to become medical doctors than any other undergraduate institution in the country — including ivy league colleges and elite public universities. The key to their success? Intense student-to-student advising.

May 15, 2018: First Generation Mentoring
“I’m a product of my mom; a high school education, and my dad; an eighth grade education,” said Professor Lorrie Frasure-Yorkley, the first tenured woman of color at UCLA’s political science department. Frasure-Yorkley is taking part in a new initiative from California’s U.C. system that empowers first generation faculty to guide students who are also the first in their families to attend college.

May 22, 2018: No Direction, No Diploma
North-Grand High School in Chicago was on academic probation just five years ago. By 2020, not a single student will be allowed to graduate without a job, acceptance to college or a trade school, or the commitment to join the military. It’s part of the school district’s efforts to ensure students have a plan post-graduation. “I think it’s a moral imperative to be worried about what happens for our children after graduation….The old days of, you know, we’ve got you graduated, out of high school, are done,” said North-Grand principal Emily Feltes.

About the PBS NewsHour

PBS NewsHour is seen by over five million weekly viewers and is also available online, via public radio in select markets, and via podcast. PBS NewsHour is a production of NewsHour Productions LLC, a wholly-owned non-profit subsidiary of WETA Washington, D.C., in association with WNET in New York. Major funding for PBS NewsHour is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and public television viewers. Major corporate funding is provided by BNSF, Consumer Cellular, Leidos, Babbel, and Raymond James, with additional support from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Lemelson Foundation, National Science Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Ford Foundation, Skoll Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Friends of the NewsHour and others. More information on PBS NewsHour is available at www.pbs.org/newshour. On social media, visit PBS NewsHour on Facebook or follow @NewsHour on Twitter.