Texas A&M Partners With KIPP Foundation To Help Students In Underserved Communities

KIPP foundation Texas A&M University is strengthening its partnership with the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Foundation and KIPP Texas to support and enhance college matriculation efforts regarding high school students in underserved communities. It now has formal designation as a KIPP College Partner.

KIPP is a national network of free, open-enrollment, college preparatory public charter schools with a track record of preparing students in underserved communities for success in college and in life. Students attending KIPP schools are often first-generation college students, and KIPP Texas strives to help them excel academically and contribute as leaders on campus and in the community. With the help of KIPP, Texas A&M will develop strategies to address issues many first-generation students deal with when applying to and attending a four-year university.

As a KIPP College Partner, Texas A&M will have access to recruit high-performing, admissible students from the KIPP Texas schools, which include the areas of San Antonio, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Austin, notes Lynn Barnes, director of recruitment in Texas A&M’s Office of Admissions.

“Texas A&M University and KIPP have worked together for the past several years helping students get to college, and with this new partnership, recruiters will be able to work more closely with students in all grade levels and help them become college ready,” Barnes says.

KIPP reports that 86 percent of its students are from low-income families and are eligible for the federal free or reduced-price meal programs and 95 percent are African American or Hispanic/Latino. Additionally, 90 percent of KIPP middle school students have graduated high school and more than 80 percent of KIPP alumni have matriculated to a college or university.

“The KIPP school model has proven very successful nationwide in helping more students go to college, especially underserved students,” says Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin. “This aligns very well with Texas A&M’s mission as a land grant institution of serving the citizens of Texas. We are very eager to work with KIPP to develop a pipeline of highly qualified students who are ready to take the next step and attend a top research university.”