Loyola Marymount University has entered a partnership with KIPP LA Schools, part of the nationwide KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) network, to help students from underserved communities attend LMU.
KIPP is a nonprofit organization that operates free, open-enrollment public charter schools nationwide serving students from underserved backgrounds. KIPP LA currently oversees 11 schools in the Los Angeles area. The five elementary and six middle schools are located primarily in South and East Los Angeles. Although the students leave KIPP schools when they enter high school, the program provides its graduates with college advisers who check in with the students throughout their high school years. The advisers make sure the students are taking the required courses and getting the help they need to successfully enter college.
With this partnership, LMU joins more than 60 colleges around the country that are working to help improve college entrance and completion rates for KIPP graduates who, in most cases, are the first in their families to attend college. KIPP’s college completion rate for its alumni is above the average for all young Americans and over five times the rate for students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. KIPP is working to raise its college completion rates even higher, to be on par with those of students from the nation’s wealthiest families.
“LMU is committed to students from underrepresented communities, particularly those that are first generation,” said Maureen Weatherall, Ed.D., Vice Provost for Enrollment Management. “We are pleased to partner with organizations such as KIPP, as it helps us to identify and build relationships with these students.”
This summer, 15 students attended KIPP’s College Application and Action program at LMU, where KIPP alumni who are current high school seniors, were walked through the college application process. This year, two KIPP graduates entered LMU’s freshman class.
“LMU is such a great option for our students,” said Belén Sanchez, director of the KIPP Through College Program for KIPP LA. “We know that our students will have the support that they need when they are there to graduate successfully from college.”
The partnership agreement also provides LMU students who want to be teachers the opportunity to do their student-teaching at KIPP LA schools. Currently there are several graduates of LMU’s School of Education teaching at KIPP schools.
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