Running head: FREE SUMMER SCHOOL STORY PITCH AND INFOGRAPHIC

Free Summer School Story Pitch and Infographic

Prepared for reporter Jake New at Inside Higher Ed

By Shawn Salamone

Purdue University
FREE SUMMER SCHOOL STORY PITCH AND INFOGRAPHIC 2

TO: jake.new@insidehighered.com
FROM: ssalamon@bw.edu
SUBJECT LINE: A novel attack on the graduation income gap

Hello Jake,

You recently documented the stubborn gap in graduation rates between low-income students and
their wealthier peers. Could free summer school hold a key to closing this gap? A Baldwin
Wallace University (BW) pilot program is testing the idea this summer.

The program, which offers six hours of tuition-free summer semester coursework to all Pell-
eligible BW students, is based on recent research showing that many undergraduates with high
financial need enroll in the minimum 12 hours per semester, a credit load that causes them to fall
behind. The 2016 study, published in Research in Higher Education, also noted that summer
school is an effective strategy to compensate for the lighter fall and spring course loads that
negatively affect retention and completion.

However, many low-income students are unable to spend finite financial aid resources during the
summer without coming up short prior to graduation. BW decided to test the idea of removing
that financial barrier and more than 80 of 700 Pell-eligible BW students accepted the summer
school awards.

BW Provost Stephen Stahl is available to explain this novel approach, which utilizes existing
seats in summer classes, as well as BWs plan to measure the impact and explore the offer of
similar programs in the future to encourage persistence. We can also make student participants
available to you for interviews.

Please let me know how I can help support your pursuit of this story.

Best regards,

Shawn Smith Salamone

Public Information Director, Baldwin Wallace University
440-826-2322 | 440-829-0568 | ssalamon@bw.edu | www.bw.edu

 A PATH TO MITIGATE THE
INCOME GAP IN

COLLEGE
COMPLETION

According to the National Student

Clearinghouse Research Center,
US college completion rates, six
years after high school, for the
Class of 2009 are starkly different
for students who graduate from
low-income schools compared to Low Income 24%
schools with predominantly Higher Income 45%
higher income students.

THE COURSELOAD CONNECTION

A 2016 study, published in Research in Higher Education, documented how

many undergraduates with high financial need enroll in the minimum 12
hours per semester, a credit load that causes them to fall behind.

Academically and socially similar students who initially attempt 15

rather than 12 credits do graduate at significantly higher rates within
6 years of initial enrollment

THE SUMMER SCHOOL KEY

The same Research in Higher

Education study finds summer
school is an effective strategy to
compensate for the lighter fall and
spring course loads that negatively
affect retention and completion.