Dr. Mike Muñoz’s Post

Check out this amazing article on Dr. Muñoz and the great work of LBCC

In 2012 Chase Sackett and I were graduate students. I was at Brown and he was at Yale. We were both working on advocacy issues related to socioeconomic diversity in higher education. I was in the beginning stages of developing the inaugural First Gen Summit focused on students' internal understanding of their first-gen and or low-income FLI identity because I was not seeing the support I wanted and needed at Brown. Chase was the founder of UFUSED United for Undergraduate Socio-Economic Diversity. The group was created in 2010 after the New York Times had named Wash U, Chase's undergrad alma mater, the least socioeconomically diverse school in the country based on its Pell Grant recipient numbers... just 6%! I invited Chase and his UFUSED affiliate chapters to the First Gen Summit in those early years to share their amazing knowledge and policy manual. Their work informed the Summit's focus to be not only on building student identity development but also on policy advocacy to ensure that FLI first-gen low-income students receive the support they need to thrive in college. Today's New York Times article reminded me of this moment way back when and also informed me that my own alma mater Brown University is still struggling with its commitment to this work as demonstrated in the NYT's graphic which shows Brown's Pell Grant recipient numbers have actually declined over the last 10 years from 17% to 14%. I grew up in and around Providence, the community that surrounds Brown, there is no shortage of eligible students. As the article points out the decline is an institutional choice. The First Gen Summit's work now in year 11 will become more and more important as the first-gen and low-income identity continues to be elevated in the wake of race-conscious admissions elimination. https://lnkd.in/ge64Nwem #ClassEquity #RacialEquity #PellGrants #FirstGen

https://lnkd.in/g6X3Sv9y I was teaching in London and learned more about social class in America than I ever learned in the United States. We are in complete denial about the fact that we are a social class society. We have this fundamental belief that everyone starts the same and everyone has the same opportunities. Neither are true. It's refreshing to see a focus on social class in this article.

The Washington Post article below details how two high school seniors are approaching their college applications. I hope there is a follow-up story to reveal the results. #collegeadmissions #collegeplanning #collegechoices #affirmativeaction

Summer may be lingering, but seasoned counselors and educators know it’s already time to plan for the fall. In a new blog post, Lisa Sommer King, director of ACT’s American College Application Campaign (ACAC), relays lessons learned from school counselors who have mastered the art of helping students apply to college. One key takeaway: Starting the work well before the application season begins allows for more organized outreach – including beneficial collaborations with others. Working on applications together during the fall also alleviates the end-of-year time crunch for students by leaving them plenty of time to complete other steps in the process, including financial aid and scholarship applications. Through this strategy, counselors saw to it that every senior at Albuquerque School of Excellence in Albuquerque, New Mexico, applied to at least one four-year college or university. “Often, seniors are a bit complacent and hesitant to begin taking those steps,” said Aubree Boivin, college and career counselor at the high school. “For once, they are not procrastinating the process and putting it off until the last minute.” Read the blog post for more advice, and mark your calendar for ACAC’s annual #WhyApply Day social media campaign happening on Sept. 22, when we will celebrate the nearly 300,000 students who will participate in college application events this year: https://bit.ly/44gzdUs #CollegeApplications #HigherEd #Educators #schoolcounselors #highschoolteacher

In the wake of SCOTUS’ ruling against Affirmative Action in college recruitment, higher education institutions are struggling to identify alternative ways to diversify their student bodies. Colleges and universities can emulate the initiatives at the California State University (CSU) system, which was forced to create and rely on other diversification methods years ago when an earlier ruling imposed similar restrictions on California schools with the passage of Proposition 209. CSU Dominguez Hills' president and the CSU system's deputy vice chancellor of academic and student affairs speak in this podcast about how their 23-campus system helps its Black community. 👉 https://bit.ly/che-174 #AffirmativeAction #HigherEducation #AffirmativeActionResponsibilities

Great news for education equity! According to David Tobenkin's report, Project Achievement has increased the black male graduation rate by 27 percentage points at UCNJ Union College of Union County, NJ in the past decade. https://lnkd.in/gcXZbX7p #EducationEquity #StudentSuccess #Completion

I love to see the First-Generation Student initiatives that are happening. Did you realize that over 50% of today's students are First-Gen? As a First-Gen, I know how that identity not just impacts your college experience but how it ripples out throughout your advance education pursuits and your career. #proudfirstgen