Utah Valley University's high return on investment for students of all backgrounds earning national salutes
Michelle Jackson already possessed several of the qualities needed for college success: Ambition. Strong work ethic. Tenacity. And, finally, a vision for her personal and professional future.
But what Jackson needed were those educational opportunities that can be challenging to find for so-called 'First Gens.'
Jackson is a first generation immigrant and a first generation college student. She's also a young mother and a new homeowner — busy tackling the day-to-day tasks of caring for a couple of small children and helping to support a household.
Utah Valley University, said Jackson, is her ongoing source for those essential educational and mentoring opportunities.
'Anyone who wants to go to UVU has the same opportunities available to them. They make it really accessible for everyone,' she told the Deseret News.
The institutional opportunities being offered to Jackson and many of her classmates have earned UVU — the state's largest university by enrollment — an 'Opportunity College and University' designation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
The designation highlights UVU as 'a model for studying how campuses can create and support student success by providing more access to more people in their communities and fostering high earnings post-graduation,' according to a university release.
The UVU designation is part of a newly introduced Student Access and Earnings Classification, published this month by the Carnegie Foundation and the American Council on Education.
The new classification assesses how well institutions create opportunities for student success by measuring whether they enroll students who reflect the communities they serve and by comparing the graduates' earnings to their peers in the same areas.
Only 16% of the nation's colleges and universities received a similar 'Opportunity College and University' designation.
'As an open-access institution, UVU encourages students to 'Come as you are' and provides a high-quality education with seamless pathways to a degree, whether through vocational/community college offerings or four-year and master's programs,' said UVU Acting President Jim Mortensen in the release.
'This innovative model has resulted in strong job placement and competitive wages for our graduates, who consistently earn above the national median."
'This Carnegie Classification affirms that our student programs truly make a difference in fostering career success.'
UVU reports almost 75% of its graduates securing 'high-wage, high-demand' jobs with 4- or 5-star ratings by the Utah Department of Workforce Services in a variety of fields — including nursing, elementary education, engineering, computer science, finance and marriage and family therapy.
UVU leaders also point to the school's comprehensive approach to student support services as key to fostering an opportunity-rich campus.
The school's Student Success Center, for example, offers students of all backgrounds academic advising, tutoring, mentorship and wellness programs.
Meanwhile, the First-Generation Student Success Center and UVU's GEAR UP resource assistance program offer admissions-to-graduation guidance for students such as Jackson.
A Mexico City native, Jackson and her family moved to Provo when she was a little girl.
After graduating from Provo High School, she discovered a path to higher education via UVU's GEAR UP program. She began attending school, married and expected to follow a linear student path to Graduation Day.
But life intervened.
Family challenges and pregnancy prompted Jackson to step away from school.
But when she and her husband later found out they were expecting their second child, 'I decided I needed to be a good influence for my children and teach them the importance of education — so I re-enrolled at UVU.'
Excited to be back in class and pursuing educational goals, Jackson said she's been 'all in' during her second stint at the Orem school. She participated in the school's 'Presidential 100' program — enjoying the mentorship of UVU President Astrid Tuminez and others on campus.
Jackson remembers Tuminez encouraging her to chase and capture dreams.
'President Tuminez said, 'Go write down your dreams and start working on them. You really can accomplish these things.''
That sort of campus leadership and support has proven pivotal for Jackson and her family in purchasing their first home — and she's a year away from graduating with an accounting degree. She has her post-graduation eye on entrepreneurship.
Jackson added she has never felt unseen at UVU, despite the school's massive student body of almost 50,000.
'They do a wonderful job of connecting with everyone, individually,' she said.
Inside Higher Ed recently highlighted UVU's classification as an 'Opportunity University,' noting the school's commitment to first generation students and non-traditional students.
Kyle Reyes, vice president for institutional advancement at Utah Valley, said he attributes the university's high 'Return on Investment' for students to the institution's long-term investment in student success initiatives — and an unwillingness to deviate from its original mission as a broad-access institution.
Some of those efforts, Inside Higher Ed noted, have included partnerships with K-12 schools; helping students fill out federal financial aid applications; offering scholarships; academic advising; a food pantry; low-cost, on-campus childcare; student research opportunities; paid internships; and completion grants for returning students.
Recognition as an affordable pathway to economic stability through the new classification system is both 'validating' for Utah Valley and a 'game-changer' for all of higher education, Reyes told Inside Higher Ed.
'For so long, the incentives were for exclusion, prestige, lower admission rates and higher test scores — even though on the ground we knew the masses weren't being served by that model,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Senate parliamentarian nixes tax incentives for school choice, religious college exemptions
WASHINGTON — A handful of education-related tax provisions were stripped from the Senate reconciliation bill on Friday morning after the parliamentarian ruled they did not adhere to strict budgetary rules that would relieve them from a filibuster. One of the biggest proposals Republicans sought to include in the massive tax package was a plan to promote school choice by providing scholarships to students who wish to attend private secular or religious schools. Much of the proposal was based on the Educational Choice for Children Act to implement a tax credit scholarship plan, legislation that Utah Rep. Burgess Owens co-sponsored in the House. 'Overnight, the Senate parliamentarian struck down key school choice provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill,' Owens told the Deseret News in a statement. 'Every child deserves the freedom to learn, and every parent deserves the power to choose what's best for their family. I'm grateful to our partners in the Senate for their continued leadership as we work together on next steps to ensure school choice reaches every child in every zip code.' One of the major tenets of the program is a $4 billion annual tax credit for those who donate to scholarship organizations that help pay for educational expenses such as private school tuition, books, or the cost of homeschooling supplies. The program would expand school choice, Republicans argue, by opening the door to private education for families who otherwise could not afford it. Families would be eligible for the program so long as they earned at or below 300% of the area's median gross income. For example, in Salt Lake County where the median income is $94,658, any child in a household earning less than $283,974 could qualify. The tax credit scholarship plan was estimated to cost roughly $26 billion over the next decade, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. The parliamentarian also nixed language exempting religious schools from a proposed endowment tax that Republicans hope to tuck into their massive reconciliation bill, making it unclear whether the planned taxes will remain in the package. Republican lawmakers are pushing to increase endowment taxes for U.S. universities, proposing a new tiered system that could cost elite colleges hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The proposal initially included language carving out exceptions for most religious schools, exempting them from the higher taxes. But under the rulings issued on Friday, the religious exemptions do not adhere to reconciliation guidelines and would instead be subject to the 60-vote threshold. Through the budget reconciliation process, Republicans can circumvent a filibuster and Democratic opposition to expedite the passage of certain legislation by a simple majority vote. There are certain rules that dictate how often reconciliation can be used, and the procedure can only be used to advance budget-related legislation such as taxes, spending and the debt limit. However, if provisions run afoul of those rules, it will instead be subject to the typical 60-vote threshold. Once a budget reconciliation blueprint is finalized, it then only requires a simple majority in the House and Senate to pass. The parliamentarian removed several proposals on Medicaid and other tax-related measures throughout this week, sending Republicans into a scramble to adjust the bill language and finalize the full package before their self-imposed deadline next week.
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Fast Company
A rare Frank Lloyd Wright house hits the market
For architecture enthusiasts, a longtime dream may have just come within reach: A Frank Lloyd Wright home just hit the market, and it could be yours for a cool $2.5 million. The home, located in Jackson, Mississippi, was designed by Wright in 1948—when the late architect was 81—for a local oil speculator named J. Willis Hughes and his family. Originally called the Hughes House, the home has since adopted the nickname 'Fountainhead,' courtesy of an elaborate backyard water feature and pool. (Wright was also said to have served as inspiration for Ayn Rand when she wrote her classic novel of the same name.) The three-bedroom home has more than 3,500 square feet of interior space and a scenic view from its position tucked into the wooded hillside. And, while Fountainhead may boast a hefty price tag today, it was originally made to be affordable. The home is one of just around 60 houses that are considered ' Usonian,' a style created and coined by Wright in the 1940s and '50s. Usonian homes were Wright's answer to the postwar era: Designed to be accessible to the American middle class, they tend to make use of simple layouts, open floor plans, and natural materials. Given that Wright's total portfolio of designs includes more than 1,000 buildings, this style is now considered quite rare. When approaching the home's design, Wright took his cues from the surrounding environment. The contours of the building site determined the home's parallelogram form, which is characterized by a multitude of low, horizontal leading lines. Furnishings like sofas, tables, beds, and dressers are all seamlessly built into the home's auburn wood walls. 'The parallelogram design is etched in the floors, and dictates the placement of walls, the size of the doors, and the shape of the spaces,' the home's listing on Sotheby's International reads. It goes on to note that Fountainhead was built with no stud walls in the house, no Sheetrock, brick, tile, or paint and 'boasts of exquisite, exceptionally durable Heart Tidewater Red Cypress wood for the walls and ceilings.' According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the house saw some fairly significant wear and tear during the 25 years that it served as the Hughes family residence. However, the most recent owner, architect Robert Parker Adams, alongside his former wife, Mary, devoted years to restoring the home to its former glory. Adams has lived at the property since 1979. 'I've been here 40-something years; I've had my experience,' Adams told The Journal, adding that he hopes to share his experience and knowledge with the next owner.
CNBC
5 days ago
- CNBC
What's next as the British pound hits its highest in more than three years?
The British pound is hovering at its highest level in more than three years — and analysts are divided on the potential for further upside. Britain's currency was last seen trading around the $1.36 mark on Wednesday morning in London. It marked a slight drop from Tuesday, when sterling hit its highest level since January 2022. So far this year, the pound has surged 8.7% against the greenback. Against the euro, however, sterling is down 2.9% year-to-date. It was last seen trading marginally higher against the euro zone currency, with one pound buying around 1.173 euros. According to Janet Mui, head of market analysis at RBC Brewin Dolphin, much of the pound's upward trajectory is actually more to do with underlying dollar weakness than faith in sterling itself. "The relative strength of the pound has been more of a weak U.S. dollar story this year," she told CNBC by email on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump's unpredictable trade policies shook confidence in American assets earlier this year, which in turn has sparked concerns in markets about de-dollarization. Paul Jackson, global head of asset allocation research at Invesco, said sterling was on a recovery journey from the "extreme low" seen in the aftermath of former British Prime Minister Liz Truss's so-called mini budget, which sparked a severe sell off of the pound and U.K. government bonds in 2022. He agreed, however, that much of the movement this year was attributable to dollar weakness, pointing out sterling's simultaneous depreciation against the euro. "I would expect that pattern to continue in the future, with the dollar weakening along with the US economy (and investor doubts about US fiscal and tariff policies), while the euro could strengthen on optimism about the implications of the coming fiscal boost (especially in Germany)," Invesco's Jackson said. He argued that the ECB had likely completed most of its monetary easing for the current cycle, whereas the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve "have a lot of catching up to do." "In 12 months, I would expect GBPUSD to be around 1.40 and GBPEUR to be around 1.15 (currently 1.17)," Jackson added. Jackson's forecast represents a roughly 2.9% premium from current exchange rates against the dollar. RBC Brewin Dolphin's Mui suggested that in the coming months, the outlook for the British pound is not overly compelling — but noted that geopolitical developments could catalyze further upward movements in the longer term. "In the near-term, further upside for the pound may be limited due to softer UK economic momentum and more scope for the Bank of England to cut rates," she said. "Looking ahead, one potential catalyst for the pound could be improved relations with the EU, particularly if it translates into more concrete action over time."
