Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Commits $14 Million in Scholarships and Creating New Technology Tools at White House College Opportunity Summit; Scholarships and "Chatbot" to Expand College Opportunities for Students Nationwide

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Dec 04, 2014, 06:00 ET

LANSDOWNE, Va., Dec. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Building on a dozen years of success in increasing access to college for high-achieving, low-income students, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation today at the White House Summit on College Opportunity committed to do even more by pledging to increase the number of undergraduate scholarships it provides by nearly 170 each year over the next four years, from 355 undergraduate scholarships in 2013-14 to 525 in 2017-18. Its spending to support these students will grow from approximately $8 million in 2013-14 to approximately $14 million in 2017-18.

The Foundation further committed to build a "chatbot" combined with a learning computer as part of an informational website for college-seeking students to enable them to navigate the college admissions process, make sense of various college rankings, and understand the steps necessary to pay for college. The Foundation plans to collaborate with other organizations to leverage existing advising tools and platforms in the development of this free resource aimed at serving low-income students across the nation who often lack sufficient access to trained college counselors.

Foundation Executive Director Harold Levy will present at an early afternoon panel at the summit about the advantages of using technology as a first-line resource for college-seeking students. The Foundation also provided a grant to the U.S. Department of Education to underwrite costs associated with the summit.

"As a long-time champion of high-achieving, low-income students, we are proud to be able to help the Department of Education make the White House College Opportunity Summit possible," said Levy. "Our commitments today will make a difference by benefiting thousands of students who might not otherwise go to college."

Further information about the Foundation's technology commitment can be found www.jkcf.org.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Because the Foundation believes that high-performing, low-income students will excel educationally when given the resources to develop their talents, the Foundation offers them support from middle school to graduate school by providing the largest scholarships in the country, in-depth academic counseling, and other direct services. The Foundation also provides grants to prominent organizations that support high performing, low-income students with innovative programming. Founded in 2000 by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, the Foundation has awarded over $125 million in scholarships to 1,800 students and $79 million in grants. www.jkcf.org

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SOURCE Jack Kent Cooke Foundation