Meeting of Council of Independent Colleges brings about 120 campus leaders to New York.

In a recent speech to the Council of Independent Colleges, Kresge Foundation President Rip Rapson outlined ways higher education can work with foundations to meet 20th century challenges.

Addressing about 120 college and university presidents, he discussed transformations in the broader higher education environment and opportunities for education reform.

Rapson also touched on changes at Kresge, chief among them the move away from capital challenge grants as the foundation’s sole tool for helping higher education.

“We believe the needs and opportunities of the field have changed – profoundly and enduringly,” he told the group.

To help increase education attainment rates, Kresge’s Education Program today targets a broader cohort of students than in the past.

“In our old world, Kresge excluded community colleges from our eligibility criteria,” Rapson said. “Yet, approximately half of all students pursuing postsecondary education are doing so at community colleges.” The doors are now open to those institutions, he said, most often via Kresge partnerships with other funders and nonprofits.

Read Rip Rapson’s full remarks, “How higher education can work with foundations to meet the needs of America in the 21st century.”

A national association of small and mid-sized, independent, liberal arts colleges and universities, the Council of Independent Colleges brought college presidents and corporate and private foundation officers for a meeting in New York last week.