In another dramatic move to lift New Yorkers out of poverty, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday pledged $6.5 million a year in city funds for an unprecedented attempt to boost the dismal 21 percent graduation rate at community colleges.
Starting this September, the city’s six community colleges will offer 1,000 students in the pilot program extra tutoring, free textbooks donated by Barnes & Noble and block schedules so they can hold down part- and full-time jobs.
“There does not exist in the United States a community college that has attempted to do something like this,” declared City University Chancellor Matthew Goldstein at a press conference at Bronx Community College.
The program’s ambitious target is a 50 percent graduation rate after three years and 75 percent in four years.
“Nearly one-third of working age New Yorkers without a high school diploma are poor,” Bloomberg said. Those with an Associate’s degree, he noted, earn “hundreds of thousands” more in their lifetime.