Dec 4, 2014 3 min read

The president of the Presidents traveled to Washington, D.C., Thursday to talk education once again with the president.

In her second visit to the White House this year, Washington & Jefferson College President Tori Haring-Smith participated in another panel discussion in President Obama’s effort to make a college education more attainable for low-income students and build a “pipeline” for their success.

“We were really talking this time about how to create a pipeline to prepare (students) in high school to take the correct courses and the find the right information to successfully apply for a college and one that works for them,” Haring-Smith said by telephone. “I think it was really positive. People were talking to each other about what they’re doing and trying different things.”

Haring-Smith and hundreds of other college presidents and community leaders from across the country met with Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with other administration officials, for the College Opportunity Day of Action to announce new strategies to help more students graduate from college.

She said the summit might not be “sexy enough to garner headlines” in the national media, but access to a college education is vitally important to the country’s future.

“It seems to me to be the one that most addresses the secure future of the country,” Haring-Smith said of the need for the country to graduate students in highly specialized positions. “If we don’t produce those positions, we’re going to lose our standing in the world.”

The discussions included several top administrative officials, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, White House Domestic Policy Council Director Cecilia Muñoz, along with brief remarks from Obama and Biden. More importantly, though, Haring-Smith said this summit was expanded to include community colleges, high school counselors and business leaders.

Haring-Smith attended a preliminary education summit at the White House in January in an attempt to formulate ideas that could tap resources from the federal government, colleges, businesses and nonprofits. That group formulated “concrete goals and ideas” before submitting them to administration officials for consideration before many college and university presidents returned again this week.

Locally, W&J officials announced Thursday they plan to increase the number of family service centers from 15 to 30 to help provide college access and readiness preparation to prospective students. The college is also searching for additional funding to launch a program that will boost outreach programs to local high schools informing students and counselors of financial aid options and the admission process.

That will coincide with a newly established “intensive mentoring program” for low-income students in every school district in Washington County. There will also be an emphasis on targeting first-generation college students to help them as they select their school.

The college last year also decided to increase the number of Pell scholarships by 50 percent to students in the seven-county region in Pennsylvania around W&J.