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The B.A. Breakthrough: How Ending Diploma Disparities Can Change the Face of America
The poorest students in the country — many of them young people of color and most of them the first in their families to attend college — have an astonishingly low chance of graduating from college within six years.
Eleven percent, at most, make it. That’s not the American Dream.
But what if that could change? In his new book, The B.A. Breakthrough, How ending diploma disparities can change the face of America, Richard Whitmire argues that it would be the advent of “the most effective anti-poverty program ever launched in this country.” With college grads earning an estimated $1 million more over the course of their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma, it’s easy to see why. What Whitmire does in The B.A. Breakthrough is to take readers on a journey to the places across the country where the breakthrough is already happening — from innovative K-12 schools, many of them public charters, where smart data-driven college counseling is now the standard; to elite colleges, like UCLA, where once-disparaged community college transfers are accepted by the thousands; to creative nonprofits, like the College Advising Corps, which is opening the eyes of high schools everywhere to the hard reality of how their grads actually do once they reach college.
Whitmire shows how all three players have figured out ways to dramatically improve college graduation for the most disadvantaged students and how those transformations are beginning to spread. What if they started working together? He senses that a tipping point is coming — one that could finally reverse income inequality in America.
Eleven percent, at most, make it. That’s not the American Dream.
But what if that could change? In his new book, The B.A. Breakthrough, How ending diploma disparities can change the face of America, Richard Whitmire argues that it would be the advent of “the most effective anti-poverty program ever launched in this country.” With college grads earning an estimated $1 million more over the course of their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma, it’s easy to see why. What Whitmire does in The B.A. Breakthrough is to take readers on a journey to the places across the country where the breakthrough is already happening — from innovative K-12 schools, many of them public charters, where smart data-driven college counseling is now the standard; to elite colleges, like UCLA, where once-disparaged community college transfers are accepted by the thousands; to creative nonprofits, like the College Advising Corps, which is opening the eyes of high schools everywhere to the hard reality of how their grads actually do once they reach college.
Whitmire shows how all three players have figured out ways to dramatically improve college graduation for the most disadvantaged students and how those transformations are beginning to spread. What if they started working together? He senses that a tipping point is coming — one that could finally reverse income inequality in America.
177 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 3, 2019
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About the author
Richard Whitmire
9 books4 followersRICHARD WHITMIRE (Arlington, VA) is a former editorial writer for USA Today and President of the National Educational Writers Association. A highly recognized and respected education reporter, his commentaries have been published in The New Republic, U.S. News, Politico, Washington Monthly, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Education Week. He also appeared on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition to discuss boy troubles. HIs newest book is The Bee Eater: Michelle Rhee Takes on the Nation's Worst School District.
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August 19, 2025
In The B.A. Breakthrough, Richard Whitmire explores how closing the gap in college graduation rates could become a powerful tool against poverty in the U.S. He looks at schools, colleges, and nonprofits that are already making a difference guiding disadvantaged students, supporting community college transfers, and offering smarter college counseling. By sharing these real-world examples, Whitmire shows how giving more students a chance to graduate could reshape lives, communities, and the nation’s future.
Displaying 1 of 1 review