March 2025 Newsletter
This year, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is celebrating 25 years of championing high-achieving students with financial need. That’s 25 years of scholarships, 25 years of grants to organizations expanding educational opportunities, and 25 years of helping to position our Scholars for long-term success.
Each year, the Foundation provides an internship stipend for Scholars pursuing unpaid internships at nonprofit or government agencies. We believe in supporting our Scholars in their pursuit of valuable experiences that will help them find fulfilling careers upon graduation. This year, we’re building on this pillar of our work through a new internship campaign—the Think Big About Internships initiative, which connects current Scholars with paid internship positions provided by Cooke Alumni eager to help guide the next generation.
As part of the campaign, Scholars can pursue an internship at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory thanks to Cooke Alum Maile Harris, who leveraged her scholarship—and her love of Star Trek—into a career in physics. As an undergraduate at Yale, she developed telescope calibration systems in a radio astronomy lab and worked to make STEM education more accessible through the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Now a researcher at the Applied Physics Laboratory, Maile is offering similar opportunities to Scholars with a shared passion for science.
Cooke Alum Shrochis Karki has also provided an incredible on-site internship opportunity in Nepal for the Samaanta Foundation, an organization he founded as a Cooke Graduate Scholar. Samaanta Foundation provides higher education skills and development opportunities through a comprehensive fellowship program for students in Nepal. The Cooke Scholar intern will help provide academic support for fellows and gain valuable fundraising experience while having the adventure of a lifetime abroad.
We also thank Aaron Fulkerson, who joined our community in one of the first cohorts of Cooke Scholars, for supporting our internship initiative. Two decades ago, he used his Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship to enroll at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduation, he worked at Microsoft before co-founding his own software company. Now, as the CEO of the start-up Opaque Systems, Aaron is creating internship opportunities for Cooke Scholars interested in tech and entrepreneurship—helping extend the same kinds of opportunities that changed his life and so many others.
These three internships are part of over 130 (and counting) opportunities in the campaign. The Alums who are contributing all began in the same place as today’s Scholars—as bright, ambitious students who work hard to achieve their goals. Now, they’re not just inspiring the next generation but actively helping to shape their careers. As we celebrate 25 years of impact, we are excited to continue expanding opportunities for Cooke Scholars. Stay tuned for more events and initiatives highlighting the incredible journeys of our Scholars and Alumni and the future we’re building together.
Warm regards,
Seppy Basili
Cooke Foundation Highlights
- On March 6, the Foundation named 467 semifinalists for its 2025 Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship cohort. This year’s semifinalists were selected from over 1,600 applicants attending 212 community colleges across 43 states. The full list can be found here.
- Earlier this year, 571 high school seniors were selected as semifinalists for the Foundation’s College Scholarship Program. Chosen from applicants across all 50 states and U.S. territories representing more than 4,200 high schools, this year’s semifinalists met an even more rigorous academic standard with a new minimum unweighted GPA requirement of 3.75. The full list can be found here.
News for High-Achieving Students
- College transfer rates grew 4.4% in 2024, building on last year’s 5.3% increase for a total 8% rise since 2020, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Meanwhile, non-transfer enrollment remains 3.5% below pre-pandemic levels. Nearly 1.2 million students transferred in 2024, with community colleges seeing the strongest growth (5.8%) and primarily online institutions rising 6.6%. Inside Higher Ed quoted Clearinghouse research director Doug Shapiro, who sees this trend as a sign that students are seeking institutions that better fit their evolving goals.
- New data from Handshake highlights disparities in internship participation. Students in business, computer science, and engineering are twice as likely to apply for internships by senior year compared to those in social sciences, arts, or health professions. Despite internships being a proven path to higher graduation rates and job placement, 6 million students in 2023 couldn’t secure one, largely due to time constraints, financial barriers, and increased competition.
- An increasing number of states are adopting “direct admission” policies, guaranteeing college acceptance before students even apply. Since 2015, these programs have grown to more than a dozen states, with five new adopters in 2024, including California and New York. By automatically matching students with colleges based on academic records, direct admission reduces application stress and costs, while helping retain local talent. Research shows the policy particularly benefits first-generation students and boosts enrollment at participating institutions, especially community colleges. However, challenges remain, including connecting admitted students with financial aid and academic support.
What We’re Reading
Campus Safety Magazine – “How Faculty and Staff Can Support College Student Mental Health”
University Business – “How this promising AI consortium will boost working-class students”
The 74 Million – “How Can Schools Advise Students When They Don’t Know How Their Grads Are Doing?”