UC schools will offer extensive online courses for low-income high schoolers. Should USC follow suit?

The University of California will offer free online college courses to low-income high schoolers starting next year, part of a national initiative to expand access to higher education that includes the likes of Stanford, Harvard and Princeton universities.

USC isn’t a part of that effort.

The most comparable program that USC offers has drawn around 1,000 middle and high schoolers from low-income households in neighborhoods near the university. High schoolers attend morning weekday classes on USC’s campus before starting their regular school day. All the program’s students attend Saturday classes focused on SAT preparation.

“For many years… the number one feeder school to USC was the Foshay Learning Center of the Los Angeles Unified School District,” said USC Public Relations in an email to Annenberg Media.

The program — formally called the Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative — known as the NAI, also offers workshops for parents and guardians focused on nutrition, wellness, financial literacy and the college application process, among other things.

Now in its 30th year, the academic initiative boasts graduation rates of 100% in high school and 99% in college. Students have gone on to enroll at the nation’s top universities; many attend USC, where they receive a full scholarship and an allowance for books and fees.

“USC operates eight early childhood neighborhood Head Start locations serving more than 600 preschool-aged children,” USC PR said. “We also operate additional college prep and career programs for more than 4,000 Los Angeles Unified School District students daily.”

The initiative that the University of California is joining, called the National Education Equity Lab, takes a different approach. Any student at a Title I high school — one officially designated as enrolling a high number of low-income students — can take online courses created by universities in partnership with the equity lab.

Those classes count toward college course credit, much like an Advanced Placement course. The program is free for students, though participating high schools need to pay $250 a head to cover administrative costs.

“By enabling high school students from historically underserved communities to take actual college courses from college professors, students can build the skills — and confidence — needed to apply to and thrive in college,” the equity lab’s website reads. “Talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not. We aim to change that.”

USC students interviewed by Annenberg Media said they think the university ought to join the equity lab, and that it should be doing more to support low-income applicants and students.

“[USC] is such a prestigious school and has that background of people in wealthier communities coming here,” said Olivia Langford, a sophomore studying music industry. “I think we as a university should step up.”