The Gates Foundation is awarding more than $100,000 to developers who propose apps and online tools that can help high school students prepare for college, fund their schooling, and complete the sometimes circuitous application process. Known as the College Knowledge Challenge, the program launched yesterday at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California (U.S.), where 100 developers gathered for a “hack-a-thon”–an effort to create useful technologies aimed at better preparing incoming college students as the need for remedial classes continues to rise across the U.S.
Anyone can submit a proposal to the Gates Foundation through the organization’s website, and winners of the $2.5-million grant competition will be announced in January. Foundation officials said they would encourage Web-based tools that incorporate social media platforms like Facebook, where low-income and first-generation college students might find a supportive academic peer group.