The Access to Success Initiative (A2S) is a voluntary effort among NASH systems committed to setting clear goals to close the historic gaps in college access and success between students of different racial and economic backgrounds. Launched in 2007, this voluntary effort, conducted with the support of The Education Trust, brings together participating system leadership teams to learn from one another and outside experts on critical action steps, including setting goals, building public support and momentum for meeting the goals, identifying and mounting powerful action strategies, and publicly reporting progress on a common set of metrics.

The goal of the initiative is to cut in half by 2015 the gaps that separate low-income and minority students from their peers, both in terms of access to postsecondary education and in terms of successful completion. Twenty-four systems have agreed to participate in the initiative by publicly reporting baseline and progress data on common metrics and to share their collective resources and expertise through working groups. Collectively, A2S systems enroll more than three million students—almost 40 percent of undergraduates attending public four-year colleges and universities and 20 percent of those attending all public two-year and four-year colleges.

This initiative is about system change, not about more programs. Each of the systems bears the costs of implementing its own change strategies. However, outside resources are critical to allow the participating systems to gain access to experts in the field and to share with and learn from one another in ways that make success more likely. Two foundations Lumina Foundation for Education and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have provided grants to support the cross-system collaboration.