Meredith Kolodner

Meredith Kolodner is a staff writer. She previously covered schools for the New York Daily News and was an editor at InsideSchools.org and for The Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute. She’s also covered housing, schools, and local government for the Press of Atlantic City and The Chief-Leader newspaper and her work has appeared in the New York Times and the American Prospect. Kolodner is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and an active New York City public school parent. She is grateful to her 11th grade English teacher who persistently gave her Cs on essays until she finally stopped burying the lead.

Recent Stories

Glenda Martin of Fort Dodge borrowed $23,000. She said that she supported Iowa’s 2,100-hour requirement in theory but that in practice, many of those hours were wasted.

Tangled up in debt

Beauty schools profit while their students find the promise of a lucrative career elusive

Higher Education

by Sarah Butrymowicz and Meredith Kolodner – December 26, 2018

How the Georgia governor’s race could influence college access there

Report finds Georgia’s public system has two tiers, limiting access for lower-income students

Divided We Learn

by Meredith Kolodner – November 9, 2018

Lack of sufficient financial aid has forced Jocelyn Ramirez to work more than 40 hours a week and cut down on coursework so she can afford to stay in college.

Eligible for financial aid, nearly a million students never get it

States run out of money and aspiring low-income college students feel the pain

Divided We Learn

by Meredith Kolodner – May 23, 2018

Dominic, 3 and Zaire, 2, play while their moms take part in a conversation about bullying at a Family Scholar House Café Night.

These formerly homeless single moms beat the odds and are now college grads

They're hoping to give their children a better chance, too

Divided We Learn

by Meredith Kolodner – April 22, 2018

A program helps low-income parents graduate at twice the rate of other community college students

Graduation rates in Arkansas have improved for all racial groups under this program

Divided We Learn

by Meredith Kolodner – February 5, 2018

Even though more than half of Mississippi’s public high school graduates in 2015 were African American, they only made up 10 percent of that fall’s freshman class at the University of Mississippi.

Many state flagship universities leave black and Latino students behind

Most sought-after public universities often don’t reflect their state populations, new Hechinger Report analysis shows

Divided We Learn

by Meredith Kolodner – January 29, 2018

“I had moments last semester when I didn’t want to study anymore. I thought: I’ll just work my job and get paid, and that’s it,” said Zuleima Dominguez, a student at Hunter College.

Undocumented high schoolers work long hours, putting college further out of reach

Working to support themselves and their families through the high school years hits undocumented teens disproportionally hard. Three young people describe their paths to higher education.