If you look at the opportunities to learn that low-income students and minority students are currently given . . . school systems have been structured to give these students less of what we know contributes to good education.

It's just that white students fell faster than black students. This is absolutely the wrong kind of gap closing.

There ought to be questions about whether state standards are preparing students for the challenges of college, work and the real world.

There is a significant shortage of minority graduate business school students choosing hospital and health care management as a career. At HCA, we face this issue every day as we recruit young talent into our executive development program. Recognizing this growing problem, Barbara and I wanted to make a personal commitment to increasing minority leadership in health care. Given that Fuqua has the premier MBA Health Sector Management program in the country, a scholarship program aimed at minority students seemed to us the best way to fulfill this commitment.

We serve the surrounding neighborhoods, and many are transient and come from low-income families. These are the students we aim to serve, and we don't turn them away. We're here to help them.

Statistically speaking, the chances of moving up (the) income distribution (curve) is less than it was a decade ago. Students with debt face real concerns with the shrinking middle marketplace.