While many land-grant flagships strive to keep costs low for students, they have not been as successful in yielding high graduation rates, and, as a result, many students--including high numbers of Blacks and Latinos--fall through the cracks. Dr. Jose Cruz, the vice president for higher education, policy and practice at the Education Trust, a non-profit organization that pushes high academic achievement and seeks to narrow opportunity and achievement gaps--especially among minority students from pre-kindergarten to college--says that most of the nation's land-grant institutions have neglected their mission to educate diverse populations in favor of recruiting high-achieving students from relatively wealthy families who can help the schools climb in national rankings. According to Dr. Cruz, the main challenge is associated with how flagships make decisions about how to invest their financial aid dollars. He points out that from 2003 to 2007, public research universities increased the amount of aid to students whose parents make at least $115,000 a year by 28 percent. He adds that these schools routinely award as much in financial aid to students whose parents make more than $80,000 a year as to those whose parents make less than $54,000 a year.