Colleges Column

The road to college is now a little smoother for low-income and nontraditional students, thanks to the expansion of a college-access program.

The Educational Resources Institute, based in Boston, has named three cities--Louisville, Ky., St. Louis, and Washington--as recipients of grant money to launch regional centers for its national "Collaborative for College Access" program.

The cities each received a four-year, $300,000 seed grant from the New York City-based DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund to create the centers. They will use community resources to provide information on applications, financial aid, and careers to students who might not otherwise go to college. The institute will provide technical...