College Access for First Generation Youth

Income inequality

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The Southeast LA (SELA) neighborhoods we will serve, including Lynwood, Cudahy, Huntington Park, and South Gate, have populations where just 4-7% of adults age 25+ hold 4-year degrees. This leads to an ongoing cycle of income inequality and diminished opportunities for SELA residents.
College grads typically earn $1M more in their lifetime than those with only a high school diploma. But who do you lean on for support in the college application process if no one in your family or network has gone before you? Without the right support, students apply to schools that don’t fit their needs, miss out on financial aid opportunities, struggle to access professional development, and more. In the end, just 21% of low-income, first-generation students graduate college in 6 years. Helping a student get to college can have a ripple effect across entire families and beyond. Studies indicate that younger siblings are far more likely to enroll in college if their older siblings do so first.

A knowledgeable and caring mentor can transform the trajectory of a student’s college choices and their life. This is why we have pioneered Destined for College, an impactful college access program that matches first-gen high school students with a personal college coach from our community of more than 400 trained volunteer mentors. ScholarMatch is currently launching an expansion of this program to serve first-gen students in the Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) college access service desert. To do this, ScholarMatch is building partnerships with key districts, schools, and CBOs including the SELA Collaborative, the city of Cudahy, Lynwood USD, Los Angeles USD, and Verbum Dei Jesuit High School. In the year ahead, we plan to serve up to 200 SELA students. Each student will receive access to a robust suite of college access services: a personal college coach to mentor them for a full year, virtual college application workshops, access to free SAT prep and A-G courses, and more. With this personalized support last year, our students applied to an average of 6 colleges with an average of 4 acceptances. Students like Estrella M. share: “ScholarMatch is the reason why I feel no anxiety with the college application process.” Students who complete our Destined for College program also become eligible to apply for our Scholars Program, which provides advising support throughout college, college persistence workshops, career launch support, and up to $20,000 in grant assistance.

Our track record for this program is strong: students who receive college access mentorship from ScholarMatch apply to an average of 6 colleges, and receive an average of 4 offers of admission. Given this, we anticipate that we will be able to support and uplift up to 200 first-generation, low-income students in SELA with vital college access services in the year ahead. As a result, students will access greater job opportunities, increase college going culture in their community, and build financial security throughout their lifetime. Not only will students benefit from intergenerational mentorship from a personal college coach, but they will also unlock opportunities from ScholarMatch for advising, scholarship funding, career coaching, and internships once in college. We have already secured a $1.2M multi-year grant from the Ballmer Group to launch additional support services specifically for eligible SELA students once they reach college as a complement to this project.

This project is an expansion of our existing college access mentorship programming currently serving up to 1,000 students per year. ScholarMatch utilizes evidence-based strategies that emphasize sustained relationships with caring mentors (aka ‘college coaches’) who support students as they apply to college. ScholarMatch coaches are trained by our staff of first-generation college graduates and members of our volunteer community including college counselors, admissions officers, and school administrators. ScholarMatch measures impact by the engagement of our students and volunteer mentors, and by the completion of college applications, FAFSA, and college acceptances. Students work with their coach for a full year, averaging 17 interactions via Zoom, phone, and chat. With this support, ScholarMatch students succeed: they apply to an average of 6 colleges and receive an average of 4 acceptances– with 100% of students reporting at least one offer of admission.