Enable us to provide
a full academic year of one-on-one college affordability advising to a classroom
of more than 30 uAspire students!
In California, just 35% of four-year college students
graduate within four years, and less than half of community college
students complete a two-year degree or transfer to a four-year college within
six years. Finances are routinely noted as a key barrier to college success.
Why does uAspire exist?
As you may have experienced, navigating the complex process of financing college is challenging. Students with college-educated parents and school
counselors supporting them find it tricky. For students from low- and
moderate-income communities, who often don’t have any of those resources, the
situation is much harder.
While there are ways to make college affordable, many
of the neediest students must navigate this process on their own.
uAspire works to remove the financial barriers to college access and success. Through our college affordability services, we ensure that students from all backgrounds enroll in college and complete college without burdensome debt.
uAspire makes it a priority to support the students who need us most—particularly those from low- and moderate-income socioeconomic backgrounds and those who will be in the first generation of their family to graduate from college. To that end, uAspire offers its services in partner schools and after-school programs that predominantly serve these students.
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Finances are often a key barrier to accessing and completing a college education. You can help each young person in one classroom reach his or her college aspirations!
Nationally, the number of student borrowers and the size of their loans grew 70% from 2004 to 2012. Today, 13.7% of student-loan holders default on paying their loans.
Thanks to your support...
A classroom of more than 30 high school seniors will receive
one-on-one college affordability advising from a uAspire Advisor. The core components of this individualized advising are:
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Planning Session:
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Teach each senior about the types of financial aid
(grants, scholarships, and loans) and ensure that their college list
includes at least one “financial safety school.”
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Learn the student’s unique financial situation to best
prepare and assist him or her with the financial aid process.
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FAFSA Completion and
Certification:
- Ensure that each senior accurately completes the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act (which allows
undocumented students to access state aid) to leverage all possible aid for
which they are eligible.
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Financial Aid Award Letter Review:
- Help each senior understand the financial aid packages they have been offered and make a well-informed, affordable college choice.
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Research has shown that even small increases
(such as $1000) in grant aid increase a student’s likelihood of completing
college.
Oh the places you'll go!
Our experience has shown that providing students with
college affordability guidance can remove the financial barriers to higher
education.
Your support empowers a classroom of more than 30 students to receive all
the necessary resources and information to find an affordable path to and
through college. Ultimately, our advising positions young adults to move into
the workforce with the education required to attain economic self-sufficiency.
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Across our sites, 65% of uAspire’s Class of 2013 advisees
enrolled in college the fall after high school graduation, compared to 53% of
low-income students nationally within 18 months of graduation. And in two cities, uAspire students enrolled in college at more than twice the rate of non-uAspire seniors at the same high schools.
uAspire students also persist in college. In fall 2012, 89% of college freshmen who had, as twelfth graders, completed uAspire's three signature advising activities re-enrolled for a second year.
You can help us grow our impact!
Your funds will support one classroom of uAspire students. In addition, many more students need our services. You can help us get to all of them.
This school year, we’re supporting almost 40 classrooms of
high school seniors with our one-on-one services! We are doing this work through
partnerships with San Francisco Unified School District, Envision Education, Aspire Public Schools, and BUILD.
There are more than 12,000 low-income high school seniors annually in the six communities from San Francisco to San Jose that we hope to be in five years from now.
Appreciations
We sincerely appreciate the supporters who have helped get uAspire started in the Bay Area:
Founding Board Members:
Casey Johnson, Ruben Orduña, Melissa Williams, Simon Rycraft, and Mark Alper
Founding Investors:
GreenLight Fund, Peery Foundation, TG Philanthropy, Westly Foundation, Innovate Foundation, Bank of America, The San Francisco Foundation, The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and numerous individuals.
P.S. Take advantage of some of the fun perks on the right side of our page! Get something for yourself or share with someone else.
Perk Spotlight:
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"Summer melt" occurs when students have been admitted to and declared a college but don’t end up enrolling the fall after high school graduation. Why? The summer months require students to undertake crucial tasks that, if not completed, are a barrier to successful college enrollment--particularly for first-generation and low-income students. In some areas of the country, up to 44 percent of college-intending students fall off track. The book includes research on and best practices from uAspire's summer outreach to college-intending students through an innovative text-message based platform.
Click here for more information on the
book.