A Harvard study found that, in Boston, 10 to 20 percent of college-bound high school graduates weren't actually ending up enrolling in college. Researchers think they might have found a partial solution to what is known as the "melt trend" - in this approach, mentors send text messages throughout the summer reminding students of upcoming financial aid and registration deadlines and offering general encouragement.

Collegiate recovery programs provide on-campus sober living, 12-step meetings, therapy, and support groups to college students in recovery. These programs help to eliminate the stigma surrounding addiction and give students the support they need to remain sober in an environment where sobriety isn't the social norm.

For the past ten years, the Seita Scholars Program has provided financial, academic, social, and emotional support to students at Western Michigan State University who have spent time in foster care. Each student is assigned a "campus coach" to guide them through adjusting to all parts of college life.

Many poor students do not attend selective colleges not because they don't want to, but because they did not understand that they could. Basic information can substantially increase the number of low-income students who apply to, attend and graduate from top colleges.

Educational nonprofit OneGoal has proven that its model of education helps provide low-income students in Chicago and Houston with the tools needed to pursue a college degree. Now, the nonprofit hopes to improve the college graduation rate in New York City by assisting high school students in understanding the basic techniques to achieve success.

Today, one in three college students is the first in their family to attend college; of these first-generation students, about a third drop out. A growing number of higher education institutions are reaching out to parents as one way to improve retention rates -- from offering online courses about life on campus to creating programming for parents during standard orientation schedules, colleges are increasing the chances that students make it through the challenging first year.

For students who are people of color, the first to attend college in their families, and from low-income families, the likelihood of finishing a four-year college degree is 12 percent. Wallin Education Partners pairs scholars, most of whom fall into at least one of these categories, in Minnesota with families who offer funding and mentoring support throughout students' entire college experience. For the 4500 students who earn scholarships through Wallin, the four-year completion rate is 92 percent.

Recent college graduates are working as full-time college counselors in low-income, rural communities across the country. The program, College Advising Corps, aims to provide students with ready access to information about deadlines, school options, and financial aid forms. In one North Caroline school equipped with a young advisor, the college enrollment rate has increased by 10 percent over the course of two years and is projected to continue to rise.

Studies have shown the myriad benefits of dual enrollment programs. Culpeper, Virginia leaders are trying to adapt the 60-year-old model to serve more low income and minority high schoolers. By expanding it to include career and technical education credits and involve businesses in curriculum development, the district is hoping to level the playing field. Adam Love noted, “Any time you have a program that’s really good – if you’re providing it only to those students who can afford it or who are already excelling, you’re only going to worsen the gap among students rather than use that tool to reduce it."

America's teacher workforce is disproportionately white and female, with black males constituting only 2 percent of instructors. The Call Me MISTER initiative, based out of Clemson University, provides test prep, tuition assistance, academic counseling, and job placements to students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds - "The goal is to create life long career educators." Fifteen years after Call Me MISTER's founding, the number of black males teaching in South Carolina's public schools has doubled.

Faculty and staff at Philadelphia’s LaSalle University are being given crisis training to recognize, engage, and refer students with suicide ideation. With the number of students seeking mental health care increasing, this program expands the safety net of people students can reach out to in a time of need.

Some of California's rural counties with large Latinx populations are turning to early college models to improve high school graduation and college enrollment rates. Dual enrollment programs aim to help students earn a two-year college certificate or degree upon completion of high school.

In the midst of the COVID19 pandemic, California community college, Santa Monica College, organized a pop-up, drive-thru food giveaway for its students. The resources were funded with help from the Santa Monica College Foundation, and each student received non-perishables, ready-to-eat meals, and bakery items.

Students who are new to America or lack college-educated parents often don’t know their options. Increasing transparency about financial aid systems and encouraging students to strive for competitive schools are some of the ways that first-generation citizens can get a university education.

At Essex Technical High School, students split their time between vocational classes and traditional coursework. While most teachers praise the model and point towards rising test scores as evidence of its success, others think there are several kinks still to be worked out; educators worry about overworking students and creating silos between the two types of learning.

Blue Engine, which places recent college grads as full-time teaching assistants in New York City public schools, is helping poor students thrive in college. They focus on small teacher-student ratios, frequent feedback for teachers, and a concentration on 'gateway' courses associated with success in college.

The University of Alaska is curbing underage drinking by offering a host of alternative activities on campuses, including one event cheekily called “Lotta-no-booza.” Information about drinking responsibly is also provided to help students as they approach legal age, as well as data about alcohol use on campus. Drinking is less common than most students believe.

In 2005, anonymous donors announced they would cover college tuition for most students in all future Kalamazoo, Michigan classes: "Other cities declare themselves open for business or tourism. Kalamazoo wants you to know that it’s funding knowledge." While the culture around college has changed dramatically since the program's inception and more students are attending college, the program hasn't come without challenges: many get to college but don't necessarily have the preparation to make it to graduation. As other cities start similar programs, Kalamazoo's long-standing initiative offers important lessons.

Georgia State University recognized that a large portion of their students don't graduate. They identified academic behaviours that correlate to flunking out and hired advisors to keep an eye on all students and contact them to help if a student exhibits one of these behaviours.

Students with low-income that attend public schools can find themselves locked in a system that prevents them from getting into the best colleges, from being unable to afford tuition, to not having the ambition, to not knowing a school that would welcome them. Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA targets high-performing low-income students. The college provides outreach to high school students in poor communities, financial aid to low-income families, summer workshops, and on-site advising and academic support.

The Oregon Promise, which will pay a portion of an in-state student's tuition towards one of Oregon's community colleges, has been a game changer for some undocumented, first-generation, and low-income students. While the program still has kinks to iron out and has not proven the right fit for all students, it has made higher education a reality for many students who didn't formerly think pursuing education beyond high school was a realistic option.

Jill Harkins writes, "As the research shows, it’s not enough to get students into college. We need to also get them through college, and into jobs." The Posse Foundation recruits driven and accomplished low-income students to attend partner colleges in 10-person cohorts, a model that the Foundation believes offers a built-in support system that may prevent students from dropping out when facing the stressors of a new and challenging environment. And that is just the beginning - the Foundation continues to provide students with support and career advice through and after graduation.

Many financial aid and orientation papers are written at the reading level of college seniors and graduate students, posing barriers for students trying to navigate the college application process and beyond. The University of Georgia and the University of North Carolina, Charlotte are two universities that have taken steps to translate their documentation and websites away from academic jargon and into plain language.

Through a new program called Transitioning Together, volunteer-mentors help underserved students in Newton, MA navigate college essays, meet deadlines and fill out financial aid forms. The program has demonstrated success in its first year and aims to reduce the disparity in matriculation between high- and low-income students.

During the 2017-2018 school year, students in Arizona missed out on $65 million in free federal financial aid. The Be a Leader Foundation counsels first-generation and low-income students - during the inaugural year of the program, Be a Leader saw a 26 percent increase in students who filled out the FAFSA form.

A number of elite college prep programs are offering wraparound academic support to low-income students for up to eight years in an effort to replicate the built-in support provided by schools in wealthier districts.

Boston professors visit countries and homes of foreign students to better understand their culture and gain insights about how to better teach them. The goal is to reach across cultural divides to help a big part of the student population — emigres from faraway lands — that is plagued with low standardized test scores and high dropout rates. Accompanying photojournalism: http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/bigpicture/2015/09/12/seeking-cultural-connections/L3mIQAQM3v9YT9A2K4JliL/story.html

A variety of nonprofit and philanthropic programs have started offering virtual college counseling to students living in rural communities. Through these setups, recent college graduates are often paired with students at schools where there are no full-time counselors or where the ratio of counselor to student is as high as 600 to 1.

The University of Texas at El Paso, among other universities such as Princeton or Georgia State, are making concerted efforts to ensure the success of their first generation or low-income students in a student body that is 80% Hispanic. They use outreach efforts to connect with parents and get them familiar with the college environment, offer summer orientations to get new students familiar with campus resources, and simplify their application process to reduce the paperwork and offer support in the process. For many first generation students, their family's support is key to their success in college.

Community colleges are increasingly leveraging technology to engage students and keep them on track to graduation. Personalized messages about deadlines, information about class performance from professors, and texts about homework resources all contribute to a "fuller picture" of students and empower administrators with the information to intervene when necessary.

Individualized advice and counseling, boosted by software tools, is helping hundreds more students earn degrees and certificates each year at Walla Walla Community College in Washington.

At liberal arts schools, like Scripps College in California, administrators are making the most of lengthy winter breaks by offering optional career development programming for undergraduates. “The question is why haven’t we tapped into this before," said Jen Franchak, who works at the University of Miami of Ohio. "For the right student, who is willing to come back early, it seems like a good use of that otherwise down time."

In an effort to make the frustrating FAFSA application process even just a little bit easier, the U.S. Department of Education has created a new phone app for students. The app is intended to bridge a gap for families who lack easy access to computers at home. Initial user-testing has been promising - "Students flew through this app," Kim Cook of the National College Access Network says. "They said the app was easy. Parents as well."

Compared to its peers, the University of California system is the best at enrolling and graduating low income students. In addition to funneling state funding towards these efforts, the UCs provide support throughout students' time in college and reach out to local high school students before the application process even begins, with summer academic enrichment programs and school visits.

Better support systems in colleges, such as CUNY's Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, have led to lower dropout rates and higher student retention.

Northern Michigan University has found a way to tap into the Educational Resource Spectrum to secure high speed internet access for off-campus students and nearby underserved communities. To figure out if this little-known option is a viable choice for other isolated rural communities in the U.S., the FCC is working through how to regulate the radio spectrum.

At California University State-Fresno, 64 percent of students enrolled in a migrant support program graduate within six years, compared with 56 percent of first-generation students at the university. The College Assistance Migrant Program offers students lessons on topics ranging from how to cook meals to how to interact with professors. Since 1972, CAMP has helped these children of migrant workers go to college and its strategies have improved the odds for first-generation students to graduate.

A partnership between Maine high schools and Thomas College is helping cut college costs by at least $30,000. Through the Pathways program, students enroll in dual enrollment classes while still in high school and complete extra credit hours and summer classes while in college en route to finishing a bachelors degree in three years instead of the traditional four.

Many families in rural New Mexico still do not have high speed internet access at home. In Farmington, the public school district, a local college, and nonprofits are working to close the gap in the digital divide for students by addressing access to technology and the internet.

There are many reasons why a student might leave university without graduating. Match Beyond helps students who dropped out of college finally receive their degree through personal counselors who make sure that the students are fulfilling all the necessary things in order to graduate.

University of California schools pair first-generation professors with first-generation students. The mentoring program aims to increase the 40 percent college completion rate for first-generation students nationwide.

Despite its small student body population, Xavier University, a historically black college in Louisiana, graduates more African American students who eventually become doctors than any other college in the United States. Xavier’s leaders cite its culture of “competitive collaboration,” community of shared experiences and challenges based on race, and free upperclass tutoring services as some of the characteristics that make its students stand out.

PeerForward, a youth leadership development organization, taps into the power of peer networks to increase the number of students in low-income schools applying to college and submitting FAFSA forms. Working with teachers, elected students develop their own custom action plans to achieve PeerForward's common goals. For instance, at some schools, student leaders required a completed FAFSA for admission to a dance.

Today, the Posse Foundation selects 700 students from 10 cities and sends them in groups of 10 to colleges all over the country, creating networks of support to help them succeed. Most are low-income students of color and the first to go to college in their families.

Over the course of 50 years, a CUNY program called Search for Education, Exploration, and Knowledge (SEEK) has provided academic, financial, and counseling support to over 450,000 New York children. Economists are now following up on initial research that found the program helped propel originally low-income and low-performing students into a higher income level in the years following graduation.

School-sponsored instruction on affirmative consent and increased resources for victims of sexual violence on campus have brought colleges closer to meeting Title IX requirements. Across the United States, schools like the University of Iowa are requiring students to attend courses that promote healthy behavior and campus culture. Furthermore, schools across the US are increasing support for Title IX coordinators and bringing in organizations like Green Dot and Bringing in the Bystander to conduct workshops for students.

At Evergreen College, students take fewer classes for longer durations and are instructed by teams of teachers who have not been sorted out by subject departments. As a result, students’ education is exploratory and often self-directed, rather than geared towards grades and tests.

On college campuses across California and Washington state, the Umoja Community program groups black freshman in small classes that focus on historic and present issues affecting black communities. While 33 percent of one college's black students outside the program have completed an English course by their freshman year, 47 percent of Umoja students, who benefit from additional mentoring and academic advising, have done the same.

Policymakers and college students and faculty are testing a range of approaches to address food insecurity on campuses. One nonprofit provides small grants to students and professors to cover the cost of food, transportation, or other expenses.

An inclusion program established by lawmakers in Colorado allows intellectually disabled students to attend their choice of several colleges throughout the state. Mentors and staff help guide students through their years in school, and standard measures of success like entrance exam scores are replaced with staff evaluations.

At Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in Detroit, the support of the high school doesn't stop at graduation. Staff at the school follow up with alumni at their new campuses to make sure they are on track and connect them with the resources they need to succeed, whether academic, financial, or social.

A group of college students has developed a text-message based entrepreneurship course designed for students in locations where "phones are common, but internet access is not," including in Yemen. The founders hope that their curriculum will help to close the persistent "social-capital gap" in business education.

It's not just soaring tuition expenses that prevent students from completing their college education - emergency expenses such as medical care and car repair can also be disruptive. A new program at Fort Lewis College in Colorado provides microgrants to students who find themselves in these situations.

A growing number of colleges are providing "first-gen" resources and networks for students who are the first in their families to attend college. Experts are debating what type of help is most effective.

Through JumpStart, a dual enrollment program in Maryland, students can graduate with not only a high school degree but also the credits equivalent to an associates. Over 700 students in Howard County participate in the partnership between several local high schools and the community college. "On its face, it’s an everybody-wins strategy," a former U.S. education secretary noted. But critics wonder if course quality and rigor are sacrificed in the process.

The creators of online classes hoped to provide quality education to the disadvantaged but have instead created an international supplement to classroom learning and tool for professional development.

The rate of students dropping out of college or failing to complete their degree in the allotted time has soared in the United States, and experts are discovering that one of the causes is simply that students feel isolated, discouraged, and overwhelmed. A study by Ideas42 across a number of universities revealed that fairly simple behavioral "nudging" - or the process of providing tiny but regular interventions and encouragement through systems like text messages - can have a drastic impact on a student's likelihood of success.

Community College Students, an often overlooked demographic, often suffer from low completion rates. Colleges across the country are using a guided pathways model, emphasizing features like full time enrollment, block scheduling, and meta majors to address specific completion barriers this demographic faces.

Students with intellectual disabilities often have limited options when it comes to pursuing post-secondary education. Washington State University is the first college in the state to offer students the opportunity to live independently on campus. Residents aged 18-29 can audit university courses, complete internships, and take a variety of life skills classes.

Val Verde Unified School District in California requires high school students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Though advocates have documented significant positive culture changes, researchers say the impact of such requirements on college enrollemnt rates remains uncertain.

Berea College is unique for a number of reasons - in the South, it was the first integrated, co-educational college. But perhaps Berea is best known for its tuition-free structure, made possible by endowment investment earnings and a universal work-study program. Without Berea's unique history, can other schools successfully adopt this model?

Forty percent of low-income students accepted to college never start school because of a fear of debt and feelings they don't belong. A New York college access organization is using peer-mentoring to help perspective students jump over the hurtles.

To address the lack of available WiFi outside of school settings, a local college in Farmington, New Mexico, offers students the ability to check out wireless hotspots for one week at a time, While the school's resources are limited and aren't able to provide for all students, the program has shed light on the need for Internet services in rural areas around the country.

After her experience arriving woefully unprepared at Dartmouth, Alex Bernadotte started Beyond 12, a tech nonprofit that provides virtual coaching to graduating high school seniors and college students. Beyond 12 has a special focus on first-generation college students and immigrants to help coach them through problems big and small. Beyond 12 now works with 120 high schools nationwide with more than 100,000 undergrad participants.

Because high schools are assessed on graduation rates in lieu of college-readiness and public universities are funded based on the number of students who enroll instead of those that graduate, there is often a miscommunication about what students need to know to take college courses. Without proper preparation, students are funneled into remedial classes, an expensive and time consuming path. Several states are working to close this gap, shifting the incentive structure towards graduation rates-based funding for colleges and identifying slipping high school juniors to "bring them up to speed" before college.

Unique among community colleges in California, Los Angeles Valley College provides childcare and other services for parents working towards their degrees while also raising a child.

Homeless and impoverished kids still have the chance to receive a college education, they just need to have the confidence that they can do so and a little pushing from outside forces. The author shares her own story of accomplishing just that.

A growing number of states have started to require financial education in high schools. Studies have shown that in states that mandate financial literacy classes as part of the core curriculum, students have less credit card debt and less expensive student loans.

Delaware has been working to make sure that all college-ready graduates, regardless of socioeconomic status, make it to college. With financial reasons standing in the way of many qualified students, the state has worked on multiple levels to make this a possibility.

A "near-peer" mentoring program offers a promising model for similar initiatives working to prevent "summer melt" for low-income students in the summer between their graduation from high school and arrival at college. College-age mentors provide in-person coaching and respond to texts about financial aid and other concerns.

In the United States, community colleges are increasingly offering child care opportunities for student parents.