Peers Help Peers Excel at Top Hungarian University

The Transfer Scholars Network partners with community colleges and elite universities to help high-achieving students complete their four-year degree at a top school. Alongside mentorship throughout the application process, students who are accepted to partner institutions receive a financial aid package and ongoing support.

The Romani Education Fund in Slovakia is helping children from the Roma community, which has a history of social and economic disadvantages as well as being subject to ethnic discrimination, overcome challenges to finish high school and pursue higher education. The REF works by providing qualifying students with a stipend to pay for educational supplies, as well as providing school guidance and personal mentorship to help both students and parents overcome the social hurdles that impede the student's desire or ability to fulfill their potential.

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.

Educational Talent Search provides personalized college and career counseling to first-generation and low-income students. Counselors work with students from 8th grade through high school graduation, offering one-on-one support with college applications, financial aid forms, scholarship searches, and career planning. The program has seen nearly 90% of seniors enrolling in post-secondary education, far above its 56% target.

The Zruc Mental Health Team for Children and Young People provides free mental health care to youth in schools in the Czech Republic's Kutna Hora district. These teams of traveling psychologists are making mental health care more accessible by meeting students where they are and are helping to reverse the standard method of labeling children with mental health issues as “problematic,” instead ensuring they get the care they need.

Arrupe College offers two-year associate degree programs in smaller classes and at significantly lower costs on the Loyola University campus. At Arrupe College, 50% of the students graduate, and 70% of graduates continue to earn their bachelor’s degrees. With the help of the nonprofit Come To Believe Network, several four-year universities across the country are also beginning to offer two-year programs.

The Indigenous Teacher Education Program at the University of Arizona trains budding educators to better support students in Tribal communities, with the goal of increasing the number of Indigenous teachers in the school system. Since launching in 2018, the program has produced more than 50 graduates.

San Francisco's Black Early Childhood Educator pilot program covers tuition and provides stipends for Black students, as well as support from a case manager and necessary supplies such as laptops. Since the program launched two years ago, 62 participants have received their associate teaching permits from the City College of San Francisco.

Wayne State University’s Warrior Way Back program allows former students who left college without a diploma to re-enroll and have up to $4,000 of their student debt forgiven.

To enhance learning, Smart Primary School has integrated peer-mentoring in its curriculum through the Buddy program. Each student in the first grade is paired with a fifth grader who tutors and guides the younger one with lessons and activities for the next four years. The program has not just helped them improve their language, communication, and mathematics skills, but also helped enhance the school atmosphere through the trust and bonding students build in the process.