HELPING REALIZE MINNESOTA’S PROMISE
Through our experiences with students, years of data collection and analysis and our collaborations with high schools and colleges, we have recognized and responded to major barriers to college success for low and moderate income students. These include:
- Lack of academic preparation in high school, leading to poor performance in college
- Lack of advice and counsel for what it takes to be successful in college
- Lack of financial resources to cover the skyrocketing costs of a college education.
Our response includes:
- Financial assistance. We provide students with scholarships and financial advice and advocacy. We work with college financial aid offices to ensure maximum financial benefit for our scholars.
- Comprehensive advising. Each scholar is assigned a professional advisor to help him or her navigate through college. Advisors assess student needs and proactively work with students and on-campus resources to address individual needs while teaching scholars self-advocacy along the way.
- Rigorous selection process. Eligible scholars are high academic achievers from families earning less than $75,000 taxable income. We resolve to select at least 40% students of color, 40% first-generation students and 40% males. We use quantitative and qualitative assessments, refined over years, to help us select students who with our support will realize their potential.
- Data-informed practices. We collect and track student performance from high school application to college graduation. This allows us to better address individual student needs and to continuously improve our practices.