Matriculate

Matriculate is at an inflection point. As a national nonprofit organization, we have grown by 10X since our founding from serving 350 high school students in the class of 2016, to 3,500 in the Class of 2022 alone. Over the past year, our virtual model has generated the best results in our history. Despite the pandemic’s impact on the higher education space, we have been able to continue providing free college advising support to high school students anytime, anywhere.

In order to move the needle for low-income students on a national level, we will ultimately grow to serve 20K students in each graduating class. Funding from the Elevate Prize will be critical to this success. In the coming years, we will expand our lean team of 20 employees, invest in systems for scale, grow our national brand recognition to increase access to our services, build industry partnerships, and continue to learn and grow through leadership development and program evaluation. The Elevate Prize will help us achieve our ambitious 3-year plan and take our work to the next level.

I come from privilege--from a white, suburban, middle-class family and public school. Adding to that privilege, I attended Yale. Despite my whiteness and preparation, I came to experience my public school background as a reason that I did not belong. This led me on a path to find community in service and community in action. I came to  believe deeply in the agency, influence, and potential of college students to change systems. After running a near-peer service organization, upon graduating I had the opportunity to work with undergraduates engaged in community and change. This deepened my belief that young people, coupled with support, high expectations, and structure, can change the world.

Today, I am inspired by the more than 1,600 undergraduates who commit 3-4 hours a week for 3 semesters, who are galvanized to ensure that their higher education communities reflect the racial and geographic diversity of our country. Young people make Matriculate--as "Head Advising Fellows," as interns, and increasingly as full-time staff.

As we look toward the future, I see a national community of young people building virtual connections, sharing social capital, and ensuring that our country's greatest young talent access the higher ed opportunities they have deserve.

Matriculate is a national nonprofit organization ensuring all the nation’s talented students have access to the opportunities they deserve. Every year, tens of thousands of high-achieving, low-income high school students who do not make their way to America’s best colleges, despite being qualified to do so. Since many of these students lack the information and support they need to apply to top colleges, more than half ended up at local, non-selective colleges with greater student debt burden and lower likelihoods of graduating.

Leveraging technology, Matriculate connect high-achieving, low-income high school students with highly trained virtual undergraduate advisors from top colleges. This year, ~1,600 diverse and committed undergraduates--the majority of whom share a socioeconomic background as the high school students they advise--train for over 70 hours to support 6,000+ low-income high school students from coast to coast. Most of our students reside in rural/suburban areas where other college access organizations do not serve, and represent a diverse pool of talent: 80% are students are of color, and nearly half are first-generation college students. Matriculate is building a network of low-income young people supporting one another, changing the trajectory of their lives and the lives of their families. 

Most college access organizations operate via in-person models in urban areas where students are concentrated. As a result, many rural and suburban communities lack high-quality college access support. Thanks in part to our innovative fully virtual modality, Matriculate is able to reach students who reside in rural or suburban communities. 

Matriculate is changing the landscape of traditional college advising available to high school students nationwide. Matriculate is the only college access organization dedicated to addressing the undermatching challenge that high-achieving, low-income students experience via a near- peer, technology-based, national model. With small ratios, and a student-centered virtual model, Matriculate ensures our nation’s talented, low-income students successfully navigate the application and decision-making process.

We’ve successfully supported nearly 12K talented high school students on their path to college. To ensure high school students stay on track to enroll in an academic and financial match college, we monitor progress towards key milestones—creating a balanced college list, submitting financial aid forms, completing college applications, and eventually selecting a financial aid and academic match institution. Alumni go on to succeed at match colleges where they receive the financial aid and support they need to graduate on time with low student debt burdens. As our high school students matriculate to college, they join communities of low-income, first-generation undergraduates supporting one another. Hundreds of high school students have returned to gain professional development, networks of support, ongoing training, and connections to job opportunities via our fellowship.

 Our work is building a fly wheel that enables low-income students to acquire the skills and social capital they need to achieve their goals. Our students are persisting at rates 90%+. We plan to focus on core priorities in coming years: serving first-gen, rural, and students of color, developing internal research and evaluation capacities, examining the transfer of social capital that occurs through Matriculate advising, and continuing to scale.