A major property and casualty insurance company, Travelers, has given a $300,000 grant to College Possible, a nonprofit that pairs high school and college students with peer coaches. The grant will be used to further College Possible's mission of making college admission and success achievable for students from low-income backgrounds.
The grant will help College Possible bring its Catalyze program to community colleges. The aim is to improve the number of first-generation college students and people from low-income backgrounds who finish college. The Catalyze program seeks to empower college students with the skills and support they need to overcome barriers such as financial insecurity, food insecurity, and limited access to academic resources.
Catherine Marciano, VP of partnerships at College Possible, said, "Community colleges can be engines for economic mobility and springboards into bachelor's degree programs." She commented, "This is about providing students with evidence-based support to achieve their degree objectives, regardless of the path they take." She added, "Travelers have played a profound role in expanding our scale and impact over the years, and this grant will enable us to meet the needs of our students with intentionality as we continue to build out our Catalyze program."
(Source: PRNewswire)
The Catalyze program has been a big reason why student retention rates at partner institutions have gone up by up to 14% and why first-year student retention rates have gone up by more than 10%. College Possible and Travelers have been strategic partners for the last two decades. With this grant, College Possible will be able to bring the Catalyze program to community colleges and give them the resources they need to make sure that all students have the same chance to do well.
About College Possible
Since 2000, College Possible, one of the biggest and most effective college access and success programs in the nation, has provided an intensive coaching and support program to help more than 80,000 students from underrepresented communities enroll in and complete their college degrees. Its ground-breaking model pairs students with a close friend or relative who serves as a coach and uses an evidence-based curriculum to help students get over the most common obstacles to entering college and finishing their degree at no cost to the students or their families. In comparison to their peers from comparable backgrounds, College Possible students nationwide have a threefold higher chance of earning a bachelor's degree within six years. College Possible, which has its main office in Saint Paul, Minnesota, also has regional sites in Austin, Texas, Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Omaha, Nebraska, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, as well as Catalyze partnerships in California, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee.