uAspire helps promising students make college an affordable reality. We impact the lives of students.
uAspire’s impact is felt in the thousands of young people we advise every year. Last year, more than 11,000 students and families worked with uAspire to learn how to make their dreams of college affordable. We leverage $62 in financial aid for every dollar invested in our one-on-one senior college affordability advising – more than $85 million for the Class of 2012. And when our students get to college, they stay in – 84% of uAspire’s low-income advisees re-enrolled in college for their second year, compared to 66% of college freshmen nationally, regardless of income.
uAspire is also making an impact on a national level. In 2012, we are opening in Miami – our first site outside of Massachusetts – and will serve 2,000 students in the nation’s fourth-largest school district. We have also influenced the creation of a financial aid “shopping sheet,” produced by the Department of Education, that will provide more clarity for students and families to compare their financial aid. With 10 colleges and universities using this tool by 2013, uAspire has the potential to impact tens of thousands of college students.
But the impact uAspire sees every day is also the most personal. We see it when a student begins her journey to apply for college, but quickly faces a gap in how to pay for it. Through a conversation with a uAspire Advisor, she considers more affordable schools that still provide a quality education. During FAFSA season, she and her Advisor are on the phone with a parent, getting necessary tax information to complete the form and secure Pell grants and other aid. Before graduation, her Advisor is on the phone with her college, negotiating more aid. And by next fall, she has the financial plan she needs for college and focuses on classes, instead of how she’ll pay her next tuition bill.