Not many make it all the way through to graduation. And for those who do, even with a degree, entering the workforce can be equally difficult.

If they come from a family that struggles to make it from one paycheck to the next, they鈥檒l feel pressure to contribute right away, which may lead them to accept jobs below the education level they worked so hard to attain. First-generation graduates are 8% more likely to take a job that their bachelor鈥檚 degrees.

They need help, clearly. That鈥檚 why my organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, has been running a College and Career Success Program for about five years. Some 600 students have participated in that time, and around 350 undergraduates 鈥� all of whom are former Littles in our other programs 鈥� are in this project now. The majority attend the State University of New York or City University of New York, but participants are enrolled at about 75 schools across the country. Most are in bachelor’s degree programs, but we support students at community colleges as well.

The idea is simple: Littles have the opportunity to opt into our College and Career Success Program while they are in high school. We help them identify colleges as juniors and apply, with the support of a counselor. After graduation, they’re able to formally join the program, which guarantees them support through college and into their first career job. They then connect with a mentor, or Big, who checks in on the students throughout their undergraduate years and ensures they have the support, guidance and resources they need to graduate. It is the role of the Bigs to explain their own journey and the help they accessed along the way. This is important because many students feel they have to do it on their own and that asking for help is a sign of weakness or failure. But in reality, no one succeeds alone.

Students and mentors have a monthly check-in guide that brings structure to their conversations around college persistence and success. These check-ins have themes that shift each semester, covering everything from navigating campus life to laying the foundation for success after graduation. They include understanding and accessing college life and resources; getting engaged on campus in ways that align with interests and potential career aspirations; identifying a peer group that can support overall college and career goals; and identifying opportunities on campus that can introduce a potential career path and bolster a resume. 

During the first two years of college, these check-in guides are meant to help students stay on track to graduate in a major they are interested in. Right now, it’s working for 82% of our college students.

The conversation shifts starting in the third year toward career exploration and access. We leverage corporate partners to offer what we call Career Pathways programming, which pairs college students with a mentor in an industry they are interested in. Career Pathways are done in cohorts with 15 students and 15 employees from a company or professional organization. They meet weekly for 10 sessions, where students learn about the different careers that exist in a particular industry.

Students have the chance to identify a career and then map out with their mentor actions they can take in college to build their resumes. They will also participate in informational interviews with someone who has the job they want and have an opportunity to connect with the entire cohort of mentors to build their professional network. We also ask mentors to share their professional networks and opportunities with the students.

It鈥檚 still early, but results are promising. We had our first graduating class last year, and 80% of participants left the program with a career job or internship. If those results continue, scholars in our program will make it to the finish line and be positioned well for the life that starts beyond it.Most professionals know that embarking on a path to career success takes more than just a degree. It also needs the helping hands and guidance of a network that can open doors that students might otherwise not have access to. The norms of campus life and college resources are unknown to most first-generation students, as is the concept and importance of networking. We hope this program helps level the playing field for these young people.

A from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that using artificial intelligence interventions boosted student achievement in STEM courses.

Retention rates in undergraduate STEM majors have fallen below 50%, and graduation rates are roughly 20% lower than in non-STEM majors, according to the study. Researcher Mohammad Hasan, who specializes in big data and artificial intelligence at UNL, said he saw this discouraging trend in his own STEM courses at the university, a campus of nearly 24,000 students.

Hasan said he became unsettled by the number of students who asked how to improve poor grades as the semester ended.

At that late date, 鈥渢here was not much for me to do,鈥� Hasan said. 鈥淭hen, I was thinking that maybe I can create some kind of artificial intelligence-based support system which would tell you at the beginning of the semester, 鈥楬ey, you are doing okay, but if you don’t study well, maybe you will end up getting a poor grade鈥� or 鈥榊ou’re doing really great.鈥� 鈥�

Hasan partnered with Bilal Khan, former UNL researcher and current professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, to train an AI model on homework and test scores and final grades of 537 students in a computer science class between 2015 and 2018. 

In fall 2019,  they tested the model on 65 undergraduates taking the same course. Thirty-two received automated emails six, nine and 12 weeks into the semester containing the AI model鈥檚 projection of their success: good, fair, prone-to-risk or at risk of failing.

The remaining 33 students received one message that said 鈥渦nable to make a prediction.”

At the end of the semester, nearly 91% of the first group passed the course, versus 73% of the second group.

Of students surveyed who reported actively checking their status from the AI model, 86% said they increased their effort after seeing the forecast.

Hasan said the study’s promising results helped him secure a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a smartphone app called Messages From a Future You. The original AI model still needs some key components to become a well-rounded intervention for STEM students, he said.

鈥淎t that time, I was just using students’ grades basically to forecast their future performance. And I realized that maybe it’s not just the grade that I should be looking at, maybe I should look at other aspects of their lives,鈥� Hasan said. 鈥淔or instance, are they engaged in their study? Are they motivated to study? Do they think that they can do it? Are they well connected to their peers? Are they getting enough help from the lab instructors, the teachers and so on, so forth? So we designed this app.鈥�

Hasan, Khan and Neeta Kantamneni, director of the university鈥檚 counseling psychology program, hope the app will be ready this fall.

The AI model will become more sophisticated by gathering information from each student, based on daily questions about their personality, life and classroom experiences.

Hasan said the app will send targeted messages depending on the undergraduates’ background and progress 鈥� interventions that will mirror the type of advice provided in face-to-face counseling. The app might encourage students to participate in mindfulness activities, collaborate with peers or seek extra help during office hours.

鈥淭he model is more interesting in a sense that it can tell you not just about your future performance, but it would know exactly why you are going to get a poor grade. Is it because you’re losing your engagement, you’re losing your motivation?鈥� Hasan said. 鈥淲e are looking at ways to understand what is causing poor performance, right? And if we can identify that, what’s the remedy?鈥�

Messages From a Future You is meant to be a friend for STEM students and support them through difficult classes. The app will even have an avatar that looks like the user.

STEM students “start with a lot of enthusiasm,鈥� Hasan said. 鈥淏ut over time, their motivation degrades and their engagement degrades. I think that we can do something about that.鈥�

It was 2004. A Honduran immigrant who鈥檇 arrived with her family in the late 1990s, she secured a slot at a local community college, but reality hit when a counselor revealed her first semester鈥檚 tuition: $700, up front.

鈥淚 didn’t have that kind of money,鈥� Alvarado said. And her high school offered scant advice on how to pay for it. 鈥淪o I started working,” first as a daycare assistant, then in a series of manufacturing jobs, all while raising two kids on her own.

Now 37, Alvarado works for , the manufacturer of those ubiquitous plastic Hefty cups.

But this fall, 19 years after she graduated from high school, she鈥檚 about to get a second chance at college, compliments of an unusual benefactor: her oldest daughter.

Alvarado鈥檚 first-born, Yolany Baltazar, is among the first beneficiaries of , an unusual experiment in college access. Like many 鈥渃ollege promise鈥� programs, it essentially offers a free ride to a bachelor鈥檚 degree, covering tuition and fees for students who graduate from high school and persist through college.

But in Baltazar鈥檚 case, there鈥檚 a difference: Once she made it through her first semester, Hope Chicago made the same life-changing offer to her mother.

It鈥檚 part of a 鈥渢wo-generation鈥� approach to attacking poverty, said Janice Jackson, Hope Chicago鈥檚 CEO. She noted that many college access organizations that support low-income families often 鈥渢inker around the edges, instead of going to where we know we need to go: making sure that there is much more of a pathway to the middle class.鈥�

Advocates say research shows that greater access for both groups increases parents鈥� earnings and encourages kids to stay enrolled long enough to graduate.

鈥楢 different conversation鈥�

If Jackson鈥檚 name sounds familiar, it鈥檚 because she spent four years, from 2017 to 2021, as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, the fourth-largest district in the U.S.

鈥淭he thing about Hope Chicago is [that] when you first hear about it, it almost seems too good to be true,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淎nd I think that’s the response that a lot of people have.鈥�

Once they sit with the idea a while, she said, many begin to ask why it isn鈥檛 true everywhere. 鈥淲hy don’t we have a system in place so that kids across this country, quite frankly, can continue their education, and that finances are not the biggest barrier to them?鈥�

At the moment, Hope Chicago has agreements with just five city high schools, offering graduates and their parents free access to 28 colleges, most of them Illinois public four-year and community colleges, along with a handful of private institutions.

Students must gain admission based on their own academic achievements 鈥� Hope Chicago doesn鈥檛 ask colleges to change their admissions criteria. And the program has no GPA cutoff, so students remain eligible to continue as long as they鈥檙e enrolled in classes.

But those who drop out also make their parents ineligible 鈥� a bit of subtle, intra-family peer pressure to stay in the game.

鈥淪tudents obviously can go if their parents don’t go, but parents cannot take advantage of this unless their child is enrolled in school full-time,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淪o they have an incentive, right? If I’m a parent and I’m in school and things are working out, but my child wants to drop out, that’s a different conversation.鈥�

She said Hope Chicago deliberately chose its five high schools for the greatest possible impact, working in buildings that had seen 鈥渄ecades of chronic disinvestment,鈥� lower achievement levels and graduation rates.

The focus, she said, is on helping the entire school. 鈥淚t’s really about making a big difference.鈥�

Baltazar, 20, still remembers the day she learned about the program in February 2022, at an assembly at Benito Juarez Community Academy on Chicago鈥檚 west side.

She texted her mother to warn her to stay off social media until she could deliver the news herself, Baltazar said. 鈥淲hen she picked me up from school, she was like, 鈥榃hat have you got to tell me?鈥� I’m like, 鈥楳om, we get to go to college debt-free!鈥欌��

Alvarado was dumbstruck. 鈥淚 was really happy if she got the opportunity to go [to college], just herself or my kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut for me, it was a little bit hard to process.鈥�

In a few years, Alvarado鈥檚 younger son, 16-year-old Adrian, also a Hope Chicago scholar, will be able to attend college for free when he graduates from Benito Juarez.

鈥業n the center of a tornado鈥�

The program launched in early 2022, with a from two philanthropists, Pete Kadens and Ted Koenig. Jackson wants to raise another $1 billion over the next decade to expand it and make more families eligible.

Recent research shows that these more educated parents will almost certainly earn more money 鈥� about $4,000 annually, according to , even though many are already years into their careers. 

But multi-generational college enrollment not only benefits parents. It also has a significant 鈥渟pill-over effect鈥� on their children. One reason is obvious: Parental education is a strong predictor of whether a student will attend college. 

A recent study by City University of New York economist noted that children whose parents are college graduates are three times as likely to attend college themselves. Investing in multigenerational college-goers, he said, is 鈥渆conomically efficient.鈥� 

When Hope Chicago came to Ajani Cunningham鈥檚 school, Johnson College Prep, in spring 2022, it was co-founder Kadens who told an assembly of students they鈥檇 be going to college for free. Cunningham鈥檚 mother, Yolanda White, was filming the moment with her mobile phone and began crying. But then Jackson, Hope Chicago鈥檚 CEO, joined Kadens onstage and told the parents they were also eligible for free college. 鈥淎nd then the uproar was, like, magnified a thousand times,鈥� Cunningham recalled.

鈥淚t was almost like 鈥� what people describe as being in the center of a tornado,鈥� White said. 鈥淚 think [Kadens] broke my brain because I could not react. I just .鈥�

But stunned as she was, she knew immediately what she would do with her good fortune: finish her culinary education.

The 50-year-old mother of five had earned an associate鈥檚 degree at the for-profit Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago in 2014, which closed in 2017, part of a of for-profit closures. 

She studied to be a pastry chef and nutritionist and has spent the past few years running an online bakery called . She also created and teaches a handful of home economics and mentoring courses for Chicago Public Schools. 

White dreams of earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree and teaching people how to source and eat higher-quality, locally grown food, especially in so-called urban 鈥渇ood deserts.鈥� She knows these issues firsthand: In the eight-year period when she and her five kids were homeless, White recalled, 鈥淚 had to make $20 work鈥� for a week’s worth of meals. 鈥淎nd they were never hungry.鈥�

White plans to study at Kendall College鈥檚 Culinary Arts School in Chicago, but she鈥檚 holding off on enrolling for a year while she figures out how to cut back her hours at the district. She also needs to put the online bakery on hiatus.

鈥淲hen someone presents the physical manifestation of a lifelong dream to you,鈥� she said, 鈥測ou kind of have to pay attention to that.鈥�

Meanwhile her son will matriculate this fall at Loyola University Chicago, thanks to Hope Chicago, studying psychology while planning for law school and a career in civil rights law.

鈥楢 different life鈥�

The organization鈥檚 efforts unfold as the district faces an odd mixture of crisis and confidence: While Chicago Public Schools in 2022 boasted a record-high graduation rate of 83%, just one-fifth of high school students were reading and doing math at grade level, according to the . And nearly half of students missed at least 18 days of school.

Hope Chicago says its work is already having an impact: An April report by Belfield, the City University scholar, found that college enrollment rates averaged 74% 鈥� a 17% increase 鈥� in the organization鈥檚 first year partnering with the five schools.

The program is looking to expand 鈥� at the moment it serves about 4,000 students, and is fund-raising both publicly and privately with hopes of announcing more high schools in the future.

While the two-generation approach is unique, the program operates in the tradition of 鈥渃ollege promise鈥� programs that for nearly 20 years have guaranteed tuition-free access to higher education. The movement began in 2005, in , and now counts more than 300 programs in at least 32 states, according to the .

The offers Kalamazoo Public Schools graduates up to 100% of tuition and fees at in-state public universities and community colleges. A found that six years after high school graduation, students in the program had higher rates of college credential attainment 鈥� 46%, up from about 36% before 2005. 

While the researchers said making college free won鈥檛 necessarily ensure that more students enroll, they found that offering a 鈥渟imple, universal, and generous scholarship program鈥� can significantly increase educational attainment, especially among low-income students.

Last spring, Baltazar finished her first year at in Normal, Ill., about a two-hour drive south of Chicago. Studying biology and pre-dentistry, she spent much of her freshman year adjusting to dorm life.

Baltazar had the advantage of bunking with a friend she鈥檇 known since middle school. She made new friends by simply leaving the dorm room door ajar and playing music.

Meanwhile, her mother is putting the finishing touches on an application to attend , an online program, in August. She plans to study finance while keeping her job at Pactiv Evergreen, and still can鈥檛 get over her good fortune 鈥� or her daughter鈥檚. 

鈥淚 think just the idea of her going to school without any debt, and including myself, is just like 鈥︹�� She paused for a second. 鈥淚n four or five years, this is just a different life.鈥�

For the majority of underserved students in New York City who wish to attend college away from home, the State University of New York (SUNY) provides the most accessible and cost-effective options. In order to increase the likelihood that these students will succeed in college, the Heckscher Foundation and Gerstner Philanthropies created a Student Emergency Fund at six SUNY campuses.

Before the program was established, there was little empirical evidence to show the impact of emergency grant programs on college persistence and graduation. The program tracked these outcomes and demonstrated that Student Emergency Fund recipients showed substantially higher achievement rates than the general campus populations. 

Since 2018, of the nearly 2,000 students across the six campuses who received the grants 鈥� which by design could not be used to pay tuition 鈥� 94% were still enrolled in college, or had successfully graduated or completed their program of study, in the semester immediately following receipt of their award. Nationally, and at the SUNY campuses overall, the rate is 76%. In addition, 90% of grant recipients receiving an award in fall 2019 were re-enrolled in fall 2020, a rate 14% percentage points higher than retention rates seen on the six campuses as a whole and for full-time students nationally.

In addition, applying for the grant increased students’ awareness of the broader range of supports  available to them on campus and in the surrounding community. Eight in 10 recipients noted that applying for the grant caused them to learn about other resources that they didn鈥檛 know about before.   

The six SUNY campuses each received between $50,000 to $100,000 per year for four years, with additional funds to support administrative expenses. To be eligible to receive the grants, students were required to be pursuing a bachelor鈥檚 or associate degree, be enrolled at least half-time, have a minimum 2.0 grade-point average and otherwise be in good standing with the college.  

Grants were made on a rolling basis throughout the academic year and summer for up to a recommended maximum of $2,000. The idea was to help students respond to emergencies, such as homelessness or threat of eviction, medical crises, natural disasters, domestic violence, theft or loss of employment. Examples of eligible expenses included rent, utilities, clothing, furniture, medical bills, child care, transportation and replacement of stolen items needed for school. Tuition, books, credit card debt, cable bills and legal representation, among other expenses, were not eligible. 

The program design required the colleges to widely publicize the availability of the grants and provide an online portal for applications. Campus administrators had to respond to requests within days, and data had to be captured and recorded on a platform administered by . Before the program’s inception, there was great variation in the extent to which holistic student support systems existed across the six partner campuses. Many did not have a system in place that met the full range of student needs in an integrated and comprehensive way. Several campuses did have emergency grant programs in place, but these were very small and inconsistent in how they engaged with students and determined what the qualifications should be. 

Participating in the SEF program allowed staff to learn more about the needs of their own students, while gaining insight into services offered on other campuses. Together, this resulted in the six schools significantly increasing their scale and range of available supports. At SUNY Albany, the Class of 2019 voted to make the SEF the recipient of its class gift. Contributions from over 300 students totaled $20,000. In some cases, the colleges created a new, holistic system of supports, using data from the SEF program to guide decisions about what that system should look like. In other cases, campuses implemented new approaches within their existing support systems. 

The successes seen as a result of the SEF program point to several design features that should guide other institutions in developing similar programs. Among other recommendations, the report emphasized the importance of university systems and states investing their own resources into developing emergency grants programs; the importance of clear application requirements; a fast turnaround time; and clear communication with students throughout the process.

Disclosure: The Heckscher Foundation provides financial support to 蜜桃影视.

One is the transition from eighth to ninth grade 鈥� if students don鈥檛 make it smoothly, they are more apt to struggle in high school or even drop out. Another is the shift from high school to college; strong alignment at this juncture measurably improves the chances for postsecondary success.

Schools often treat these inflection points as just that 鈥� moments breaking up a timeline 鈥� when they should instead be seen as part of an integrated continuum, from the end of middle school through the start of careers.

Call it the decade of difference.

Between the ages of 14 to 24, young people undergo an enormous transformation. These are the years in which they fully develop their attitudes and personalities, their aspirations and a sense of purpose. Their , changing in ways they hadn鈥檛 since early childhood, become increasingly plastic, making connections that allow them to engage in increasingly complex thinking.

At the same time, young adults are seeking meaning within their own and other peer groups, as well as in the wider world. They crave deeper social connections, as well as outlets for their creative and intellectual passions.

All these changes demand classroom schedules that allow young people to experience learning outside of school 鈥� at colleges and at the workplace 鈥� through internships and other opportunities for professional networking. The strength of the workforce also depends on innovative ways to keep these future employees engaged, on track and connected to college and fulfilling careers.

Across the country, state and local education leaders are embracing the knowledge of what young people in this decade need to succeed 鈥� and prioritizing programs that create seamless transitions to the world after high school.

In California, lawmakers are considering a $2 billion budget appropriation to create and expand pathways that combine rigorous academics with career training and quicker routes to higher education. These include dual enrollment, which allows students to earn college credits while still in high school. This is a critical investment: As more students, particularly those from underserved populations, have disconnected from learning during the pandemic, there is a growing recognition that theirs is talent California cannot afford to lose 鈥� and that college is too late to start connecting young people to the workforce.

Pathways like those powered by the approach known as bring high school, careers and college together with hands-on learning and academics that show the relevance to work. This keeps students engaged in ways that help them become both technically competent and emotionally mature. Combined with more thoughtful advising and other supports, clear pathways also help smooth transitions at a time, post-high school, when many students fall off track.

For example, the at Linda Esperanza Marquez High School partners with local hospitals and biomedical research facilities to provide students with hands-on learning and internship opportunities, opening the door to a wide variety of careers. While the institute focuses primarily on sports medicine and biomedical science, students practice a wide variety of skills in different areas of interest. To study the health impacts of environmental factors like a local battery plant, students test air, water and soil samples, conduct research and share their findings with their community 鈥� including in presentations to the city council.

In San Bernardino, students can combine environmental sciences, technology and building trades at . They prepare for and take the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners assessment, which awards an industry certificate in the alternative energy field. By their senior year, CORE Academy students are putting what they鈥檝e learned into practice by installing solar panels for low-income community members in partnership with a local energy company.

Statewide, over 100,000 young people in 51 districts are pursuing pathways like these, preparing for success in college and careers in engineering, natural resources, health care, education and other high-earning fields.

Such efforts are also in place in states far from California. In Kentucky, the recently formed is working to ease students鈥� transitions between high school and the workforce or college with measures such as enhanced advising, early exposure to college and careers, partnerships between educators and industry, and expanded opportunities for dual enrollment. The Kentucky Community & Technical College System recently unveiled a mapping tool designed to show how well the colleges鈥� programs align with workforce needs in every county in the state. The colleges will then use the information to design policies to respond to those needs.

has recommended several ways to help prepare high school students for the academic and work lives that follow graduation. These include developing and expanding clear pathways to postsecondary education, providing students with more effective counseling, and making better use of data to improve postsecondary and workforce outcomes.

Reaching these goals means transforming high schools so they provide more coherent pathways to college and high-skill, high-wage careers. That requires connecting young adults鈥� academic, social and economic needs. Fortunately, President Joe Biden has proposed a $200 million , aimed at rethinking grades 11 to 14 and bridging the boundaries between high school and higher education. If Congress adopts this program, students across the country, particularly the underserved, could benefit from these life-changing programs.

The pandemic has only underscored the fragility of the crucial 14-to-24 decade: High school graduation rates are down, and college enrollment, particularly at the two-year institutions that educate nearly half of all college students, has markedly declined. The decreases are especially pronounced among students of color, low-income students and students learning English.

This is a make-or-break decade for young people and for the future of our country’s workforce. We would be wise to take full advantage of it.

Deborah S. Delisle is president and CEO of All4Ed, formerly the Alliance for Excellent Education. Anne Stanton is president of the Linking Learning Alliance and principal architect of the Linked Learning movement.

鈥淲e can now add increased attrition of 2019 freshmen to the severe impacts of the pandemic,鈥� said Doug Shapiro, executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

The independent Clearinghouse collects the nation鈥檚 most authoritative college-going data. By matching high school graduation records against college enrollment records, the Clearinghouse determines which high school graduates enroll in college, which 鈥減ersist鈥� through the college years, and which end up earning degrees.

The data released today shows that of the 2.6 million students who entered college as first-time freshmen in the fall of 2019, 74 percent returned for their second year 鈥斅燼n unprecedented two percentage point drop, the lowest level since 2012.

Not surprisingly, community colleges showed the steepest decline in persistence rates, down 3.5 percentage points to 58.5 percent. Community colleges attract a disproportionate number of low-income and minority students, and they have seen the most dramatic enrollment and persistence drops.

In most cases, the explanations are straightforward: These students needed to get jobs 鈥� even low-skill, low-paying jobs 鈥� to support their families. In theory, these students could return to college now that the pandemic has eased, but there鈥檚 little evidence in enrollment trends to suggest this is happening.

Instead, they appear to be forming a missing generation of college students, an unprecedented phenomenon likely to affect the nation鈥檚 productivity rate for years. Any country鈥檚 international competitiveness is forecast by the skills acquired by young people entering the workforce.

Before today鈥檚 data release, there was聽ample evidence聽to suggest a missing generation was taking shape. This spring, overall college enrollment fell by 603,000 students, from 17.5 million to 16.9 million 鈥� a drop that is seven times worse than the year before when the pandemic first hit and marks the sharpest year-over-year decline since 2011, the first year the Clearinghouse began keeping track.

While the pandemic was expected to eat away at college enrollment, many experts were surprised that a quick recovery in college-going never materialized. Today鈥檚 data from the Clearinghouse only makes that news grimmer.

鈥淭hese losses erase recent improvements that colleges have made in keeping learners on track early,鈥� said Shapiro. 鈥淭hey will ripple through higher education for years.鈥�