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I want to reintroduce you to Joel! Joel appeared on the front page of our inaugural newsletter when he was a first-year student staring down the terrible odds against his academic success. As we said then, because Joel came from a below-poverty line, immigrant, and multilingual household–and he was a first-gen student–there was an 89% chance that he would drop out. But Joel didn’t drop out. In fact, with the secure funding and mentoring your resources made possible, Joel will graduate in April (without debt) from the Marriott School with a degree in Global Supply Chain Management–a growing field with plenty of jobs. Joel will leave campus with his diploma and a robust resume, an extensive network, advocates in top corporations, and plenty of tenacity–a skill he’s honed during college. Joel’s story is remarkable. It’s our dream for all of our students. But the bigger story–the even more remarkable story–is the one sitting on Joel’s shoulders. When Joel’s son goes to college, he won’t be a low-income or first-generation student. He will arrive on campus with a “parent premium” in his backpack--advantages that accrue to continuing-generation students because one or both of their parents have a college degree. Here is a bit of data comparing some differences between first- and second-generation students after college:
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