46 organizations, links checked every morning

You are not the only one fighting for you.

Across the country, these organizations do the same work EFF does: emergency money, food and housing, coaches who stay, scholarships, and keeping students in high school. Every name opens their own website.

Emergency money that keeps students enrolled

Small amounts of money, fast, before a small balance becomes a dropped enrollment.

Official source ↗Believe in Students: the FAST FundFaculty and staff on campus hand emergency money straight to their own students. Known for: the FAST Fund network, local funds set up campus by campus with one national organization behind them.

Official source ↗Scholarship America: Emergency AidThe largest scholarship provider in the country also runs emergency aid, because one unexpected bill is enough to end a degree. Emergency grants usually run under $1,000 and are tied to staying enrolled.

Official source ↗Beam (formerly Edquity)A platform that gets emergency cash to students in about 48 hours, with a partnership focused on HBCUs and tribal colleges. Ask your school if it uses Beam.

Food, housing and benefits

Students leave over food, housing and benefits they never claimed as often as over tuition.

Official source ↗The Hope Center: student basic needs researchResearch and practical guides on food and housing insecurity among college students, for staff who want to act on it.

Official source ↗Swipe Out HungerStart or grow a campus meal-sharing and anti-hunger program.

Official source ↗Food Recovery NetworkStudent chapters recover surplus campus dining food and deliver it to people facing hunger nearby. Known for: grants that help new campus chapters launch, including at community colleges.

Official source ↗Single StopOne screening connects a student to every public benefit they qualify for (food assistance, Medicaid, utility help, tax credits) in about 15 minutes.

Tools and money guidance in your hands

A coach, an app or an adviser who explains the money before the bill comes.

Official source ↗Beyond 12Near-peer coaches who stay with students from high school through college graduation. Known for: the MyCoach app, with coaching, reminders and campus resources on your phone.

Official source ↗uAspireHelps students understand financial aid offers and the real cost of college before a bill surprises them, and trains the advisers who help them.

Official source ↗Get SchooledA free platform (now powered by Bottom Line) that walks students through college and first jobs with short content, games and text-based help.

Coaching that gets you to the finish

A named person who stays with you is the most proven way students finish. Including for anyone who stepped away.

Official source ↗Bottom LineFull-time advisers stay with low-income, first-generation students from applying to college through graduation: one adviser, a small caseload, support that follows you for years.

Official source ↗College PossibleNear-peer AmeriCorps coaches guide low-income students to college and through it, from junior year to a degree. It now also runs College Possible Texas (formerly College Forward).

Official source ↗College TrackA ten-year commitment to each student, from ninth grade through college graduation, run through local centers.

Official source ↗College Advising CorpsPlaces recent college graduates as full-time college advisers inside high schools that serve low-income students. Close in age, and right there in your school.

Official source ↗InsideTrackProfessional coaching for colleges, focused on keeping enrolled students progressing and finishing, with short check-ins that catch problems early.

Official source ↗ReUp EducationFinds people who stopped out of college and coaches them back to enrollment and a finished degree. If you stepped away, you can come back.

Official source ↗OneGoalA three-year classroom program that makes a teacher the college coach for a whole cohort of high school students. Known for: a small Enrollment Grant offered right when enrollment stalls.

Official source ↗iMentorMatches every student in a partner high school with a college-educated mentor for three to four years.

Official source ↗One Million DegreesWraps Chicago-area community college students in scholarships, coaching, tutoring and professional development all at once.

Chapters, cohorts and mentors

Groups that run on local chapters, tight cohorts or matched mentors, like EFF's campus chapters.

Official source ↗The Posse FoundationRecruits students in "posses" of about ten who train together before college, receive full-tuition scholarships at partner colleges and support each other through graduation.

Official source ↗KIPP ForwardKIPP's alumni support: counselors stay with KIPP graduates through college and into careers.

Official source ↗Communities In SchoolsPlaces a site coordinator inside a school to connect students to whatever they need (food, tutoring, counseling, a ride) through local affiliates.

Official source ↗City YearYoung AmeriCorps members serve full-time in schools, coaching the students most at risk of dropping out. A service year after college, and a way to be the reason someone stays.

Official source ↗Big Brothers Big Sisters of AmericaLocal agencies match children and teens with screened adult mentors, in communities and in schools. Find a mentor for a young person, or become one.

HBCU and identity-focused support

Scholarships plus community for HBCU students and other underrepresented students.

Official source ↗UNCF scholarshipsThe largest private scholarship provider for minority students, supporting 37 member HBCUs and students at hundreds of other schools, with hundreds of scholarships in one place.

Official source ↗Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF)Scholarships, programs and career pipelines for students at publicly supported HBCUs and predominantly Black institutions, including help near the finish line.

Official source ↗HBCU FirstA student-led, employer-powered community running paid internship and mentoring academies for HBCU students.

Official source ↗Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF)Names about 10,000 HSF Scholars a year and pairs the scholarship with mentoring, career services and leadership conferences.

Official source ↗APIA ScholarsScholarships and support for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students, with attention to first-generation and low-income scholars and help for first-time applicants.

First-generation and low-income students

Money paired with real support, for the first in the family to go.

Official source ↗QuestBridgeConnects high-achieving, low-income students to full scholarships at partner colleges through the National College Match.

Official source ↗Dell ScholarsA scholarship from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation that comes with a laptop, textbook credits and a support team that stays with scholars through graduation.

Official source ↗FirstGen ForwardThe national network for first-generation student success, and its FirstGen Forward Network of colleges committed to first-gen outcomes. Ask whether your college is a member.

Foster youth, homeless students and career paths

For students without a family safety net, and a way into a career.

Official source ↗Foster Care to Success (FC2S)The oldest national nonprofit working only with college-bound foster youth: scholarships, coaching, mentoring, care packages and emergency funding.

Official source ↗SchoolHouse ConnectionFor students experiencing homelessness, from early childhood through college: how to get help, your rights, and scholarship support for homeless youth applying to college.

Official source ↗Year Up UnitedTuition-free job training plus a corporate internship for young adults, built for people the traditional college path has not served.

Staying in high school

The front end of the same road: keeping students in high school and on to graduation.

Official source ↗Jobs for America's Graduates (JAG)In-school specialists work with the students at greatest risk of leaving, through graduation and a year beyond into jobs or college, state by state.

Official source ↗Check & Connect (University of Minnesota)An evidence-based model: a mentor checks a student's attendance, grades and behavior, then connects with help and family outreach, fast.

Official source ↗National Dropout Prevention CenterThe research and training center for dropout prevention at Clemson University, with a library of strategies organized by what the evidence supports.

Official source ↗Attendance WorksFights chronic absenteeism, the earliest warning sign of dropping out, with data tools and campaigns for schools, districts and families.

Official source ↗Everyone Graduates Center (Johns Hopkins)Builds early-warning systems that flag students going off track in middle and high school, and the school models that respond.

Official source ↗Boys & Girls Clubs of AmericaLocal clubs in nearly every community run graduation-focused programs, including diplomas2Degrees for teens aiming at college. Find a club near you.

Official source ↗Say Yes BuffaloA tuition scholarship promise for graduates of Buffalo public and charter schools, plus Pre-K through 12th grade supports. A whole city organized around its students.

Research, policy and completion networks

Where the data, the research and the policy language live.

Official source ↗Complete College AmericaA national alliance pushing states and colleges to raise completion, with strategies like 15 to Finish and corequisite support.

Official source ↗Achieving the DreamA network of community colleges coached to use their own data to close equity gaps and raise completion.

Official source ↗The Education Trust (EdTrust)Research and advocacy on equity in education, including the gaps in degree attainment our students sit inside.

Official source ↗StriveTogetherA national network of cradle-to-career partnerships: whole communities aligned on shared student outcomes from birth to a job.

Need help right now?

These organizations are national. For your own situation tonight, start with EFF.

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