An initiative of Better Make Room, UpNext is a FREE text-messaging college support tool that gives high school seniors and college students across the country free personalized support on all things college access: college search and application, federal student aid, and even student loan repayment. With the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, We can provide UpNext free of charge, making sure that hundreds of thousands of students have the support they need to reach higher and achieve their dreams of going to college.
Since then, Reach Higher has helped organize thousands of events with hundreds of thousands of students in all 50 states showing their college pride and creating a college-going culture in their communities. Hosted by schools, organizations, community leaders, and influencers, College Signing Day is a national celebration rallying around local students and celebrating their choices and commitments to higher education.
According to an internal analysis of Common App data from the 2016-2017 season, only 48% of Common App’s first-generation and low-income applicants earned a Bachelor’s degree within six years, compared to 78% of their continuing-generation and higher-income peers. We know we have to do better, including ensuring that college-bound first generation students are set up for success on day one when they arrive on campus.
The Beating the Odds Summit helps combat the phenomenon of “summer melt” by celebrating and encouraging students to persist and attend college in the fall. In 2014, Mrs. Obama met with a small group of ten college-bound students at the White House to celebrate their commitment to education, despite overcoming immense obstacles along their journey to higher education.
Over the years, Mrs.Obama expanded the small gathering to include more college-bound students representing urban, rural, foster, homeless, special needs, and underrepresented youth who had beaten the odds to overcome incredible obstacles to persist through high school and commit to attending a postsecondary institution. During these Beating the Odds Summits, Mrs. Obama invites successful professionals who, like herself, were first-generation college students to inspire students and prepare them for college in the fall, thereby combating summer melt.
The School Counselor of the Year award, introduced by the American School Counselor Association in 2008, honors school counselors who devote their careers to advocating for the nation’s students and addressing their academic and social/emotional development and college and career readiness needs. In 2015, Mrs. Obama, in collaboration with Reach Higher, hosted the School Counselor of the Year ceremony at the White House. She has continued to celebrate and support these critical educators annually ever since.
Visit our 2024 College Signing Day website
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©2018 Reach Higher
PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS & CONDITIONS
Reach Higher and Better Make Room is housed within Common App, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.