For so many the path to the American Dream is through college. A college education can make a world of difference for most students. The median yearly income gap between high school and college graduates is around $17,500. However, for millions of first-generation, low-income students, the pathway to and through college is broken. They have the ambition and smarts, but face an uneven playing field. Lack of access to capital prevents low-income students from accessing the same colleges, opportunities, and outcomes of higher-income peers. 

Each year, seven million high-achieving, low-income students are accepted into, but cannot afford four-year public & private non-profit institutions. Lacking credit history and co-signers, this segment of students is persistently underbanked, facing average out-of-pocket gaps between $5,000 to $15,000 per year. In aggregate, this represents an annual underfunding gap between $35-$105 billion per year (net of institutional aid and the $140 billion Federal financial aid program). 

Since 1970, degree attainment for high-income adults has increased from 40% to 77% and barely crawled from 7% to 9% for low-income adults. Sixup levels the playing field with a new system to fund and incubate underserved human capital into transformative economic and social impact at scale. The cumulative value of investing in this population translates into generational mobility, workforce pipelines, and economic development. Researchers estimate that achieving educational equity will generate and add $86 trillion GDP (60-year NPV) to the U.S. economy. 

At Sixup we’re committed to changing these statistics. We are creating a movement of students, educators, counselors, investors, corporations, and foundations with a singular, passionate focus: to help low-income, first-generation students reach their full potential in college and beyond. 

We’d love to chat with you about how we can work together to make a change. We’ll be at the conference starting April 22, 2018, and are looking forward to meeting all of you. If you have any questions about Sixup please check out our site at sixup.com or email Lenny Akins at lenny@Sixup.com. See you soon!