Helping Low-Income Students Graduate

Proven strategies to meet students' needs and expand educational pathways.

Colleges have made strides in recruiting and enrolling low-income students. But the work doesn’t end there. Today’s colleges are tasked with supporting students with complex, diverse backgrounds through graduation and beyond, preparing them for employment or further education.

That support is sorely needed: While almost four out of five Americans from high-income families earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24, less than one out of 10 low-income Americans do. And colleges often have one shot at reaching these students: Students who drop out have only a 13-percent likelihood of re-enrolling, and of those, just a quarter will earn a degree or certification. 

This report explores six approaches to helping low-income students graduate — and the effects the programs have had on students’ lives. Through examples and interviews, you’ll learn strategies for building and sustaining initiatives that are responsive to your students’ needs. You’ll also hear from administrators who draw from their own experiences as first-generation, low-income students, as well as from a dozen graduates of completion programs about what resonated with and worked for them. 

With this report, readers will explore:

• Strategies that support low-income students.
• How colleges have adapted programs to fit regional industry needs and student demographics.
• Ways institutions use data to identify students with the most urgent needs and the resources in highest demand.
• The role of advisers, mentors, and “near peers” in individualized support.
• How political pressure has created hurdles for some targeted support efforts.

Date: September 2026
Pages: 42
Digital file size: 3.99 MB

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