Tech Toolkit: Helping Low-Income and First-Gen Students Reach Graduation

We’re facing a challenge of national proportions: only 20 percent of low-income college students graduate with a bachelor’s degree within six years. But through the Dell Scholars model, our full-time staff of four offers individualized… Read more »

Applying new solutions to old problems in college success

Summer melt is a well-known concept among those who work with students in college success. Harvard University defines it like this: “Across the country, 10–40 percent of seemingly college-intending students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, fail to enroll in college the fall after graduation.” Every year, our team at the Dell Scholars Program works to prevent summer melt in each new class of students.

Beating the odds to college completion: Bilal’s story

I have been working at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s Dell Scholars Program for six years, and I’ve met many incredible students. They are all truly remarkable in their own ways and because of their own paths. I want to introduce you to one of our new Dell Scholars who has already begun to beat the odds.

Beating the odds in college completion: Alejandra’s story

Perseverance. Grit. Determination. These are three common traits of the students who make up the Dell Scholars Program. Our students have overcome many obstacles in their lives from homelessness to single-parent homes to financial insecurity, to name a few. But they rise to these challenges and find ways to overcome them to make it to and through college.