College Possible, the national nonprofit dedicated to improving college access and success by students from low-income backgrounds, will use a $1 million grant from the CRM software firm Salesforce to expand its student support programming.
Founded in 2000, College Possible employs a unique model that connects high school and college students with “near-peer” coaches who guide them through a curriculum designed to help surmount barriers that often prevent them from attending and completing college. The organization trains and deploys AmeriCorps service members as its near-peer coaches.
The program serves students during their junior and senior years of high school. Most of the participants are in the “academic middle,” with grade point averages between 2.0 and 3.5. To be eligible, they also must meet financial requirements for Pell Grant eligibility.
Students attend after-school sessions led by the coaches twice a week in a group of other college-bound peers. Coaches, who typically serve somewhere between 20-60 students at a participating school, implement an interactive curriculum that includes topics like finding a best-fit college, improving academic preparation, making financial plans, submitting applications, and navigating enrollment successfully.
Students are encouraged to find five “best fit” schools they would like to attend. Those who enroll in college continue to receive support from their coaches after they graduate from high school all they way through postsecondary degree completion.
Since its beginning, College Possible has become one of the largest college access and success organizations in the U.S., growing from one office in St. Paul, Minnesota to eight regional sites nationwide — in Minnesota, Chicago, Omaha, Texas, Philadelphia, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The program has now supported more than 93,000 students through its near-peer coaching model. Annually, it works with nearly 25,000 high school and college students from underserved backgrounds. All of its funding comes from AmeriCorps, private foundations, and individual donors.
Over the next three years, College Possible will use the new Salesforce investment to scale its services in three areas:
Strengthening High School Partnerships. Expanding and revitalizing partnerships with high schools to recruitment more students into its College Access Program, providing students with high-touch access and success guidance.
Removing Barriers to Workforce Readiness. College Possible will introduce new career-building programming such as resume building, cover letter writing, finding an internship, and preparing for interviews. It will transition this curriculum into a video format to help students prepare for and build early career experiences as they navigate the path from high school to college and the workforce.
Using AI to Scale Student Support. The grant will enable College Possible to integrate AI technologies into student-coach interactions, making them more seamless and enhancing their personalized focus. The integration of AI, which is being developed entirely with College Possible’s own data base, will reduce administrative burdens and allow coaches to concentrate on engaging directly with students.
“With rising costs, declining enrollment, and mounting confusion surrounding the financial aid process, millions of students from low-income and underserved communities are at a critical juncture in their educational and career paths,” said Dr. Siva Kumari, College Possible’s CEO since 2023, in a news release. “This work is about removing those barriers and ensuring students not only make it to college but thrive in their journey, with the skills and preparation needed to succeed in life beyond the degree.”
In a recent phone interview, Kumari told me that the program expansion would occur within College Possible’s 8-site footprint. “What we want to do is two things — dive deeper into existing partner high schools to bring more students into the program, and add similar schools at our existing sites,” she said.
The work of College Possible is becoming more urgent, as colleges and universities prepare to deal with an enrollment cliff, which will see the number of graduating high-school seniors begin to decline after this year.
The aim of College Possible programming is to help close such gaps in college access and completion. Kumari believes the grant from Salesforce, which was made following an internal RFP process, is “an endorsement of our model and a reward for 25 years of working to get underserved students into college.”
College Possible has a proven track record of success. For example, one randomized trial study of the program involving 238 students found that it significantly increased applications to college and that initial enrollment at four-year colleges was 15 percentage points higher for program participants than nonparticipants.
“Right now, as too many low-income students face new barriers to accessing college, completing their education, and building meaningful careers, we’re reminded that we’re just beginning to tap into the potential of AI and other emerging technologies to expand opportunity,” said Suzanne DiBianca, executive vice president and chief impact officer at Salesforce.
“This grant is a testament to what’s possible when social sector organizations embrace innovation—not just to scale what works, but to build a future where every student, no matter their background, has a real shot at success,” she added.