To college.

To career.

To thrive.

Only 44% of students from the lowest-income families enroll in college, compared to 79% from the highest-income families.

For those who do enroll, just 21% of first-generation college students from low-income backgrounds earn a bachelor’s degree within six years — a stark contrast to 66% among their more resourced peers.
 
And it doesn't stop there.

Internships are key to building a strong college and career journey. They help students gain experience, expand networks, and boost their chances of landing full-time jobs after graduation. Paid interns get 1.6 job offers on average, compared to 0.9 for unpaid interns and 0.8 for those with no internship experience.
 
Yet, up to 50% of internships are unpaid, making them inaccessible to many students from under-resourced communities.

63% of college students without internship experience said they wanted one but couldn’t afford to take unpaid roles or didn’t know how to find one.

For those who do earn their bachelor’s degree, the challenges continue. More than half of recent grads are unemployed or underemployed after one year, working in jobs that don’t require a college degree and earning about $30,000 less per year than they could be.

Meanwhile, employers are struggling, too: 75% of companies report difficulty hiring full-time employees, and nearly 50% say they’re having trouble retaining talent.

No single solution is enough to drive college and career success and democratize access for all students to create a life where their ambition, talent, and passion can match endlessly with opportunity and choice.

This is exactly why our six-year, multi-dimensional Fellows program for students from under-resourced communities across New York City integrates individualized support for students to and through college — from college tours to financial aid guidance to selecting a major to tracking graduation requirements — with five summers of paid, resume-building internships and enrichment experiences. All of this runs alongside robust opportunities to engage with a variety of industry professionals that lead to an early network of support for career growth. This is also why 98% of OppNet Fellows graduate from college, 93% of whom will be the first in their family to do so, and 91% secure jobs that align with their career interests or admission into graduate school within six months of college graduation.