Summary:
A fundraiser to support the higher education dream of 6  low-income first generation learners.

Fundraiser’s context:
We are a group of Teach For India alumni who taught 75 wonderful boys from “Govt Boys School, Saidapet (Chennai)” for 2 years between grades 5th and 9th. Those formative years shaped our perspective on educational inequities in low-income communities and got us personally invested in contributing to the long-term outcomes for these students. Even as we moved on to do other things with our careers, We thought extensively about the best way to contribute to these students' long-term life outcomes. We realised that intervening post their 12th-grade exams seemed to be the most impactful as these students did not have a clear awareness of the varied career pathways available and lacked personalised career guidance/support during this formative period which resulted in sub-optimal decisions based on the limited choices available to them. We felt that a personalized intervention attacking this problem will help them make informed school to college/career choices.

Program Details:
In order to execute our idea, one of our fellow alumni took a career sabbatical to execute a school-to-college/career pathway program for these students. We designed a comprehensive curriculum that tailors to the needs of 30+ students who voluntarily enrolled as part of this program. Our objective is to build awareness about varied degrees, scholarships, and career pathways for the enrolled students. We also bring in external volunteers who provide career development expertise through workshops on building a CV, LinkedIn profiles, and also developing a statement of purpose. We are attaching a few sample LinkedIn profiles and CV’s that students created as part of this program.

Student Context:
We learned about the family situation of these students whose studies were severely affected by the pandemic experience during the last two years through our interaction during the program. 100% of the students  we work with are first-generation graduates in their families. Thanks to their persistence and our support, 90% of the students have secured admissions in varied colleges in Chennai to pursue diverse courses such as B.Sc Computer Science, B.Com, etc. We also learned that few students (6), who are first-generation college graduates, are supported only by a single parent financially in order to pursue 3-year degrees. These students among 30+ students are the most vulnerable group who are desperately in need of financial support to pursue their career.

Based on the extensive data we collected from students who secured admission from various colleges in Chennai, this is the total amount of money required to support these students' entire college education. We have also attached a spreadsheet that provides detailed information and provides links to their admissions and other details.
 
Why are we intervening?
The findings of a few recent research studies confirm the huge difference in educational attainment between first-generation students and their counterparts which can be attributed to their location, category, family income, academic achievement, stream of education, and social and cultural capital. These are pertinent factors that influence the educational attainment of first-generation students. We are running this fundraiser campaign to support these single-parent first-generation students who are pursuing their college degrees which will potentially be their biggest shot at attaining economic mobility. Any contributions you make for these students will definitely increase the odds of them succeeding. We will consistently update you about their academic experiences in the upcoming months/years.

Thank you and hope that you will be able to support their dreams!

Best Regards
Saidapet Boys Team
Maharaja M, NTR Swamy, Balaji A, Bharathwaj MS,
Sethuraman TA, and Kiran Lal