Frequently asked questions

Answered by a team member at 10000 Degrees

• What is your mission?

  To achieve educational equity and to support students from low-income backgrounds to and through college to realize their full potential and positively impact their communities and the world.

• How are donations used?

  10,000 Degrees provides a comprehensive pipeline of programs and resources to help students access, enroll and successfully complete college. All of our programs serve students from low-income households and many of our participants are the first in their family to enroll in college. Alumni return to serve as mentors, staff, Board and ambassadors. This innovative and successful pipeline of programs is generously funded by individuals, corporations, and foundations and provided in partnership with local schools and districts as well as local community based organizations.

• What can be done with a $100 donation?

  We envision a world where all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background will have the full range of educational opportunities, support, and resources to realize their full potential.
  Your donation can make an impact in multiple ways including funding scholarships, student workshops and programs, near-peer mentoring, and programs supporting career success and internships.

• What progress has been made already thanks to your donors?

  10,000 Degrees makes the impossible possible: 92 percent of our students are the first in their family to go to college, and more than 80 percent of our college students graduate with 87 percent less student loan debt than the national average. And each year, we provide 4,200+ college students with $86M in scholarships + support, and help them leverage $42.3M in free financial aid. Our comprehensive set of programs include college pathways preparation; college success advising; scholarships and financial advising; community college transfer support; career and graduate school readiness; alumni and career success – and much more.

  The result? Student success and an impact that scales. And college graduates that go on to change the world.

• What is the history of your organization?

  10,000 Degrees is unlocking student success at scale by giving more students
  equitable opportunities for a quality college education and career success. 10,000 Degrees brings a proven model, data-driven outcomes, and a seasoned leadership team to create educational opportunities for students from low-income backgrounds. Through our proven experience from working with more than 59,000 students across 250 colleges over the past 42 years and with the most efficient and effective college success model in the U.S., we are helping to break the cycle of generational poverty and create a positive ripple effect in the lives of our students and their communities for generations to come.

  Getting to and through college has never been more complex, but for students of low-income backgrounds, inherent biases make it even more impossible to get ahead – let alone even apply to college. 10,000 Degrees solves this Education Opportunity Divide not by just focusing on the select few, but by providing a wider range of students from low-income backgrounds expansive opportunities at every stage of their college journey. We shift the focus from limited college access to holistic college success – with an emphasis on whole communities, life preparedness, and wrap-around support geared for each student.