For many students, receiving a college acceptance letter represents the culmination of years of hard work. Yet, staying enrolled through graduation often requires overcoming financial, academic, and personal challenges that can make earning a degree feel out of reach.
A recent report from Trellis Strategies, highlighted by Inside Higher Ed, sheds light on why so many students “stop out” of college before earning a degree. While academic performance is often assumed to be the primary reason students leave, the report found that financial pressures, work obligations, family responsibilities, and mental health challenges are among the most common barriers to persistence. One of the report’s most concerning findings is that 71 percent of students who stopped out never spoke with a faculty or staff member before making the decision to leave college. Without trusted guidance, many students face difficult circumstances alone and may not realize that support is available.
College Possible Minnesota was built to help students overcome these very challenges.
Through its college and high school coaching programs, College Possible Minnesota provides individualized support that extends beyond high school graduation and throughout students’ college journeys. Coaches build meaningful relationships with students, offering consistent encouragement while helping them navigate financial aid renewals, course registration, academic planning, campus resources, and unexpected life challenges. Rather than waiting until a crisis occurs, coaches proactively check in with students throughout the academic year, ensuring they have someone they know and trust when obstacles arise.
This relationship-centered approach directly addresses many of the barriers identified in the Trellis report. Students often balance coursework alongside employment, caregiving responsibilities, and financial uncertainty. Having a dedicated coach who understands those realities can make the difference between feeling isolated and feeling empowered to ask for help. Coaches connect students with campus support services, encourage self-advocacy, and help students develop strategies to persist through difficult moments. Furthermore, College Possible’s emergency funds for students, including programmatic and financial support for nontraditional students such as student parents, assist first-generation students through the unexpected financial and emotional turmoil of both college and young adulthood. As a result of our efforts, College Possible Minnesota boasts a 75% 6-year graduation rate and 81% of our alumni are employed full-time, which is particularly pertinent to first-generation college graduates.
The report also found an encouraging trend: even after stopping out, many students continue to believe that earning a college degree is worthwhile and hope to return one day. That optimism reflects what College Possible Minnesota sees every day. Students have the talent, ambition, and resilience to succeed; they simply need equitable access to the guidance and resources that help them stay on track.
By investing in personalized coaching, trusted relationships, and long-term student success, College Possible Minnesota is helping reduce barriers to college completion. Every coaching conversation, resource connection, and milestone celebrated reinforces the organization’s commitment to ensuring that first-generation and students from low-income backgrounds not only enroll in college but graduate with the confidence, knowledge, and support needed to achieve their goals.
Want to invest in an organization that’s working to increase the graduation rate across Minnesota and ensure students have the resources they need to thrive? Make a gift to College Possible Minnesota and join a community that’s dedicated to student success.
