Virtual advising at scale

Research published in 2013 by Carolyn Hoxby (Stanford University) and Christopher Avery (Harvard University) found that thousands of high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds were not attending America’s top colleges despite being qualified to do so. The study found that each year, there are at least 35,000 of these students, who lack the information and support they need to apply to top colleges. These students are dispersed in low concentrations across the country, in small cities and towns, often outside the reach of conventional brick and mortar college access organizations. This issue is exacerbated by the nation’s high counselor to student ratio of over 400:1. 

As a result, these high achieving, low-income students often end up at less selective local colleges, where they take on greater student debt burdens and face a lower likelihood of graduating. We know that the effect of attending a leading college or university is substantial in college–new academic opportunities abound and students see a gain in social capital–and beyond, with graduates earning, on average, $600K more over the course of their lifetimes than those who do not attend a selective college. This disparity between the number of high-achieving, low-income students who would be qualified to attend these institutions and those who actually apply–a phenomenon called “undermatching”--means that these students miss out on a chance to move out of poverty and trailblaze pathways of success for themselves and their families.

Matriculate identifies high-achieving, low-income high school students who lack quality advising and connects them with a highly-trained, near-peer college advisor. A student can sign up for Matriculate advising via an online form in just 5 minutes. Matriculate recruits high school students through various streams and partnerships, with the most frequent stream being word-of-mouth. We have also built partnerships with organizations that serve students that might benefit from Matriculate’s services, such as the College Board and AVID, a nationally-recognized college and career readiness program. After a high school student enrolls, we match these students with undergraduate advisors, paying special attention to their backgrounds as well as academic interests. Matriculate has developed a 31-part curriculum that starts from bringing a high school student on board to the advising experience, through building a college list, applying to colleges, scholarships, and financial aid, gaining admission, and enrolling in their college of choice.

Our students receive advising through virtual meetings facilitated by video-conferencing services like Zoom, Google Meets, or FaceTime, and all of the materials they might need are accessible via an online database. All along the application journey, our Advising Fellows develop strong relationships with up to four High School Fellows, ensuring they get to know their students personally.  In addition to advising, our high school students have the opportunity to engage with Matriculate staff through regular office hours, webinars, and staffed hotlines. Our near-peer model engenders trust that our advisors are knowledgeable sources of information, as they recently went through the college admissions process themselves. Matriculate trains Advising Fellows for over 40 hours over the course of their term, including an on-campus orientation and virtual trainings as their term proceeds and oriented toward specific topics as their High School Fellows continue through the application process. We further support their skill and career development by providing them connections to employer partners through internship placements, professional development panels, and workshops.

Matriculate reaches low-to-moderate-income, high-achieving high school juniors and seniors– “High School Fellows,”--across the country who lack access to high-quality, in-person college advising. Many of our students live outside urban centers where traditional college access organizations operate and lack robust 1-1 advising. As a result, talented students hold misconceptions around the college process and do not have the accurate information, role models and resources they need to attend a college that is right for them. In the class of 2024 we are reaching over over 3,000 students, including 72% who will be the first in their families to attend college and 61% who are underrepresented students of color.

In total, Matriculate has provided free, virtual college advising to 14K students from the high school classes of 2016 onward and will be working with over 7,600 students in the next year alone. Our advising model has been evaluated and is proven to be effective. We are incredibly proud to have statistically significant randomized controlled trial (RCT) results early into our work through a study conducted by University of Virginia Professor Ben Castleman in connection with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ CollegePoint Initiative. Matriculate generated a 24% increase in attendance at top colleges (Barron’s 1 institutions) relative to the control group of students. This study also found that over 90% of Matriculate students are persisting into the fall of their second year. 

We know that access to a high quality college application can have significant effects on life outcomes, with students who attend more selective colleges earning more over the course of their lifetimes than those who do not. Building on this success, we will continue to replicate this gold-standard college advising model as we scale. 

Matriculate's CEO and President, Craig Robinson, is a veteran nonprofit leader and passionate advocate for equity in education. Craig leverages his 25+ years of experience at the forefront of college access initiatives to help us scale, and deliver best-in-class support for our advisors and high school students. For nearly a decade, he was the national director of KIPP Through College (now KIPP Forward), which has helped 20,000 high school graduates navigate the academic, social, and financial challenges of applying to and attending college. 

Matriculate is a youth-led solution addressing the national college undermatching problem. By Leveraging near-peer networks of support, we are creating a sustainable engine of change. During their 18-month fellowship, our undergraduate advisors train for over 40 hours and master giving and receiving constructive feedback, become accustomed to managing complex timelines and deliverables, develop agendas, and forge effective virtual relationships. They are value-driven leaders who are strong relationship-builders and show empathy to their high school students, making them strong candidates for a breadth of roles after college.

In 2021, Matriculate conducted a qualitative study by Katie Lynk Wartman, PhD. to better understand our near-peer relationship model. Dr. Wartman found that undergraduate advisors build authentic and trusting relationships with their high school students, making them uniquely positioned to influence high school students’ college application and enrollment decisions. Moreover, Dr. Wartman found that through this relationship, college students transfer a kind of social capital to their high school student: "Students see their relationships with advisors as authentic—this leads to a high level of trust which in turn creates relationships that have social capital.” Each year, we see an increased share of high school student alumni returning as advisors to give back to the next generation of low-income young people.

This year we are reaching over 7,000 talented high school students across the United States. To do this, we are parenting with over 2,000 diverse and mission-driven undergraduates at colleges and universities nationwide. In total, we have provided over 15,000 high schoolers with our free, virtual college advising program. We have built and refined our model based on qualitative and quantitative research and consistent feedback from our high school and undergraduate student constituents. As a result, our model is proven and has received randomized controlled trial results demonstrating a statistically significant impact on college enrollments. With these accomplishments and track record, we are ready to scale, increase efficiencies, and double down on our impact for talented students. 

Matriculate is at a critical tipping point. We are ready to scale, create efficiencies, and find and serve the students who need our support the most. We are proud to have received gold-standard proof of impact and ready to replicate these results for the maximum number of students. To do this successfully, we require subject matter expertise, new partnerships to source high school students and college students nationwide, branding and marketing support, and the right level of tech and infrastructure to take our work to the next level.

Matriculate is the only advising organization with a completely virtual near-peer model with gold-standard proof of impact. At a projected 4,000+ students served in the Class of 2025, Matriculate is serving over 10% of the addressable market–and growing. We synergize rigorous relationship-building and the flexibility of our virtual model to reach students–including those in small towns and rural areas across the country–anytime, anywhere. We provide comprehensive advising support where it's needed most: many of our rural and suburban students lack robust in-person guidance at their schools, and live far from urban centers that often serve as hotbeds for college recruitment efforts.

Matriculate connects students who lack high-quality college advising to highly trained undergraduate college advisors–completely virtually. By filling urgent gaps in college advising across the United States, Matriculate is increasing college access and equity for deserving students and in the long term creating economic opportunity for themselves and their communities. Our tech driven solution ensures that students can access our free support anytime, anywhere.

In the coming year we will continue to scale our program to reach more students, better. We will do this by growing the number of students we reach to at least 4,000 in each graduating class and by doubling down on our impact to ensure our students are not just going on to match colleges, but continuing to excel in their careers. We will deepen our evaluation efforts as well by continuing to track students’ enrollments in high graduation rate colleges, deepen our social emotional learning and capital outcomes, and understand our impact on undergraduates. We measure towards the following:

• Number of students reached 

• Randomized controlled trial 

• Internal survey results

Matriculate Is proud to demonstrate that meaningful relationships are not only possible virtually, but that they hold great promise as pathways of equity and inclusion for the next generation. To this end, we leverage accessible technology at every level.

To foster 1:1 relationships with students and advisors, we leverage:

• Video conferencing, including FaceTime, Google Meet, and Zoom

• Phone and e-messaging apps, including mass-SMS, YAMM, and MailChimp

To deliver and monitor learning content, we leverage:

• Webinar and content broadcasting apps, including YouTube and Vimeo
• Databases and CRMs, including Salesforce, Airtable, Drive, and Dropbox
• Survey collection tools, including Airtable and Google Forms
• AI integrations, including Twilio and SM Apply

To build a national student support network, we leverage:

• Social networking platforms, including Discord, Instagram, Facebook, HootSuite, Twitter, Tiktok, and Slack

To evaluate and share our impact with our partners, we leverage:

• CRM including Salesforce NPSP and Airtabe
• Gift processing systems including PayPal, Benevity, and NPOConnect
• Nonprofit impact and success platforms, including Candid GuideStar and Google Business Profile

• 39 full time staff members 
• Approximately 2,000 undergraduate advisors 
• 5 interns 
• 8 part-time consultant roles 

Matriculate has operated since 2014. 

Matriculate is committed to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace by actively employing strategies that ensure the team is representative, minimizes barriers to opportunity, and fosters a welcoming environment for all. For example:

• Hiring and professional development: Matriculate adheres to diverse hiring practices, focusing on attracting talent from diverse backgrounds, including historically marginalized groups, to enrich the organization's perspectives and approaches. Staff are encouraged and financially supported to pursue further education and certifications that enhance their professional capabilities and contributions to the organization.

• Culture and policies: Matriculate is intentional with adhering to inclusive culture and policies, offering org-wide regular DEI training, currently being developed by Matriculate’s DEI working group.

• Feedback: Matriculate is a feedback driven organization. We provide open communication channels, ensuring staff have ample opportunities to express concerns and provide feedback on workplace culture and policies. This includes regular surveys, monthly all-staff meetings and office hours with the CEO.

• Flexibility: Matriculate offers flexible working arrangements, recognizing the different needs of its diverse workforce, Matriculate offers flexible working hours and the option for remote work where possible.