In 2024–25 alone, uAspire reached more than 1.5 million students nationwide, helped unlock $292 million in financial aid, and advanced policies that make higher education more equitable, transparent, and accessible.

Our newly released 2024–25 Impact Report highlights the students, partners, and systems that make this work possible and the future we’re building together.

Explore the report.

Launching Affordable Futures is an early awareness college affordability workshop series for students and their families, complete with turn-key workshop content and facilitator preparation guides. This outcomes-based curriculum is divided into bite-sized and developmentally conscious workshops for middle school and high school-aged students.

We hope these resources empower students and their families to successfully navigate their financial futures and pursue an affordable path forward.

Learn more and access the curriculum.

More info is available on our website,  including the application link.

The application deadline is midnight local time on Thursday, September 9, 2021.

If you have any questions, you can reach out to uAspire VP of Policy, Ali Caccavella at ali@uaspire.org.

Who: 18+ years old, undergraduate. Pell-recipient or DACA/TPS, full or part-time students with at least 2-semesters credit in CA, MA, NY and PA. Interested in policy and advocacy on college affordability. People of color, first-generation, working, returning-to-college and other under-represented college students are encouraged to apply!

What: $1,000 stipend for roughly 60-hour commitment including training, research, individual and group projects for advocacy communication campaigns at local and national level.

Where: Entirely virtual engagement with teammates from California, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. Requires access to internet and laptop with video camera for web-conferencing.

When: September 22 – December 17, 2020. Weekly sessions on Tuesdays and six Thursdays from 4:00-5:00 ET/1:00-2:00 PT for training, regional working groups, and a national campaign. Independent coaching and team meetings to be scheduled as needed to complete advocacy deliverables.

Learn more and apply by August 31, 2020: https://www.uaspire.org/News-Events/Application-for-Fall-2020-Student-Advocacy-Fellows

Beyond the College Bill: The Hidden Hurdles of Indirect Expenses examines how colleges calculate and communicate indirect expenses, how students struggle to understand and afford them, and the impact on students. The study draws on primary and secondary research, along with data analysis from over 800 colleges and the lived experiences of more than 150 students.

Read the report: https://www.uaspire.org/report/beyond-the-college-bill?utm_source=uAspire+Policy+Team%3A+Beyond+the+Bill+Briefing+Invitees+%28do+not+add+to+SF%29&utm_campaign=cf92463433-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_04_12_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a476e86210-cf92463433-215976264

Through a paid fellowship program, uAspire aims to help college students build advocacy skills that influence policy leaders to create the change they want to see in higher education affordability.

Students are the primary consumers of higher education, so their expertise should drive policy changes!

Core Issue: 
Books, transportation, food, housing and other indirect expenses make up over 50% of the total costs to complete a college degree, but they are not made transparent for students. We seek to engage current college students to share their stories and ideas about the critical importance of this issue with government offices, regulators, and institutional leaders.

Objective: 
uAspire’s fellowship program is designed for 10 to 12 college students who have themselves experienced challenges navigating indirect expenses while pursuing their degree or credential. Fellows will receive training and professional development on how to advocate for change, how to navigate policy processes, how to prepare their story, as well as how to position themselves and build relationships with influential people and policy makers.

For more information, requirements, and to apply, click here.

Through this research partnership, we analyzed thousands of financial aid award letters and found not only that financial aid is insufficient to cover the cost of college for many students, but also the vehicle by which this information is communicated—the award letter—lacks basic consistency and transparency. This study found seven common ways these letters fail to adequately inform students and families as they make decisions about investing in their own higher education:

• Confusing Jargon and Terminology
• Omission of the Cost
• No Clear Next Steps
• Inconsistent Bottom Line Calculations
• Vague Definitions and Poor Placement of Work-Study
• Misleading Packaging of Parent PLUS Loans
• Failure to Differentiate Types of Aid

Following up on our Chief Policy Officer Laura Keane’s testimony in front of the U.S. Senate HELP Committee in January and based on these findings, we believe there is an opportunity for federal, state and institutional parties to enact systems-level change by standardizing these award letters and making them more transparent for the consumer, our nation’s students and families. At uAspire, we plan to leverage this research and over 30 years of experience working directly with students, to advocate for these changes with policymakers in government and on the institutional level to ensure our country’s financial aid systems help rather than hinder students’ ability to earn a college degree.

Thank you for your continued support of our work. We will be in touch about ways you can help us advance these important, student-centered changes so that all students in our country can find an affordable path to and through college.

Read more: https://www.uaspire.org/News-Events/uAspire-and-New-America-Release-Decoding-the-Cost

Report: https://www.uaspire.org/BlankSite/media/uaspire/Decoding-the-Cost-of-College.pdf

Working with students, we see how difficult and stressful it can be to pay the college bill and manage college costs, especially for students from low-income families. Increasingly, we see students leave college without a degree because they cannot afford to stay.

What can be done on a broad scale to improve the financial well-being of college students, and reduce their risk of dropping out? “Affording to Finish” recommends several solutions by:

• Identifying the financial challenges low-income students face and innovative strategies to address them
  Highlighting 11 case studies, “Promising Practices Profiles,” of pilots implemented by colleges to promote student financial well-being and completion
• Reviewing an expanded list of related resources for further exploration

uAspire would like to thank MetLife Foundation for its generous support of our research and the convening. We greatly appreciate the convening attendees for their participation, contributions, and continued efforts to help students afford to finish.

We hope you gain new insight from this report, and encourage you to share it with your colleagues and networks.

https://www.uaspire.org/news/report-improving-students-financial-health-college-completion