Adams State University is making significant progress in attracting first-generation students to the campus. Because of that, it was recognized by the nonprofit Strive for College for excellence in Inclusion, Diversity, and Affordability, for low-income and students who are the first in their family to pursue higher education.

Despite high aspirations, this group continues to be severely underrepresented on college campuses. While over 80 percent of such students have expectations of going to college in the tenth grade, only 20 percent will earn a bachelor’s degree by the age of 25.

ASU is one of the top universities in the country working to change this trend. Strive for College’s “Strive Five” distinctions are a set of data-based measures of actual performance in five key areas that demonstrate a tangible commitment to students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.

The “Strive Five” categories are:

  • Inclusion – greater than 25% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, meaning at least 1 in 4 students come from a low-income family. Nationally, 32% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants across all postsecondary institutions.
  • Diversity – greater than 40% of undergraduates are Black, Latino, or Native American. 40% approximates the national average of undergraduates from underrepresented minority groups across all postsecondary institutions.
  • Affordability – Colleges with a net price of less than $13,500 for low-income students, approximately the national average net price for students from households with incomes between $0 and $30,000 who received Title IV federal financial aid across all four-year institutions.
  • Completion – Colleges that meet or exceed the national averages for Retention (greater than 81% first-year to second-year retention rate)  AND  Graduation (greater than 51% six-year graduation rate for Pell Grant recipients.)
  • Outcomes – greater than 25% of graduates who were from the bottom fifth of incomes as students and moved to the top fifth as adults, meaning they have among the highest percentage of students who both came from a lower-income family and ended up a higher-income adult.

Colleges that partner with Strive for College and meet the criteria for at least one “Strive Five” distinction are awarded a customized badge to highlight their exceptional achievements.

Adams State University is dedicated to fostering Inclusive Excellence, recognizing that the University’s success depends on valuing, engaging and celebrating the rich diversity of its students, staff, faculty and administrators. Since its inception in 1921 followed by the first cornerstone laid in 1923, ASU grew from a teachers’ college into a distinguished liberal arts university. Adams State is the first federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution in Colorado and is the Regional Education Provider for southern Colorado. Today, students can earn a bachelor’s degree in 16 different academic programs, with nearly 60 emphases, five teacher licensure programs, and 10 pre-professional programs, in addition to seven master’s degrees and 1 doctoral degree offered in Counselor Education.

About Strive for College

Strive for College was founded in 2007 by Michael J. Carter, then a student at Washington University in St. Louis, to help acutely underserved area high school students apply to college and navigate financial aid.  College students volunteered as in-person mentors for high school students, and mentored students achieved substantially better college go-on rates than their non-mentored peers. Strive for College grew to become a respected college access organization doing in-person mentoring across the country.  Delivering its mentoring service at sufficient scale to make a meaningful impact on the national college access problem soon became Strive’s biggest challenge, which led to the development and launch of UStrive in 2014 to connect aspiring college students with free one-on-one online mentoring through the entire college admissions and financial aid application process.

After merging with the Center for Student Opportunity in 2016, Strive for College now runs ImFirst.org and publishes the “I’m First! Guide to College” in support of first-generation college students, and partners with colleges and universities to promote and strengthen their efforts on behalf of these students.

Learn more at www.striveforcollege.org.