ACCESS Receives
Special Honor

ACCESS is proud to announce that it has received this year’s Champion of ACCESS award from the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM) at their recent Annual Dinner for its success in increasing college access for low-income students in Boston and Springfield.

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Overview

ACCESS works to ensure that all young people have the financial information and resources necessary to achieve their dream of a higher education. Through strategic partnerships with high schools, community organizations and local universities, ACCESS raises awareness about college affordability, guides students and families through the financial aid process, and helps academically prepared students secure the resources they need to achieve a college degree. Since its founding in 1985, ACCESS has provided financial aid advising and scholarships to thousands of students, helping them realize their higher education goals and giving them a better foundation for a successful and productive future.


ACCESS operations are funded, in part, through an endowment established by the original group of founders and added to by corporations, foundations and individuals in subsequent years. The endowment now stands at more than $13 million. Leading contributors included: New England Mutual Life, The Boston Foundation, and the Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation.

ACCESS currently operates programs in Boston and Springfield, MA. 

Since its inception in 1985, ACCESS has:
  • Provided financial aid information to more than 40,000 students.
  • Helped students secure tens of millions of dollars in grants, loans, and scholarships.
  • Awarded more than $4 million in Last Dollar Scholarships to some 4,000 students.

During the 2008-2009 school year, ACCESS:
  • Served more students than ever before in its Senior Advising, and Postsecondary programs.
  • ACCESS Advisors provided more than 9,000 one-to-one advising sessions to 2,329 Boston high school seniors, securing more than $45 million in financial aid.
  • Returned $57 in grants, scholarships, and loans on every dollar invested in advising programs.
  • At the request of city and school leaders, ACCESS expanded its advising and scholarship programs to Springfield, Massachusetts! This is the first time the organization has expanded outside of Boston.
  • In December 2008, conducted a survey with the help of the National Student Clearinghouse of 250 Boston Public School students from the class of 2000 who worked with an ACCESS Advisor and received an ACCESS Last Dollar Scholarship and found that 75% received a two or four year postsecondary degree within seven years, more than twice the college graduation rate of the entire Boston Public Schools.
  • In June of last year, was awarded an Out of the Blue grant by the Boston Foundation in recognition of“exceptional leadership” in the Boston nonprofit sector. The Boston Foundation awards this grant on a quarterly basis – unsolicited and unrestricted – to a single area nonprofit.
  • Was named a Social Innovator for our unique and effective programs by the Social Innovation Forum, an organization that highlights promising approaches to addressing specific social problems, in their college access track sponsored by the Highland Street Foundation.

 

Learn more about ACCESS programs here.