ACCESS works to ensure that all young people have the financial information and resources necessary to find an affordable path to - and through - a postsecondary education. To accomplish this mission, ACCESS provides free financial aid advice and advocacy to all the students of Boston and Springfield to help them overcome the financial barriers to higher education. Our programs work with students and their families from middle school to high school through college graduation, ensuring that finances never get in the way of potential. ACCESS has helped students secure more than $150 million in financial aid in the last three years alone and has awarded more than $5 million in need-based last dollar scholarships since our founding, maintaining a 75% college graduation rate for the students we serve.

In Boston, ACCESS serves the community through four innovative programs. We begin with the Community Engagement Program whereby we partner with community organizations to enhance their college access programming. We follow that with the High School Advising Program, which places expert financial aid advisors in each of Boston’s public high schools, two charter schools and one parochial school to offer intensive one on one guidance and advocacy to high school students so that each can get the most out his or her financial aid package. For those seniors who still face a financial gap after receiving their award letters, ACCESS provides critical, need-based Last Dollar Scholarships. And finally, with the Postsecondary Success Program we follow our ACCESS Scholars throughout their college careers, providing advice and support so that no financial obstacles prevent them from graduating.

Through partnerships with high schools, community organizations and local universities, ACCESS has helped more than 50,000 students achieve their dream of higher education.