UPchieve is on a mission to make free academic support available to all students. Low-income students face many barriers when it comes to accessing affordable tutoring and college counseling, which prevents them from reaching their full potential. UPchieve has helped thousands of students overcome those challenges and land a spot at top universities. Learn more about their work to end educational inequity here!
What is the story behind UPchieve?
UPchieve was founded by Aly Murray in 2016. Raised by a single mom who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba, Aly knows the obstacles facing low-income middle and high school students. Her experience as a low-income student inspired Aly to build UPchieve and democratize access to academic support. UPchieve’s mission is to provide all underserved middle and high school students in the U.S. with free, on-demand tutoring and college counseling.
How does educational inequity affect student achievement?
More than half of low-income students who are also high-achieving don’t apply to institutions of higher education that are a strong academic match. Only 9% of students whose families fall into the bottom income bracket get a bachelor’s degree by 24, vs. 77% of those in the top income bracket. Tutoring fees can range from $20-$100 per hour for SAT and ACT prep, and college admissions consulting has an average cost of $5,000. Approximately a quarter of the wealthiest students attend a top college, while less than half of students in the bottom fifth income percentile attend any college at all.
How does UPchieve’s platform work?
UPchieve makes free online tutoring available to middle and high school students 24/7. Students can request help in over 20 subjects and get paired with a live volunteer tutor in under 5 minutes. Subjects include math ranging from Algebra 1 to AP calculus, science courses including physics and chemistry, history, essay help, college counseling, and more. UPchieve also recruits, trains, and certifies volunteers to be effective academic coaches. So far, UPchieve has provided over 95,000 hours of online tutoring to low-income middle and high school students.
How has UPchieve helped students?
Mathematica conducted a study on UPchieve which found that students improved their scores on Star Math—a national math assessment—by approximately 9 percentile rank points after an average of 9 UPchieve tutoring sessions. 97% of students agree that UPchieve helped improve their course grades, 93% of students agree that UPchieve helped them accomplish their academic goals, and 90% of students agree that UPchieve helped them perform better on their homework.