College Promise

05/20/2026

📢 Calling all Educators and Promise Leaders! Get ready for Intuit 's Virtual Educator Conference.

Here’s to making today’s generation the most financially confident yet.

You’re invited to a half-day of supercharged professional development where you’ll get the ready-to-use tools you need to teach real money skills — without the prep work. And that’s not all…

⚡We’ve got an electric lineup of peer-led sessions — designed for educators by educators. Plus, special presentations powered by leading organizations in financial education to share their latest resources, practices, and strategies.

🔓Come unlock the power of financial education.
📅 Mark your calendars for June 23.

Register here: https://intuit.me/4tBFXJd

Get all of the tools and training that are needed to teach financial education throughout every stage of the journey at Intuit for Education’s Virtual Educator Conference. Register today for this Free Event.

05/19/2026

🚀Career Corner

Fostering and maintaining talent connections is vital to aligning education and workforce efforts and goals. 💡

Here’s how to get started:

1. Build from your institution’s strength, size, and regional influence
2. Design with the student in mind
3. Identify the largest degree programs and institutional strengths
4. Create aligned opportunities for programs without obvious pipelines
5. Establish an advisory or talent connections board to sustain momentum

Click the link below to learn more from College Promise’s Career Acceleration Playbook.👇
https://bit.ly/4ewS3z6

05/18/2026

💡 Insights from the field

Promise programs are maintaining financial resilience amid changing landscapes.🌱

According to College Promise’s recent Promise Program Community Voices Survey:
- 80% of programs express confidence in their financial sustainability over the next two years.
- 50% of programs reporting gaining new funding over the past year.

Click the link below to read more about the Community Voices Survey.👇
https://bit.ly/3OftZGe

05/15/2026

🙌This is an important step forward for student parents in Virginia. New legislation will help public colleges and universities better identify and support parenting students — a critical move toward building systems that reflect the realities of today’s learners.

👨‍👩‍👦 Student parents are balancing college, work, caregiving, and family responsibilities while pursuing pathways to economic mobility and family-sustaining careers. Yet too often, they remain invisible in higher education data and policy conversations.

At College Promise, we know supporting student parents is essential to strengthening learner success, workforce pathways, and thriving communities. We’re encouraged to see growing momentum around policies that recognize and invest in this important population.

https://bit.ly/4wsfdNM

The data will be used to inform resources and programming for students with children.

05/14/2026

Adult learners are not the exception in higher education anymore — they are the new norm. New research highlighted by Inside Higher Ed underscores what many Promise programs already know: today’s learners are balancing work, family, and school while showing strong persistence and determination.

This is especially important for student parents. An estimated 86% of student parents are adult learners, navigating college while raising children, supporting families, and building pathways to economic mobility.

As College Promise continues advancing student parent success, this is a reminder that higher education systems, workforce pathways, and student supports must reflect the realities of today’s learners.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/4dnoEVU

New research challenges assumptions about post-traditional learners, finding that older and working students often show strong persistence and graduation outcomes.

05/13/2026

🎉 Georgia is taking an important step forward with their DREAMS Scholarship, expanding pathways to postsecondary education and opportunity for more students across the state.

By building on the longstanding success of the HOPE Scholarship, Georgia is creating more opportunities for students to pursue credentials, degrees, and careers that strengthen communities and the future workforce.

College Promise is encouraged to see continued momentum toward student-centered pathways that help learners achieve their goals.

Georgia moves beyond HOPE, with need-based aid for college students by Ty Tagami | May 11, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA — Next fall, Georgia students attending one of the state’s public colleges and universities will have a chance at financial aid if they come from a low-income famil...

05/12/2026

🚀Career Corner

One conversation with students is enough to change their lives. When students understand the labor market early, they’re better equipped to make informed choices about their education and careers. 📈

Click the link below to learn more from College Promise’s Career Acceleration Playbook. 👇
https://bit.ly/4ewS3z6

05/11/2026

🎓 Pathways for Men & Boys

Enrollment rates are dropping for male students, but the men departing from higher education are not necessarily leaping into employment or training. 💼

According to a recent study, a growing cohort of 18-24-year-old men is essentially vanishing from traditional paths of social and economic mobility.

The men disconnected from those paths forgo around $31,000 in annual earnings, challenging their financial stability, health outcomes, homeownership, and overall well being.

College Promise is dedicated to reconnecting men by bringing them back into higher education, employment, or workforce training. This cause touches us all, as the inclusion of men not only betters their outcomes but also the outcome of society as a whole. ✨

Sources:
https://bit.ly/48HsaJu
https://bit.ly/4wi8rtT

Long COVID, fear of catching COVID, and a shift in work-life balance may explain more than half of the persistent decline in U.S. labor force participation over the past three years.

05/07/2026

🌟 Promise in Action

San Jacinto College has launched a new Promise Scholarship covering tuition, books, and required supplies for eligible students.🙌

Since its launch, the initiative has already supported thousands of students and continues to expand access to higher education and career pathways across the Houston region.

At College Promise, we celebrate this commitment to ensuring more students can access and complete postsecondary education that leads to meaningful careers and economic mobility.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/3PkTXc0

As the cost of living continues to rise, college is becoming increasingly out of reach for many families. But a new program from San Jacinto College aims to ease that burden for local students.

05/05/2026

🚀Career Corner

64% of all professors approached by students for career advice feel confident guiding students on career pathways outside of academia (Gatta et al., 2024). Students need more insights into the labor market as they pursue career success in diverse fields and disciplines. 💼

That’s where Promise programs come in.✨

Promise programs are uniquely positioned to provide career guidance that will holistically inform students’ decisions as they approach their academic and professional experiences.

Click the link below to learn more from College Promise’s Career Acceleration Playbook. 👇
https://bit.ly/4ewS3z6

05/04/2026

College Promise applauds new research from The Brookings Institution that reinforces what Promise communities across the country demonstrate every day: design matters.

Their latest analysis on statewide Promise programs highlights a clear path ahead: programs are most effective when they are straightforward, generous, and paired with strong advising and student supports. Equally important, the research underscores the opportunity to move beyond “last-dollar” models toward approaches that help students cover the full cost of postsecondary education, including living expenses.

For the national Promise movement, these findings affirm a decade of work and point to higher education as an investment for students and communities. As states navigate fiscal uncertainty and rising costs, now is the time to double down on evidence-based designs that expand access, strengthen completion, and connect students to high-quality postsecondary pathways that lead to sustainable careers.

We look forward to working with our partners across the country to turn these insights into action that delivers for students and families.

Read the full study here: https://bit.ly/4tPqBBL

Katharine Meyer and Isabel McMullen assess state "free college" designs, showing how simple, generous aid boosts completion.