BOSTON — College application deadlines are looming. It’s stressful enough to get them filled out and sent—but for some students—just finding the extra help to navigate the process is the hardest part. A non-profit started by a local woman is helping low-income students get the help they need so they can receive that acceptance letter.

College can be extremely expensive–so much that it’s not even a consideration for some.

“I live in a single-parent household,” said Alan Bonilla Santos, a sophomore at Boston University. “It’s just my mom taking care of me, my grandma and my two siblings.”

Alan Bonilla Santos had a lot of responsibilities growing up—leaving him without a lot of time to get extra help in school—not to mention the cost.

“Tutoring is expensive,” said Santos. “It’s expensive. Not everybody can afford it.”

But Alan was determined to be the first in his family to go to college. Searching online, he came across UPchieve—a free tutoring program designed to help low-income students enroll in college.

“They have helped me with my grammar, they have taught me how to write, they have taught me how to approach these questions,” said Santos.

And it helped Alan with his college applications.

“I remember I was telling myself while I was writing my essays, I was like, I can’t let my mom worry about my costs,” said Santos.

And he didn’t. He received a full ride to Boston University.

“The challenges that Alan faced with accessing support, especially late at night in his home, those are very common,” said UPchieve Founder and Executive Director Aly Murray. “And that’s exactly what UPchieve was designed to help students overcome.”

Aly Murray is the founder of UPchieve and grew up in a single parent household in Whitman. She created the non profit based on her own personal experience.

“At one point I almost gave up,” said Murray. “And I think that experience for me really it showed me a few things. First, it showed me one, how hard it was to get the support when I needed it, but also two, what getting to the right college for me was able to do in terms of transforming my life.”

UPchieve is available to any student that attends a Title I middle or high school in the US. Once they sign up, they choose the subject they need help in, then a live volunteer tutor is matched with them.

“It’s super fast to get connected with a live human being, somebody who really cares about your success and is going to be there with you through the course of that session to try to help you succeed,” said Murray.

Aly says UPchieve has helped almost 50,000 students in the US with tutoring or college counseling. For students who used it at least 10 times, 97% said it helped their grades. And they’re about three times as likely to enroll directly into a four-year college as the average low-income student.

“It’s one of the most reliable pathways to mobility for low-income students,” said Murray.

Aly says there are tens of thousands of volunteers on UPchieve who are screened, trained, and certified to teach in the subject they tutor in. One of those tutors is Alan—-who wants to pay it forward and help others like himself succeed.

“If you want to help, if you need help, it’s out there,” said Santos. “Don’t feel afraid to ask. It’s always there. It’s there’s people out there that’ll re they’ll receive you with open arms, with love.”

UPchieve has helped students in all 50 states and is now working to partner with schools to reach students directly.

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