No college student, regardless of their level of preparation, wants to find themselves without the tools to do the work. When one of the students in our college tutoring program, SE, reached out to her tutor last August because her laptop was broken and she was feeling miserable about having to complete her classwork on her phone, we knew what we needed to do.
While At the Table’s primary mission is to pair students currently and formerly in foster care with long-term college tutors and advisors, we also take a multifaceted view of what it means to invest in the future of our students. This includes being ready to rapidly connect students with key resources such as textbooks and laptops before they fall behind in classes. So, using our new student supplies fund, developed for unanticipated funding needs and supported by your donations, we purchased and sent a replacement laptop directly to SE’s home within days of her request.
The laptop helped free her up to continue her remarkable academic trajectory: SE passed all of her classes in Fall 2022 with A’s and B’s, then successfully transferred from community college to Hunter College, one of CUNY’s flagship four-year colleges, for the Spring semester, earning a 3.5 GPA.
SE is just one of the thirty-two students At the Table connected with tech and textbooks in the 2022-23 school year. Their cost was so much less than the value of the academic achievements these investments helped make possible: only $200 per student on average (about $100 for textbooks and $300 for a laptop). This year, as our program grows, we hope to raise $10,000 so we can serve at least 50 students with these resources.
As you have previously and so graciously invested in our work and in the outcomes of students with lived experience in the foster care system, we are asking for your support in reaching this goal in time for the upcoming Spring 2024 semester.