Guiding The First Generation — Part 2
Linking Students to College
It is no secret that applying to college is tedious. There are many moving parts to applications and they’re all moving at once. These moving parts then cause students to feel stressed and overwhelmed. In my previous post, I gave some insight as to who first generation students are. As a refresher, I will restate that first generation students are the first people in their immediate family to attend college and are usually part of low income families.
When I initiated my primary research at the start of this project I noticed a pattern with many of the students I interviewed. Every student mentioned in one way or another that they wished they had more knowledge about financial aid and scholarships. This part of my research proved to me that students did not have the sufficient infomation they needed for applications and they were simply, not aware of opportunities available to them. In fact, data issued by the U.S. Department of Education demonstrated that 44% of those that did not seek financial aid assumed they weren't eligible so did not bother to apply.
With this information at hand I began pondering how I could help these students gather the information they needed to apply for college and fund their education. What could I do to link students to mentors, funding opportunities and a university that fit their needs?
That is when it clicked, I needed to design a tool that would help first generation students find a university and provide them with the knowledge of funding opportunities.
Customer Segmentation:
- Demographic information, such as gender, age, familial and marital status, income, education, and occupation.
Customer may be male or female, age 17 and up, single or married, most likely low-income, highest level of education would be high school (GED) or soon to be graduate, occupation as a student or likely a part-time employee.
- Geographical information:
Since Financial Aid is a huge focus on this project, the United States of America is the primary focus.
- Psychographics, such as social class, lifestyle, and personality traits.
Middle or low class student who wants to achieve higher education.
Market opportunity:
- Of 617,441 freshman applicants to public colleges, 194,064 were first-gen. That’s 31 percent.
- Of 739,456 freshman applicants to private colleges, 228,108 were first-gen. That’s also 31 percent
(The Washington Post)
Porter’s 5 forces:
Buyers: First Generation Students
Suppliers: Universities
Substitutes: High school counselors, financial aid office at universities, academic services.
New Entrants: New applications.
Existing Rivals: Gear Up, College Search Guide, Schools, College Hunch. Any application that offers any part of application seperately.
Competitors:
- Gear UP: Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) is a competitive grant program of the U.S. Department of Education that increases the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. The program serves at least one grade level of students, beginning no later than the 7th grade, following them through high school graduation and their first year in college.
- College Search Guide: Searching for colleges by zipcode, city, state and distance.
- Scholly: Comprehensive and accurate scholarship search platform that helps you match scholarships
- CollegeHunch- College research with an interactive guide to colleges, build a detailed spreadsheet in minutes comparing up to 15 schools in-app.
Value Proposition: An online tool to help first generation students apply to college and educate them on financial assistance.
User: First Generation Students
Solution:
Designed Solution / The Product:
LNK : An application designed to link first generation students to the futu.
LNK Prototype:
Features:
- Ability to match up students with university based on profile. Including demographic, preferences, interests and intended major.
- Learn about the top ranked and featured universities in the states.
- Scholarship database portal that shows all scholarships, as well as custom picked scholarships and fun scholarships.
- Recieve advice and get answers to questions from mentors via real time online chat.