Edtech startup Students Rising Above receives $8M funding to relieve student loan debt for low-income students

Students Rising Above (SRA) is a non-profit edtech startup that invests in low-income, first generation college students who have demonstrated a deep commitment to education and strength of character in overcoming tremendous odds of poverty, homelessness, and neglect.

Today, the startup announced it has received up to $8M by anonymous donors. The funding donation is in recognition of SRA’s positive impact in the community. The funding will be used by the organization to relieve the student loan debt of up to 400 of its student alumni. Eligible alumni will have graduated or be scheduled to graduate from college by January 31, 2021.

Founded in 1998, Students Rising Above is an award-winning nonprofit organization that sends low-income, first-generation college students through four-year colleges and universities and into the workforce. SRA serves students in the nine-county Bay Area and beyond, providing personal guidance and mentoring, internships and career guidance, and financial support from students’ senior year in high school through college graduation and into the workforce. The SRA Hub, a unique online college guidance and career development platform, is currently open to any high school or college student in need due to COVID-19. A 501(c)3, SRA is funded by individual donations, and grants and contributions from corporations, foundations, and other nonprofit organizations.

“With student loans increasingly becoming a financial burden,” said Elizabeth Devaney, Chief Executive Officer at Students Rising Above, “SRA is grateful for the opportunity to facilitate relief to our hardworking alumni who have become highly productive members of the workforce nationwide.”

SRA serves students from all nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area, with 100% from low-to-moderate incomes and 62% living below the federal poverty line.

In addition to college access and success advising, social-emotional support, financial literacy and professional development and mentorship, SRA delivers a robust year-around career readiness curriculum, complete with a summer internship program leveraging a network of over 250 partner companies. As a result, nearly 80% of SRA graduates land career-ladder jobs within a year of completing their post-secondary education.

Students Rising Above gives a warm thank you to the anonymous donors and looks forward to continuing to help pave the way for Bay Area students who are passionate to learn and succeed.