As a component of the College Board’s College Completion Agenda, BIF’s Student Experience Lab partnered with the College Board to explore the experiences of 92 African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino and Native American students from 39 institutions across the country to learn how they get ready, get in and get through college.

The ambitious goal of the College Completion Agenda – a national goal to increase the number of 24-to-34 year olds who hold an associate degree or higher to 55% by the year 2025 – makes this a critical time to understand what factors affect these young men, a group who struggles more than any other in the nation to persist and achieve successful college outcomes. (Just 26 percent of African Americans, 18 percent of Hispanic Americans, and 24 percent of Native Americans and Pacific Islanders have at least an associate degree.)

What did we find out from engaging the students? Turns out their experiences are fraught with major non-academic roadblocks that are impacting their ability to obtain a college degree. Through this work, we examine the many factors that hinder success and turn our attention to identifying solutions to erase the disparities in educational attainment.The study portrays three major themes and includes both roadblocks that hinder or stall student success and catalysts that propel or accelerate students forward. Broad opportunity areas for intervention and innovation are also explored.