Heckscher helped Overgrad develop a customized college match tool for New York City students. Overgrad is a college and career readiness platform working to make the college application process more transparent, equitable, and accessible for all students, with a focus on low-income and first-generation students. Through a personalized, data-driven approach, Overgrad helps students identify their best-matched colleges and build a tailored list of schools where they are most likely to be accepted, persist, and graduate.
With our support, Overgrad developed a set of customized features to enhance the platform specifically for New York City counselors and students. The tool is particularly needed because estimates are that 80-85% of students graduating from NYC public high schools attend CUNY or SUNY schools, which have their own unique applications and considerations.
Heckscher also subsidized licensing fees for community-based originations and high schools to utilize Overgrad’s platform. Through our funding, 30 schools and organizations and near 9,000 students now have access to this tool.