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Excel Beyond 211 Dollars for Scholars, a nonprofit organization assisting first-generation college students, marked its 10th anniversary with a gathering that celebrated the success of 28 recent college graduates.
The event, held earlier this summer at Palatine High School, also featured more than $200,000 in scholarships awarded to EB211 scholars. EB211, which is affiliated with Dollars for Scholars as one of 455 chapters of Scholarship America, highlighted its decade of educational excellence with Board President Nancy Robb sharing the organization’s remarkable track record with its mentoring-based approach.
Among the highlights:
- Launched in 2014, EB211 started with 30 high school students and 30 mentors. Today, it has assisted 368 students from low-income families with support from 198 mentors.
- It offered five $1,000 scholarships in its first year, with help from 10 donors. In 2024, it awarded $209,000 in scholarships with help from 156 donors.
- In 2014, EB211 didn’t offer support funds for books or other student fees and costs. Ten years later, it raised $15,500 in support funds and offered 41 named scholarships, including several 4-year renewable awards.
- According to the Pell Institute for the Study of Higher Learning, national figures show only 11 percent of first-generation college students from low-income families earn a degree after six years. EB211’s success has exceeded those figures every year, and continues to grow with the help of its mentors. Among mentees who joined in 2018, 79 percent graduated in six years, and 10 percent of the 2018 scholars earned their degree in only three years.
The record-setting growth was possible, Robb noted, because of the hundreds of community volunteers and donors supporting EB211’s mission. All donations (100 percent) go directly to scholarships for the students.
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