EmpowerU provides students access to the resources and tools that can enable them to go to college.
Access to Higher Education is already one of the greatest challenges of our generation and COVID has further intensified the problem. According to a study done by Southern New Hampshire University, only 54 percent of students from lower-income schools enrolled in college. Current research shows that the number of low income students applying to college decreased by 28% when compared to last year. This is close to a 30% drop. In early decision applications for 2021, low income students made up only half that of high income students applications for this year. Education inequalities are rapidly increasing and Need Urgent Solutions
EmpowerU will create a supportive community by enabling users to connect with their friends once they have logged in. This creates a sense of connection the instant you sign up for an account. We will also build a database of resources for students where school counselors can log in to their own accounts and share credible sources. In addition, students will also be able to share resources with their fellow peers. These resources will be filtered daily to ensure reliability. EmpowerU hopes to implement gamification to incentivize more students to take advantage of these resources. Students can then accumulate points and receive badges for their efforts.
Last summer, EmpowerU received the opportunity to participate in B-Lab. Here, we Focused on Bottom-Up Research & Surveyed close to 100 HS Students to better understand the problem. Then we spent time working with students and designers to create different versions of the MVP. EmpowerU has recently Obtained Verbal Approval to pilot at 3 different high schools across the nation. The $10,000 funding will help us hire software engineers and designers to develop the app and role it out at high schools throughout the nation. EmpowerU wants to revolutionize higher education and reimagine the ed-tech sector to help to empower students and help them find the resources and confidence they need to obtain higher education.
