Dell Scholars Program
Dell Scholars is a scholarship and college-completion program that nurtures and empowers students on their path to a college degree. The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation started the program in 2004 to support low-income, first-generation students on their journey to college graduation. The program provides scholars with resources and mentoring beyond initial financial assistance to ensure they have the support they need to earn a degree.
CORE BELIEFS
- Students who receive adequate support to navigate the barriers to college success will complete their degrees.
- Students who challenge themselves academically can succeed in college, even if they don’t stand out based on traditional evaluation criteria like GPAs, test scores, and extracurricular activities.
- Deep, one-to-one relationships with students are at the core of our model.
- Data drives our decisions. Technology enables our work.
- Our culturally diverse staff creates meaningful connections with our scholars, allowing us to provide support and/or direct them to additional resources.
- Student peers play a critical role in advising and mentoring our scholars.
- Success requires constant review, adaption, and evolution to meet our scholars where they are.
DELL SCHOLARS OFFERS PERSONALIZED, MULTIFACETED SUPPORT TO OUR STUDENTS.
It begins the day they’re accepted into the program, and our support is constant until they leave campus with a degree in hand. More than Dollars for Scholars: The Impact of Dell Scholars on College Access, Persistence, and Degree Attainment (Page, Castleman, Sahadewo, 2016) finds that Dell Scholars are 25 percent more likely to earn their bachelor’s degrees within four to six years of high school graduation compared to students of similar socioeconomic backgrounds.