Wallin Education Partners

Wallin Education Partners' activities focus on breaking down the barriers to economic opportunity and academic success faced by low-income students. Wallin Education Partners (Wallin) is the only program in Minnesota that provides a holistic combination of student supports--spanning financial aid, comprehensive advising, wrap-around services, and career placement--to ensure success throughout college. In 2021 we welcomed 371 new students into our programs: 90% are students of color and 83% are first in their family to attend college. The majority of Wallin scholars are enrolled in a four-year program, currently totaling 1,203 participants. Ninety percent of these scholars complete their degree, compared to a 63% graduation rate for all students nationally. Wallin programs include: scholar advisor program: scholars receive college and career advising from a Wallin advisor. The scholar-advisor relationship begins when a student is admitted into our program during their senior year in high school and continues until they graduate college and often well beyond graduation. Students and advisors meet six to eight times per year to check in on progress, develop goals, and address each student's needs. Financial aid: scholars receive financial aid distributed term-by-term throughout college. Funds are administered directly to colleges and universities, provided the student meets minimum gpa requirements and remains on track for graduation. Our long-standing relationships with our partner colleges help us to leverage additional financial resources to ensure that our funding does not replace institutional funding. College-to-career: Wallin is building a scalable and sustainable college-to-career program that supports students in the areas of career discernment and exploration, core skill development, securing internships and apprenticeships, translating these experiences into full-time job opportunities, and alumni support. In addition to the robust college-to-career programming embedded in our core model, we also host a number of career development events. Our signature event is the Wallin career fair. Students can participate in a resume tips and tricks/career fair best practices session prior to the fair. On the day of the fair, we also provide a prep session that guides scholars on how to maximize their time in the fair, practice their personal elevator pitch and make life-changing connections with employers. Over the past year, we held 6 career-focused events for our scholars and 2 for our alumni.wallin wisdom project: scholars build their networks as they prepare to enter the workforce through career-focused mentoring and opportunities for current scholars and alumni to connect with professionals in their field of choice. Opportunity pathways (op): at Wallin, we know that college and career success does not look the same for everyone. Op provides another pathway for scholars headed to a community college. Scholars receive the same holistic support our traditional program uses to increase access to career-ready programs and increased graduation rates for our op students. Currently, 226 students participate in this program. Highlights: - since 2009, the six-year graduation rate has been over 90%. - we are currently serving 1,429 students. - over 6,000 students have received support since 1992. - we partner with 56 high schools. - nearly 40% of our scholars graduate with no debt. For those that do have loans, approximately $17,000 is owed at graduation, about half of Minnesota's average. - the alumni board organizes approximately 10 alumni-engagement events each year.