ESTHER FUNDS FOUNDATION · EFF K–12 · DESIGNED FOR TITLE I SCHOOLS

Future Graduate University.

A mentoring program where elementary students don't learn about college — they attend one. One semester. One mentor. Real service hours. A diploma with family in the room.

MISSION

EFF K–12 prepares students and equips families to navigate the journey from elementary school through higher education. Through academic enrichment, college and career exploration, school-based workshops, and family mentoring, we help students develop the knowledge, habits, self-advocacy, and support-seeking skills needed to pursue their education and work toward graduation.

VISION

A future where every student can see a place for themselves in higher education—and every family has the knowledge, support, and resources to help them get there and keep going.

PURPOSE

Most students who leave college could have stayed. We start the habits that keep a student enrolled at nineteen — find the helper, ask the question, try a second plan — at seven.

Walk the semester ↓Skip to program overview
SCROLL DOWN TO WALK THROUGH OUR 3D STORYTELLING EXPERIENCE AND UNDERSTAND WHAT STUDENTS LIVE
I
CHAPTER ONE

The problem nobody sees in third grade.

Most students who leave college could have stayed. They leave because of a bill nobody explained, a hold nobody lifted, a semester nobody asked about. The ones it happens to most are the first in their family — from schools exactly like yours.

The thing that would have saved them isn't money. It's a person who knew the building, and the habit of asking. So Esther Funds Foundation — an award-winning Florida 501(c)(3) that keeps college students enrolled — built a university for nine-year-olds, and put a mentor inside it.

"Nobody is born knowing the words. Somebody has to teach them. We start at seven."

II
CHAPTER TWO

The semester.

Eleven weeks. One room. A mentor beside you. Keep scrolling — the campus stays with you, and each building lights up when you reach it.

III
CHAPTER THREE

What you walk out with.

An acceptance letter. A student ID. A declared major and a dream school. A résumé on university letterhead. An interview badge. A transcript with no grades — only "Completed," and your mentor's note. A diploma, signed. And a Service Hours Letter on foundation letterhead: real hours, verified, that follow you to middle school, to high school, and onto scholarship applications.

"Start early. Stay ready. Finish strong."

Shayna Vincent, Founder & Executive DirectorFOUNDER PHOTO
WHO BUILT THIS

A teacher who almost didn't finish.

Shayna Vincent grew up in a Title I school, carried a 504 plan through high school, and was handed an empty diploma cover at graduation. In college she discovered the offices and the people nobody had told her existed — and she finished. She founded Esther Funds Foundation, an award-winning Florida 501(c)(3), to keep college students enrolled through the semesters that end most college careers. She still teaches elementary school. This is what she built for students like the one she was.

[EFF to confirm: award name and year.]

FOR SCHOOL LEADERS

Small ask. Real return.

The school provides
  • A principal's approval and a short letter on letterhead (template provided)
  • A room once a week, 30–40 minutes
  • A teacher who says yes — to host, or to mentor
  • The parent consent form home, in English and Spanish
The school gets
  • A free, mentoring-based college experience for Title I students
  • Weekly family engagement and a graduation families attend
  • Verified community service hours for every student
  • A two-page report: what students said and did, before and after
How students are protected
  • A school employee present start to finish
  • Consent before any activity; media release separate and optional
  • No student information online — first names only, printed at school
  • Any additional adult: a Checkr background check and district clearance first
  • Concerns routed through the school's own procedure, same day
  • No money collected from families; nothing faith-related in the school program

Also on the road ahead: Esther Funds Foundation is building a universal system to help boost state test scores across all fifty states — so the mentoring and the academics rise together. It's in development now.

The same university runs at three ages — Little Grad College (K–2), Future Graduate College (3–5, the walk above), and Navigator College (6–8). Only the language and the depth change.

BRING IT TO YOUR SCHOOL

One group. One semester. One teacher who says yes.

Esther Funds Foundation supplies everything else: the kits, the software, the letters, IDs, certificates, diplomas, the service-hours verification, the training, and the report.

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