About Us

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What we do

CollegeSpring partners with schools and community-based organizations to offer a high quality SAT and college preparation program for high school students from low-income backgrounds, many of whom will be the first in their families to go to college.

We envision a world in which all students, regardless of background, have the opportunity to prepare sufficiently for college and to succeed once they get there, because everyone deserves the opportunity to choose a four-year college education.
 
 

Why the SAT?

Students from families that make less than $40,000 score, on average, 356 points lower on the SAT than those whose families make more than $200,000 (The College Board).

Low SAT scores are a major barrier to college for many low-income students who might otherwise qualify for admission to four-year schools. Low-income and first-generation students are also limited by insufficient information about college admissions and financial aid. The average ratio of students to guidance counselors at many public schools approaches 1000 to one. Even CollegeSpring’s partners who offer better counselor-student rations struggle to give students the ongoing and personalized support they may need.

CollegeSpring was founded on the premise that helping students both increase their SAT scores and navigate the college admission process would make a major impact on student outcomes. It has. Learn more about our results…
 
 

CollegeSpring’s History

In 2008, Garrett Neiman and fellow Stanford student Jessica Perez founded CollegeSpring (then known as SEE College Prep). CollegeSpring is the largest and most effective nonprofit SAT preparation program explicitly designed to meet the needs of low-income and first-generation college-bound students. Our program model was designed with the belief that test preparation and college-readiness instruction should work together to provide students with a springboard to college. Learn more about our program model…

CollegeSpring has partnered with individual schools, school networks, and other community organizations in the Bay Area and Los Angeles to serve thousands of students from low-income backgrounds. Learn more about our partnerships…

Students across our summer and academic-year programs gain the knowledge and confidence to succeed in college admissions. They also see an average SAT score improvement of 176 points. This sort of improvement can have a significant impact. For example, this sort of increase can:

• Make students eligible for the California State University and University of California systems who would not have otherwise met minimum eligibility requirements.
• Increase students’ chances if being accepted to colleges that can offer significant financial aid, increasing the likelihood that students will matriculate and graduate.
• Allow students to automatically test out of remedial math and English requirements at CSUs and other schools, saving students money on non-credit-bearing courses.