Aly Murray understands the burden of college expenses and how it could prevent students from getting the help they need — which is why she created a solution that’s impacted thousands of low-income students across the country.
Murray, 30, of Brooklyn, New York, was raised by a single mother who emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba and who had never gone through the often complicated process of applying to college. Having good grades and being a self-described “motivated, driven student,” Murray knew she wanted to acquire a bachelor’s degree but didn’t know how to get on the path to her dream.
“There were a lot of things that I wasn’t totally clear on what was required and what would make me a strong applicant for college, because I didn’t have access to some of that support,” she says.
Murray went straight to Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania after high school, but says she could have directly gone to a four-year college, and even obtained a full-ride scholarship, but “didn’t know and wasn’t pursuing those things.” Murray eventually went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2016 — but it took her six years to do so. “Even once I was in college, figuring out how to transfer was extremely difficult,” Murray says. She also had to work 20 hours a week to help pay for college expenses.
Murray’s challenges in pursuing her education led her in 2016 to launch UPchieve, a nonprofit that connects high school students with online tutors and counselors. The organization also pairs students with educational professionals to provide help for subjects they struggle with.
“That’s why we provide both tutoring and college counseling,” Murray says. “We think both are really important pieces of helping students get on the path to college and achieving upward mobility.”
Murray ran UPchieve for approximately two years while working as an analyst at J.P. Morgan. During this time, volunteers built the first version of the UPchieve app, along with the program’s first training program. Two years later, UPchieve partnered with AT&T Aspire Accelerator, Visible Connect, Blue Ridge Labs Robin Hood and other accelerator programs to raise its initial capital, Murray says.
UPchieve’s services are available 24/7 and are at no cost for students. Murray prides herself on UPchieve’s ability to connect students with other human beings as artificial intelligence becomes more mainstream. “We think there’s something really valuable about….having a human being, an adult that cares about you, [who] is invested in your success and is volunteering their time to help you,” Murray says.
Like Murray’s own experience, low-income students deal with numerous barriers preventing them from accessing a college education, research shows. A 2022 report from The Pell Institute, an education research organization, found that students from low-income households are less likely to attend selective schools, with more than two-thirds of students whose families are in the low-income bracket attending two-year schools or less. Additional data shows that the average net price of a college education in 2016 was equivalent to 94% of a poor family’s income.
Since UPchieve’s creation, the program has matched an estimated 20,000 students across 200,000 virtual sessions from around the country to date, Murray says. About 80% of the students are BIPOC, and many don’t have access to tutors, especially in math. While UPchieve provides tutoring in social studies, English and science, Murray says math is the “No. 1 blocker. ”A lack of access to this subject can cause students to hold negative perceptions of themselves, and question whether they’re good in school.
Research shows that low-income students are more likely to struggle with math compared to higher-income students. And a lack of access to quality math education in students’ early years has a ripple effect, preventing them from preparing for college-level math courses, and leading to lower admission rates for STEM majors and increased drop-out rates, the National Math and Science Initiative finds.
LaCourtlyn Page, 18, started using UPchieve in high school after struggling with algebra. Growing up in a middle-class family, Page says she has always been “really adamant” about going to college. Unlike other tutors she’s had in the past, UPchieve’s staff were patient and “were able to accommodate my learning level,” and calls UPchieve a “godsend.”
“I really loved it, because I believe he [the tutor] stayed on with me for like an hour or more, and I was able to really grasp the concept of what I was learning,” says Page, who lives in Albany, Georgia. “So it made me continue to come back.”
As a result of using UPchieve, Page says she’s saved hundreds of dollars and passed the classes she was struggling in. As a current freshman at Southern Regional Technical College, she now is taking college prerequisite classes and expects to join her school’s nursing program next fall, with hopes of following in the footsteps of her aunt, who is a nurse. While she doesn’t use UPchieve anymore, Page says its tutors “really taught me something that I’m still applying to my everyday life.”
While UPchieve has impacted thousands of students, Murray says “she wants more students to learn about us” by partnering with various schools and districts. The program recently launched a new service for teachers that helps them connect their students to live tutors.
And for students who, like Murray, felt at one point like giving up, she has one piece of advice: don’t.
“Sometimes it feels like the easier option,” Murray says. But “if you really want to accomplish something, there’s so many resources out there [and] UPchieve is one of them.”
