Message from the Executive Director
Lucas Spielfogel
A person’s value is not determined by where or if they go to college. But BRYC exists because there are tens of thousands of Baton Rouge youth who want postsecondary degrees but face tremendous barriers to attaining them and converting their education into economic opportunity. Justice looks like ensuring they have the resources all young people need to viably pursue their dreams.
Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce reported that, as of 2020, 65 percent of U.S. jobs require some higher education. This demand means bachelor’s degree holders earn about 75 percent more in their lifetime than non-graduates. The conclusion seems clear: college is the key to economic mobility. But these on-average data do not hold true for asset-limited, income-constrained Black youth, who comprise 98 percent of BRYC’s Fellowship.
To benefit from the economic value of a college degree, you first must have one, but only 15 percent of students from low-socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds earn bachelor’s within eight years of high school graduation. Disproportionately few of these graduates are Black.
To benefit from the economic value of a college degree,
you first must have one.
In 2023, Black students earned just 10 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded by postsecondary degree-granting institutions, compared to 62 percent earned by white students. College completion disparities only begin to illuminate the extent to which low-SES Black students are blocked from the American Dream. Black college graduates owe significantly more in student loan debt than white graduates; earn significantly less at every educational attainment level; and default on their loans at six times the rate of white borrowers.
We cannot reform a system in which inherited advantages primarily drive positive life outcomes. That’s why BRYC is committed to the lifelong work of building alternative support structures Fellows can lean on as they move to, through, and beyond college. We are incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made. BRYC’s 670 alumni – who persist in college at a rate of 83 percent – are proving what’s possible when they have equitable access to high-quality resources and social capital. They are engineers; chefs; doctors; photographers; lawyers; musicians; teachers; nurses; principals; journalists; businesspeople; academics; civic leaders; and more. They are parents and partners. And they are BRYC employees, helping our teen Fellows pave their own way. Together, we are a Community, using our immense collective power to clear roadblocks and build new roads altogether – and we’re just getting warmed up.
