A Clear Path to Opportunity for Every Learner
Axim invests in partnerships to transform education-to-career pathways so learners can thrive in a changing economy.
Every learner deserves a clear path forward. Our partnerships expand access to education, improve student outcomes, and drive economic mobility across America.
Introduction
A Note From Our CEO
How can we build education-to-career pathways with students in mind? Stephanie Khurana shares how Axim is convening leaders, supporting innovation, and building bridges to help every learner find their path forward.
LISTEN
Stephanie Khurana shares how innovation and collaboration can improve learner outcomes.
Our Approach to Partnership
Axim fosters cross-sector partnerships to strengthen education-to-career success. We pair catalytic funding with capacity building to develop and scale innovative, evidence-based solutions. Our convenings help leaders share, test, and refine what works (and learn from what does not). Our partnership model drives student-level impact and inspires systems-level change, putting us on track to help millions of learners find their path forward.
Focus Areas
Strengthening Pathways to Opportunity
Axim’s five focus areas work together to help learners find their educational path, succeed in their programs, and thrive in a dynamic economy.
Impact in Action
Axim’s investment areas span the learner journey and map to the institutional support necessary for them to succeed. Our work ensures learners have the resources and support to explore postsecondary opportunities and build momentum. As they progress, they engage in new teaching and learning models aligned with their goals, enabling them to persist and earn degrees or credentials. Stronger collaboration between education and employers prepares learners for long-term careers and earnings progression. Investments in innovative technology and student support systems enable institutions to better serve learners. When institutions consider these five focus areas holistically, that is when transformation happens.
Select a focus area below to see how it drives learner impact and read a featured partner story.
Pathway Choices & Strong Starts
Students receive the coordinated support they need to explore postsecondary options and build momentum toward success in their programs.
Faculty, advisors, and staff have the resources and information they need to better support learners.
Lorain County Community College
Bridges to Success
Lorain County Community College
Bridges to Success
The Opportunity
High school students who participate in dual enrollment programs, which allow them to earn college credit, are more likely to earn a degree than their peers. However, many students do not have access to these opportunities. For many seniors, figuring out what to do after graduation can be stressful and overwhelming. They may ask themselves, “Do I want to go to college? What career is right for me? What path makes the most sense?” Programs that offer career exploration and early college experiences can help students explore and plan for their next steps after high school.
The Innovation
In Ohio, Lorain County Community College (LCCC) launched the Bridges to Success program to help high school students explore what comes next after graduation. Through the program, LCCC is partnering with local high schools to expand access to dual enrollment and with regional employers to connect students to industry-recognized credentials and in-demand careers. Students who complete the program earn college credit, a scholarship, and direct admission to LCCC. Since launching the program in fall 2021, Bridges to Success has grown to reach 300 high school students annually.
The Story
As a high school senior, Vincent Ventresco knew he wanted to continue his education close to home, but he was not sure which career path he wanted to pursue. That changed when he joined the Bridges to Success program.
Through guest speakers, campus visits, and hands-on experiences across a range of industries, the program introduced him to opportunities he might not otherwise have considered. Vincent explored everything from culinary arts and nursing to emergency services, giving him the chance to experience different careers firsthand as he worked to find what felt like the best fit.
One specific pathway caught his attention: LCCC’s Microelectronic Manufacturing (MEMS) program. After touring the community college’s cleanroom facilities and learning more about the industry, he saw a future he could envision for himself. He also learned about the nationwide semiconductor shortage and new investments in manufacturing facilities in Ohio, which reinforced the industry’s growing importance and career potential. “I could credit Bridges to Success with getting us into the MEMS program because we really had no idea it was even an option beforehand,” Vincent says.
After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the MEMS program. He gained experience working in a cleanroom environment, soldering electronic components, earning industry-recognized certifications, and collaborating with classmates on technical projects. At the same time, he developed communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills that prepared him for the workplace. The program’s flexibility allowed him to gain industry experience while continuing his education. “They really do a good job making it easy for students to earn and learn — you can get a job, go to school, and complete your degree,” he says.
Those experiences opened doors to opportunities well beyond Ohio following his graduation. Vincent first completed a six-month facilities internship with Intel in Chandler, Arizona. Today, he is an equipment technician intern at Micron in Manassas, Virginia. Both roles have brought him even closer to the manufacturing process while strengthening the technical skills and confidence he will need as he pursues a full-time career in the industry. Vincent earned his associate degree in 2024 and is now completing his Bachelor of Applied Science in Microelectronic Manufacturing.
Looking back, he sees Bridges to Success as the turning point that transformed uncertainty into opportunity. By combining early-career exploration, hands-on learning, and paid work experience, programs like Bridges to Success are preparing the next generation of talent while giving students like Vincent the confidence and skills to build successful futures.
Teaching, Learning & Model Innovation
Students experience learning that is more accessible, relevant, and engaging.
Academic leaders have the resources and support they need to adapt and create curricula and learning experiences that meet the needs of today’s students.
Faculty think the typical teaching model in their department will be affected by GenAI tools to some extent
Western Governors University x Rio Salado College x Lorain County Community College x Miami Dade College
Building Dynamic, Career-Connected AI Assessments
Western Governors University x Rio Salado College x Lorain County Community College x Miami Dade College
Building Dynamic, Career-Connected AI Assessments
The Opportunity
For many students, the gap between what a credential represents and what employers need can create barriers to opportunity. Traditional exams and essays often provide only a snapshot of a learner’s capabilities and offer little insight into how skills develop over time. While the rise of AI has made the need to close this gap all the more urgent, it has also created an opportunity to rethink assessments altogether.
The Innovation
A group of forward-looking institutions, Western Governors University, Rio Salado College, Lorain County Community College, and Miami Dade College, are partnering to design assessments for the realities of today’s workplace. They will build the assessments on a variety of learning management systems and open-source platforms like the Open edX® project, making them accessible to institutions beyond these four partners. Common Group will also produce an implementation framework to accelerate the adoption of AI-enabled assessments. These dynamic, career-connected assessments will help learners demonstrate not just what they know but what they can do.
The Story
Too often, students are asked to explain how they would hypothetically approach a challenge rather than being given the opportunity to tackle it in practice. Through new, authentic, AI-enabled assessments, learners can engage in real-world scenarios, build workforce-relevant artifacts, and receive feedback as they work. As Western Governors University’s Leslie Noggle puts it, “The assessment is no longer a proxy for professional readiness — it is professional readiness, practiced and demonstrated in real time.”
These assessments shift the focus from testing what students can recall to evaluating how they apply their knowledge in real-world situations, keeping them more engaged and persistent in their education. That includes strengthening uniquely human capabilities such as critical thinking, judgment, creativity, and reflection. Jennifer Gresko of Rio Salado College shares, “What feels most transformative about this work is the shift toward preparing both educators and students for a rapidly changing world that values adaptability, collaboration, and real-world problem solving over simple memorization.”
That preparation is becoming increasingly important as institutions look for better ways to help students stay engaged and demonstrate meaningful learning. Vincent Granito of Lorain County Community College believes AI-enabled assessment can fundamentally change how students experience learning. He explains, “What feels most transformative about this work is that it shifts assessment from simply measuring what students can recall to evaluating how they think, create, solve problems, and ethically collaborate with AI tools.”
The partner institutions will pilot assessments built around authentic tasks that mirror real-world challenges. Students may be asked to solve problems, create projects, analyze information, or demonstrate their reasoning in ways that reflect how knowledge is applied beyond the classroom. These assessments will be connected to employer-validated competencies and supported by AI-powered feedback tools that help learners improve continuously.
Together, the four institutions are building a shared foundation for the future of assessment — one that helps learners demonstrate meaningful skills, gives employers greater confidence in educational credentials, and provides a road map for institutions seeking to prepare students for success in an AI-driven world.
For Mariah Schuemann of Miami Dade College, the significance of the work extends beyond any single assessment model. The decisions institutions make today will influence how AI is integrated into education for years to come. Rather than simply responding to technological change, Schuemann notes, “We have a rare opportunity to shape it.”
Dynamic Education & Employer Relationships
Students gain the skills and experiences they need to launch long-term careers and build economic mobility.
Employers partner with institutions to co-design pathways and work-based experiences to better prepare learners for the workforce while developing talent for in-demand careers.
Employers say the importance of a college degree or credential for getting a good job in their organization will remain the same or increase over the next five years
Apprenti
Scaling Apprenticeships Through Strategic Partnerships
Apprenti
Scaling Apprenticeships Through Strategic Partnerships
The Opportunity
Apprenticeships can be life-changing. They provide a pathway into in-demand careers by combining paid work experience with hands-on learning. Yet too many workers do not have access to these opportunities. This is especially true as some intermediary organizations reduce or discontinue their programs due to shifts in apprenticeship funding. Across industries, including healthcare, employers face growing talent shortages and rising skill demands. There is an opportunity for training providers to scale apprenticeship models across industries to meet workforce needs, helping more individuals find long-term careers and employers develop a skilled workforce.
The Innovation
Apprenti has helped people launch careers in technology since 2015, demonstrating that apprenticeship programs can deliver career advancement and economic mobility for apprentices and stronger retention for employers. By combining its unique recruitment and employer engagement model with its curriculum expertise and industry relationships, Apprenti will deepen its impact in technology and pilot a replicable model in healthcare, biotech, and other STEM industries. This initiative will test a scalable, sustainable, and affordable apprenticeship model that connects more people to in-demand careers while helping employers build the systems they need to attract and retain high-quality talent.
The Story
Moses Etsu has always been driven by two passions: helping people and understanding how things work. Drawn to solving problems and fixing things with his own hands, he dreamed of a career that would combine his technical curiosity with a desire to make a difference in people’s lives. While he found a job to support his family, he did not find a career that matched his interests, skills, or long-term ambitions.
That changed when his wife discovered Apprenti while she was helping him search for other job opportunities. Moses applied, completed the required assessments, and was later accepted into a clinical engineering apprenticeship program at Intermountain Health. At the time, Moses had never heard of clinical engineering, a field dedicated to maintaining the medical equipment that hospitals depend on every day.
This single opportunity changed the course of his career.
During Moses’ apprenticeship at Intermountain Health’s Utah Valley Hospital, he was able to provide for his family while receiving hands-on training and earning his Biomedical Equipment Technician Certificate. The training program provided Moses with a stable income, mentors who believed in him, and a work community where he belonged.
After shadowing his teammates, Moses began managing his own work and taking on more responsibility. With each new challenge, his confidence and technical expertise continued to grow. Moses successfully completed his apprenticeship and was retained into a permanent position.
Today, Moses is a clinical engineering technician at Intermountain Health’s American Fork Hospital, responsible for maintaining and repairing the equipment that healthcare professionals rely on every day, from ventilators to fluid warmers. He continues to embrace new responsibilities while working toward the next stage of his career.
“From day one, Moses has been an incredible asset to our team,” says Tammy Sosa, Moses’ manager. “He is eager to learn, always willing to help others, and brings a positive energy that brightens everyone’s day. We knew we wanted to hire Moses as soon as we interviewed him because of his genuine passion for fixing things and learning how they work. Moses never backs down from a challenge and is always ready to support the team.”
The impact of Moses’ career extends far beyond the hospital. For Moses, this work represents a long-term opportunity for both personal and professional growth as well as economic mobility. For his family, it represents the fulfillment of years of hard work and sacrifice. His daughter is excited to tell people where her father works. And whenever family members receive care at Intermountain Health, Moses feels reassured knowing that dedicated professionals like him are working behind the scenes to make sure every piece of equipment is ready when patients need it most.
Moses describes Apprenti as “the light that guided me and gave me direction.” He credits the program for helping him find a career he dreamed of and a workplace where he feels a sense of belonging and development. As the demand for skilled workers continues to grow, organizations like Apprenti help ensure that more people have access to in-demand careers and that employers have the talent they need.
AI & Technology Transformation
Institutions have the resources, capacity-building support, and collaboration they need to improve teaching, learning, and education delivery at scale.
Faculty say GenAI will impact the work and role of those who teach in higher education
Ed Advancement x UNCF x College of the Canyons x Carnegie Mellon University
AI Starter Kit
Ed Advancement x UNCF x College of the Canyons x Carnegie Mellon University
AI Starter Kit
The Opportunity
AI is challenging many long-standing assumptions about how we teach, learn, and how colleges operate. The pace and scale of this transformation create an urgent need for more shared resources that institutions can use to close, instead of widen, existing gaps. This is particularly true for broad access institutions that serve the majority of learners while facing resource constraints that limit their ability to invest in the digital infrastructure and institutional capacity needed to adopt AI. With access to the right resources and through collaboration, broad access institutions can lead higher education’s AI transformation, providing students and faculty with the skills and support they need.
The Innovation
The AI Starter Kit is a coordinated initiative to drive responsible and effective AI adoption in broad access higher education. As part of the initiative, Ed Advancement and UNCF will work closely with a cohort of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to develop shared resources and institutional capacity for AI adoption across the HBCU ecosystem. The initiative also includes College of the Canyons and Carnegie Mellon University’s AI for Teaching and Learning Institute, which builds on the AI for Learning Network and will provide professional development opportunities for cross-functional teams from community colleges and universities across the country. As a public resource, the AI Starter Kit will help broad access institutions upgrade their digital infrastructure and develop and launch AI solutions across teaching, student support, and operations, making AI adoption sustainable and scalable.
The Story
New AI tools are rapidly changing how students engage in learning, how faculty teach, and how colleges deliver services and support. For many broad access institutions, including community colleges and HBCUs, the challenge is ensuring they have the institutional capacity to actively shape how AI transforms higher education for their students instead of being consumers of innovation developed elsewhere.
For James Glapa-Grossklag of College of the Canyons, that reality makes institutional leadership essential. “Institutions that teach the greatest proportion of undergraduates in the country need to lead on AI because they have a responsibility to prepare their students and communities for the future that is upon us,” he explains. Through the AI Starter Kit and the AI for Teaching and Learning Institute, community colleges and universities will gain access to professional development, peer learning opportunities, and practical road maps that help move AI adoption from isolated experimentation to coordinated institutional strategy.
The AI Starter Kit is focused on ensuring that AI development reflects the realities of both the institutions and the students they are intended to serve. To achieve this, partners across the initiative will develop resources in collaboration with the institutions. Nicholas Cheng of Ed Advancement sees broad access institutions as critical voices in shaping the future of educational technology. “If broad access institutions are treated as downstream users of AI, the field risks reproducing the same inequities that have hindered impact in earlier waves of education technology,” he says. “But when these institutions lead, they can help define responsible, practical, and equitable AI.”
The goal is to help broad access higher education build the infrastructure, policies, and capacity necessary to deploy AI in ways that improve student outcomes, strengthen operations, and create more responsive support systems.
For HBCUs, the opportunity extends beyond adoption to innovation. Renee Ducre of UNCF believes the current moment is an opportunity to fundamentally reshape who creates the future of AI. “Students at HBCUs aren’t waiting,” she says. “They are eager, creative, and prepared to bring perspectives that have been largely absent from mainstream AI development.” The AI Starter Kit aims to provide HBCUs with curated resources that make it easier to begin building AI capacity. As Ducre notes, “If we shape this moment well, HBCUs won’t just be consumers of AI innovation; they’ll be its architects.”
By bringing together institutional leaders, intermediary organizations, technology partners, practitioners, and philanthropy, the AI Starter Kit will create a shared foundation for responsible AI adoption across higher education. This effort will help ensure that the institutions serving the largest and most diverse student populations are equipped not only to navigate the AI era but to lead it.
Supports & Analytics for Student Success
Institutions have integrated data systems and coordinated student support to better help learners throughout their educational journey.
Students who started college in fall 2024 returned for their second year
University of Massachusetts Boston x MentorPRO
AI-Enhanced Peer Mentoring
University of Massachusetts Boston x MentorPRO
AI-Enhanced Peer Mentoring
The Opportunity
Peer mentoring offers colleges and universities an opportunity to better support first-year and transfer students. For many incoming students, having a peer mentor is a more approachable, less intimidating way to access campus resources, strengthen their sense of belonging, and build relationships. However, many peer mentorship programs lack the institutional infrastructure, training, and resources needed to effectively support mentors and scale these programs.
The Innovation
The University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass) is partnering with MentorPRO to provide trained peer mentors with a research-backed, AI-enabled mentoring platform. MentorPRO uses a “human-at-the-helm” approach that leverages AI to strengthen rather than replace human relationships. The platform provides peer mentors with real-time information to better support their mentees, helping students build strong relationships and supportive networks while developing the skills and confidence to succeed. Today, MentorPRO supports over 900 students across the Manning College of Nursing & Health Sciences and the Colleges of Liberal Arts (CLA), Education & Human Development, and Management at UMass Boston, with plans to scale across the UMass system in the coming years.
The Story
When Alondra Gomez Garcia arrived at UMass Boston as a first-generation student, they were navigating an unfamiliar system largely on their own. Alondra had the determination to succeed but needed access to the resources and relationships that help students thrive.
Peer mentorship made all the difference.
Through UMass Boston’s CLA First! program, Alondra was paired with Tirzah Suribory, a fellow first-generation student. MentorPRO helped Alondra stay connected to Tirzah whenever they needed support. The conversations between the two started with questions like: “What’s a hold on my account? How do I join a club? Where can I find campus events?” Having someone who had recently been in the same position made it easier to ask for help.
What began as a formal mentoring relationship became a friendship built on shared experience, empathy, and trust. When Alondra shared that they were looking for a job, Tirzah spent time outside of their scheduled mentoring responsibilities to help Alondra with the job search and application materials. Another time, Alondra shared that they had been in an accident and were worried about missing their mentoring meeting and school. Tirzah told them not to worry and to take care of themself. Tirzah would be there. For Alondra, it was not just the practical support that mattered. It was knowing someone cared.
MentorPRO helps make connections like this possible. For students like Alondra, the platform serves as a digital bridge to human support. If Alondra had a question or felt overwhelmed, Tirzah could quickly see and reach out. As a mentor, Tirzah found the platform invaluable, helping them stay connected with mentees, track their well-being, and identify when someone might need additional support.
The mentorship shaped Alondra’s freshman year and career aspirations. Before, Alondra wanted a career where they could work alone. Now, they want to spend their time helping people. Today, Alondra is a peer mentor. When they work with students, they often find themself asking, “What would Tirzah do?” The answer is rarely complicated: Listen. Show up. Share what you know.
As higher education explores how technology can improve student success, Alondra and Tirzah’s story offers an important reminder: The most powerful innovation is creating more opportunities for human relationships to flourish.
Sometimes all it takes is one person reaching out and the right tools to make that connection possible.
Convenings & Collaborations
A Community of Innovators
Collaboration drives impact. Axim brings together partners and leaders throughout the year to generate bold ideas that transform the future of learning and work. Our AI & Education Convening and CoLabs create space for partners to connect and share solutions that improve learner outcomes and drive systems-level change.
AI & Education Convening: Connecting Broad Access Innovators
At Axim’s third annual convening, more than 100 students, educators, employers, innovators, and researchers came together to explore how to co-design an education ecosystem that works for today’s learners and future generations.
Two broad themes emerged throughout the convening:
- It is essential to keep humans at the center of AI design and use. That is how the education ecosystem can develop AI that encourages human flourishing.
- AI’s rapid acceleration can deepen existing divides. But when designed and deployed to enhance real people’s skills, it has the potential to open new doors to opportunity.
The future of AI in education must be built with equity, human agency, and human flourishing at its core.
The Convening in Photos
CoLabs: Where Solutions Take Shape
Axim’s CoLabs are small gatherings that bring together cross-sector partners to drive field-defining innovation. We align around shared challenges, identify new solutions, and launch ambitious partnerships to address gaps no single organization can solve alone. Every CoLab is designed to inspire collaborations and initiatives that improve learner outcomes and reshape how the field operates at scale.
Select a CoLab to learn more.
AI Resources
How can we work across sectors to provide comprehensive AI access to improve outcomes for all students?
Axim convened leaders from higher education, industry, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector to explore how new types of collaborations could drive AI adoption.
Participants surfaced the barriers that limit AI access as well as opportunities to share resources, strengthen data systems and digital infrastructure, and focus on applications where AI can have a high impact. This CoLab was the catalyst for the AI Starter Kit initiative.
Employer Engagement
How can we build talent pipelines that shorten time-to-hire and improve early-career performance?
Axim and the Business-Higher Education Forum convened leaders across higher education, workforce, technology, and nonprofit sectors to explore this shared challenge.
Participants discussed how learners develop real, relevant skills that are not always visible or understood by employers in the hiring process. They also identified opportunities for shared language and practical pilots that connect employers, institutions, and technology partners to better surface, validate, and match talent to opportunity.
AI + Human Navigation
How can AI-enabled navigation tools expand students’ access to human relationships and social capital while driving persistence and economic mobility?
Axim partnered with the Clayton Christensen Institute to convene institutional leaders, researchers, platform innovators, and funders around this question.
Participants explored how AI-enabled navigation will be shaped by whether the field can move together on quality, infrastructure, and the harder questions about what we want technology to do and what we do not want it to replace.
Partnerships
Working Across America
Axim partners with institutions and visionary leaders to identify, refine, and scale innovative solutions across education-to-career pathways. We aspire for each partnership to impact at least 10,000 learners over time. From rural communities to major cities, vocational schools to statewide systems, we are working to ensure more learners find a path to educational and economic opportunity.
Partnerships at a Glance
New Partnerships
Partnerships Incorporating AI
Total Partnerships
Our Portfolio
Select one or more focus areas and click a partnership to learn more!
Filtering…
Alabama Possible x EAB
Pathways From High School Through Postsecondary Education
Transforming statewide direct admission into a student success ecosystem that supports students from admission through enrollment and completion
Alabama Possible x EAB
Pathways From High School Through Postsecondary Education
Project Overview
The Alabama Direct Admission Initiative proactively offers college admission to students without requiring applications, fees, or essays, expanding access to postsecondary education across the state. Building on this foundation, Alabama Possible and EAB are transforming the initiative into a comprehensive student success ecosystem by integrating data infrastructure, personalized student communications, advising supports, and workforce information to help students enroll, persist, and make informed postsecondary decisions.
OneGoal
Making Quality Advising Accessible at Scale
Expanding access to quality postsecondary advising by equipping educators with a technology-enabled advising solution
OneGoal
Making Quality Advising Accessible at Scale
Project Overview
The average high school student receives only 38 minutes of college and career support per year. Building on its high-quality advising model, OneGoal created a schoolwide, technology-enabled advising solution that equips a broader set of educators to lead personalized advising. The tech-enabled model expands access to college and career advising while lowering cost barriers for schools. By making advising a shared, schoolwide responsibility, OneGoal aims to transform how schools prepare students for their postsecondary journeys.
Roadtrip Nation
Bringing AI-Powered Career Navigation to Community College Students
Delivering personalized career exploration and guidance for community college students
Roadtrip Nation
Bringing AI-Powered Career Navigation to Community College Students
Project Overview
For many learners, personal networks are often their only window into career possibilities. This can unintentionally narrow their sense of what’s achievable. Roadtrip Nation is helping learners explore careers through Virtual Roadtrip, an AI-powered career navigation experience. By scaling Virtual Roadtrip into community colleges across the country, Roadtrip Nation will support learners at a critical point in their education-to-career journeys, helping them move from exploration to action while strengthening existing advising and career services.
Student Basic Needs Coalition
Connecting College Students to Public Benefits at Scale
Addressing food, housing, and financial insecurity by connecting eligible students to public benefits
Student Basic Needs Coalition
Connecting College Students to Public Benefits at Scale
Project Overview
An estimated 1.8 million college students qualify for public benefits but never receive them. Through Navvy, the Student Basic Needs Coalition (SBNC) helps institutions identify SNAP- and Medicaid-eligible students and guide them through the application process. Since January 2025, nearly 48,000 students from more than 500 institutions have used the platform. To support Navvy’s next phase, SBNC is bringing its engineering team in-house and building data infrastructure to help more students access benefits while generating insights for the field.
The Advisor Network
AI-Powered Advising Support as a Field-Changing Initiative
Equipping advisors with the tools and knowledge to enhance the quality of conversations with students
The Advisor Network
AI-Powered Advising Support as a Field-Changing Initiative
Project Overview
With limited time and resources, advisors need tools that help guide and support students effectively. The Advisor Network has created a generative AI-powered overlay tool that integrates seamlessly into existing customer relationship management software, enabling advisors to spend more time guiding students by consolidating data, content, and advising frameworks into one resource. Ultimately, The Advisor Network aims to create an open-source infrastructure to ensure millions of students receive the support they deserve to pursue pathways with economic promise.
University of Pennsylvania
A Megastudy to Improve Student Success
Identifying which behavioral science interventions and programs are most effective at improving student retention and academic performance
University of Pennsylvania
A Megastudy to Improve Student Success
Project Overview
Behavioral science interventions have successfully improved student retention and academic performance. Building on existing research, the Behavior Change for Good Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania is testing light-touch interventions to increase student success across 90,000 incoming first-year students at 29 institutions. The study will identify which programs are most effective across different campus settings. This study will accelerate the development of effective interventions to support student success at scale.
Alamo Colleges District x Rio Salado College x WCET
Creating Belonging for Online Learners
Improving persistence for online learners by creating inclusive virtual spaces to build networks, access support, and stay on track to graduate
Alamo Colleges District x Rio Salado College x WCET
Creating Belonging for Online Learners
Project Overview
Institutions can better support online learners by creating spaces for connection and community that improve student persistence. Alamo Colleges District and Rio Salado College are scaling InScribe, a virtual community platform, and piloting InCircle, a new social capital offering, to help students form deeper connections with peers, advisors, and mentors. With support from WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies), project findings and practices will be documented and shared with other community colleges, helping to spark national adoption.
Education Design Lab
Democratizing Durable Skills
Bringing employer-validated, durable skills courses to the Open edX® platform as open educational resources
Education Design Lab
Democratizing Durable Skills
Project Overview
Durable skills, including communication, collaboration, and problem-solving, are consistently ranked among the most in-demand competencies by employers. However, many learners lack a way to demonstrate those skills to employers. The Education Design Lab (the Lab) has partnered with employers to develop courses and assessments that recognize these skills. Through the Lab’s Democratizing Durable Skills initiative, these resources are moving to the Open edX® platform as open educational resources, helping more colleges and workforce providers equip learners with credentials that employers value.
MIT Open Learning
AI for Adaptive Learning
Scaling personalized, adaptive learning through an AI-powered tutoring system
MIT Open Learning
AI for Adaptive Learning
Project Overview
Online education has been shaped by a one-size-fits-all model: Learners progress through the same content, in the same order, regardless of background, interests, or preparation. The nuance of real classrooms, where instruction adapts in real time to the learner, is lost. MIT Open Learning is scaling personalized, adaptive learning through an AI-powered tutoring system in MIT’s Universal Artificial Intelligence platform with a focus on broad-access institutions and diverse learner populations.
Western Governors University x Rio Salado College x Lorain County Community College x Miami Dade College
Building Dynamic, Career-Connected AI Assessments
Designing AI-enabled assessments that better reflect learning and prepare learners for careers
Western Governors University x Rio Salado College x Lorain County Community College x Miami Dade College
Building Dynamic, Career-Connected AI Assessments
Project Overview
Most institutions still rely on traditional assessment models that often measure recall rather than real-world skills, leaving learners with limited feedback on their learning progression and skill development. To address this need, Western Governors University, Rio Salado College, Lorain County Community College, and Miami Dade College are designing and piloting AI-enabled assessments on different learning platforms, including the Open edX® project. The assessments will be aligned to employer-validated competencies, giving learners clearer evidence of what they can do.
Apprenti
Scaling Apprenticeships Across Industries
Leveraging strategic partnerships to expand apprenticeships into healthcare while lowering the cost of programming for employers
Apprenti
Scaling Apprenticeships Across Industries
Project Overview
Apprenticeships lead to economic mobility for workers and improve retention for employers. Yet many programs lack the infrastructure needed to scale. With more than 7,000 apprentices placed across all 50 states, Apprenti is testing a new approach to scale across industries. By combining its proven recruitment, employer engagement, and compliance tracking systems with employers’ curriculum expertise and industry relationships, Apprenti is expanding into healthcare. This project offers new insights into how apprenticeships can scale sustainably across industries.
Charter Oak State College x Business-Higher Education Forum
A Bridge Between Education and Workforce Needs in Connecticut
Delivering a skills-first, employer-driven, AI-focused curriculum that connects students to workforce needs
Charter Oak State College x Business-Higher Education Forum
A Bridge Between Education and Workforce Needs in Connecticut
Project Overview
As AI reshapes work, institutions have the opportunity to bridge employers’ talent needs and learner preparation. Charter Oak State College and the Business-Higher Education Forum are partnering to launch a skills-first, employer-driven, AI-focused curriculum on the Open edX® platform. Developed with input from more than 100 higher education and business leaders, the curriculum will help connect students to Connecticut’s workforce needs. This project offers a replicable model for other states.
Northern Essex Community College
Co-Building the Region’s Manufacturing Workforce
Collaborating with regional employers to co-design a manufacturing training program focused on foundational, employer-identified skills
Northern Essex Community College
Co-Building the Region’s Manufacturing Workforce
Project Overview
There are more than 30,000 manufacturing jobs available in Massachusetts. Northern Essex Community College is launching the Base Manufacturing Program, an employer-aligned training model co-designed with leading regional manufacturers to meet this workforce need. The program provides career-connected credentials and workforce communication training essential across nearly all manufacturing roles. Offered at no cost to participants, the program removes barriers and expands access to training for adults and recent high school graduates exploring direct pathways into the workforce.
Ed Advancement x UNCF x College of the Canyons x Carnegie Mellon University
AI Starter Kit
Driving responsible AI adoption across broad access higher education through experimentation, collaboration, and capacity building
Ed Advancement x UNCF x College of the Canyons x Carnegie Mellon University
AI Starter Kit
Project Overview
AI is challenging many long-standing assumptions about how we teach, how we learn, and how colleges operate. As part of the AI Starter Kit, the initiative includes three partnerships. It builds on the work of Ed Advancement, UNCF, and the institutions they support. It also scales College of the Canyons and Carnegie Mellon University’s AI for Learning Network through the launch of the AI for Teaching and Learning Institute. The AI Starter Kit will provide institutions with the resources needed to adopt AI.
Renaissance Philanthropy x The Learning Agency x University of Minnesota - College of Education and Human Development
Tools Competition for EdTech Innovation
Funding technologists who design innovative tools for broad access higher education for the third consecutive year
Renaissance Philanthropy x The Learning Agency x University of Minnesota - College of Education and Human Development
Tools Competition for EdTech Innovation
Project Overview
The Tools Competition is a multimillion-dollar funding opportunity for edtech innovation. Its Postsecondary Success track focuses on solutions that bridge education and employment; foster personal and professional growth; and help learners develop the skills, networks, and support they need to succeed. To date, the Tools Competition’s Postsecondary Success track has supported 19 winners, reaching more than 50,000 students.
ASU Local x Southwestern Community College District
A Community College Co-Location Model for Four-Year Degrees
Creating four-year degree pathways for community college learners by blending online courses with in-person support
ASU Local x Southwestern Community College District
A Community College Co-Location Model for Four-Year Degrees
Project Overview
Partnerships between community colleges and universities can broaden pathways for students. ASU Local’s community college co-location model enables students to earn a bachelor’s degree by blending online courses with in-person support at their local institutions. In partnership with Southwestern Community College District, ASU Local expanded to Chula Vista, California. The location has become the fastest-growing site, demonstrating the impact of flexible, personalized wraparound services and strong institutional partnerships. To date, more than 400 students have participated in ASU Local.
Lorain County Community College
Bridges to Success
Developing a dashboard to ensure students have equitable access to college programs and opportunities for success
Lorain County Community College
Bridges to Success
Project Overview
High school students in dual enrollment programs are twice as likely to earn a degree compared to their peers. Lorain County Community College (LCCC) launched the Bridges to Success program to expand access to dual enrollment and to provide students with paths to industry-recognized credentials and in-demand careers. To support this scaling, LCCC is developing a comprehensive dashboard to provide insights on where to focus its efforts, ensuring that students have equitable access to college programs and opportunities for success.
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Innovation Hub
Massachusetts Innovation Hub
Establishing statewide partnerships to bridge institutional gaps, scale innovation, and drive lasting change for learners
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Innovation Hub
Massachusetts Innovation Hub
Project Overview
Massachusetts is setting a national example for how state agencies can bridge institutional gaps, scale innovation, and drive lasting change. The Department of Higher Education Innovation Hub is partnering with the state’s public institutions to build integrated pathways for students, develop career- and community-connected learning opportunities, and cultivate the state’s long-term innovation capacity. Early projects include expanding awareness of need-based financial aid, integrating credentials of value, and expanding co-op opportunities.
College of the Canyons x Carnegie Mellon University
AI for Learning Network
Co-designing AI training to support faculty professional development and to improve student learning
College of the Canyons x Carnegie Mellon University
AI for Learning Network
Project Overview
As AI transforms teaching and learning, faculty need support to effectively use AI tools in classrooms and prepare students for AI-driven careers. Carnegie Mellon University’s Open Learning Initiative, College of the Canyons, SUNY Open Educational Resources Services, and UNCF launched the AI for Learning Network (AI4LN), a faculty-centered initiative that offers online AI training and a professional development credential. Since its launch, AI4LN has seen strong engagement from faculty and is expanding to the AI for Teaching and Learning Institute.
Complete College America x Riipen
AI Education Meets Experiential Learning
Partnering with community colleges to integrate employer-informed AI projects in curricula
Complete College America x Riipen
AI Education Meets Experiential Learning
Project Overview
Work-based learning helps students develop essential skills for better career outcomes. However, these opportunities are often costly, labor-intensive, and concentrated at selective institutions. To broaden access to experiential learning opportunities, Complete College America and Riipen partnered with employers to embed real-world, AI-focused projects into coursework. Courses launched last fall across five community college systems, giving students access to hands-on, employer-aligned projects. Learnings will be shared to help institutions expand access to work-integrated learning opportunities.
Franklin Cummings Tech
Reimagining Math and Student Success
Redesigning math courses to support credential attainment and integrating student data systems
Franklin Cummings Tech
Reimagining Math and Student Success
Project Overview
A strong foundational knowledge of math is key to student success, especially as career pathways evolve with changing technology. Franklin Cummings Tech redesigned its math curriculum for the trades, such as automotive and construction, to make content more relevant, engaging, and accessible for students. By rethinking how math is taught, Franklin Cummings Tech is helping more students stay engaged and successfully progress through its programs.
MDRC × State University of New York – Plattsburgh × Alfred State College × Monroe Community College
The Impact of Coaching for Online Students
Examining the impact of coaching on student learning and success in online programs across the State University of New York
MDRC × State University of New York – Plattsburgh × Alfred State College × Monroe Community College
The Impact of Coaching for Online Students
Project Overview
How can institutions implement coaching programs to better support online students? MDRC partnered with SUNY Plattsburgh, Alfred State College, and Monroe Community College to examine how coaching influences students’ learning and academic success in online programs and across different student populations. In 2025, MDRC published its findings to help support the broader ecosystem engaged in online learning.
MIT Media Lab × Georgia State University × Quinsigamond Community College
AI Tutors for Inclusive, Scalable Personal Student Support
Collaborating with faculty leaders to develop an AI tutor for introductory software engineering courses
MIT Media Lab × Georgia State University × Quinsigamond Community College
AI Tutors for Inclusive, Scalable Personal Student Support
Project Overview
AI tutors could play a transformational role in providing inclusive, personalized, and scalable student support. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, MIT Media Lab, Georgia State University, and Quinsigamond Community College are designing an AI tutor to integrate into introductory software engineering courses. The partnership explores how AI and human tutors can work together to support the unique learning needs of computer science and information systems students from all backgrounds.
Modern States
Making College Credit for All a Reality
Scaling a free online curriculum that prepares learners for the College Board’s College-Level Examination Program
Modern States
Making College Credit for All a Reality
Project Overview
Any learner, anywhere, can take college-level courses and earn college credit for free. Having served more than 900,000 learners, Modern States is scaling its model to provide more students with access to free courses and College Board’s College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam vouchers. By piloting strategies focused on specific geographic locations and learner populations, Modern States aims to reach more learners and expand access to postsecondary education.
Quill
An Innovative Approach for Improving Writing in Higher Education
Enhancing critical thinking through writing in first-year English courses
Quill
An Innovative Approach for Improving Writing in Higher Education
Project Overview
When designed with a strong pedagogical foundation, AI can help students develop as writers and foster critical thinking skills. Since launching, millions of K–12 learners have used Quill’s writing platform. To expand its impact into higher education, Quill has piloted the use of its tools in first-year English courses at Baton Rouge Community College. Results are informing Quill’s strategy to scale its impact to other colleges.
University Innovation Alliance
Collaborating With Faculty to Accelerate Innovation and Transform Learning
Connecting institutions with innovative tools, resources, and professional development to improve student outcomes in first-year STEM courses
University Innovation Alliance
Collaborating With Faculty to Accelerate Innovation and Transform Learning
Project Overview
How can we scale proven innovations to improve student success in first-year courses? The University Innovation Alliance partnered with 13 universities to identify barriers to learning innovation and develop scalable solutions. In one year, 55 faculty redesigned 24 foundational STEM courses, reaching more than 7,000 students and producing tools, resources, and peer learning communities to scale effective teaching. The result: a proven model for accelerating learning innovation across higher education.
Education Design Lab x Harvard Project on Workforce
Leveraging Data and Technology for Community College Systems
Helping community colleges leverage data, technology, and employer partnerships to improve student outcomes and strengthen regional economies
Education Design Lab x Harvard Project on Workforce
Leveraging Data and Technology for Community College Systems
Project Overview
Community college students face an uncertain and shifting labor market, often with limited information and access to training programs that will prepare them for quality jobs. The Education Design Lab and Harvard Project on Workforce are helping community colleges close this gap by building agile systems and micro-credential pathways that lead to long-term career success. Through research, guidance, and design sprints, they are helping colleges leverage data, technology, and employer partnerships to dynamically align with labor markets and strengthen regional economies.
Ivy Tech Community College
Building Indiana’s Credential Ecosystem
Creating a digital ecosystem to track certification attainment and connect credentials to employment outcomes
Ivy Tech Community College
Building Indiana’s Credential Ecosystem
Project Overview
Nearly 2 million Indiana adults lack credentials beyond high school, limiting their earning potential and career advancement. Ivy Tech is creating a digital ecosystem to track certification attainment and connect credentials to employment outcomes. Students, faculty, and advisors will be able to track what certifications they have earned, how those align with their career goals, and what credentials they should pursue. The initiative will also help employers, educators, and policymakers identify gaps and opportunities in Indiana’s talent pipeline.
CredLens
Bridging the Data Gap for Nondegree Credentials
Using credential data to generate actionable insights that promote economic mobility and strengthen workforce development
CredLens
Bridging the Data Gap for Nondegree Credentials
Project Overview
While demand for nondegree credentials is growing at four times the rate of traditional degrees, reliable data on the earnings, employment, and education outcomes associated with those credentials remains scarce. CredLens was built to address that gap, connecting issuer-verified credential records from degree and nondegree programs to high-quality, real-world outcomes data. The result is a clearer path through a fragmented, fast-moving market so that learners can better identify credentials that lead to economic mobility.
Braven
A Strong First Job After Graduation
Expanding a credit-bearing career course that equips students with the skills, confidence, experience, and networks to secure strong first jobs
Braven
A Strong First Job After Graduation
Project Overview
A strong first job includes promotion pathways, employee benefits, and a competitive starting salary. Yet only about 30% of 1.4 million low-income or first-generation college students will secure one after graduation. Braven partners with higher education institutions and employers to provide a credit-bearing career course that gives students the skills, networks, confidence, and experience necessary to secure a strong first job. Braven is scaling its program and has launched its first site in New England at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Campus Evolve x University of Central Florida x Indiana Tech
Demonstrating the Impact of AI Advising on Student Success
Establishing AI advising focused on student outreach and support to broaden access to postsecondary programs
Campus Evolve x University of Central Florida x Indiana Tech
Demonstrating the Impact of AI Advising on Student Success
Project Overview
High-quality advising has been shown to increase retention and student success. Generative AI offers a solution to the challenges of personalization and high student-advisor ratios. Campus Evolve, University of Central Florida, and Indiana Tech established a research-based learning collaborative to improve holistic student advising and student outcomes. Together, they piloted an AI assistant tool co-designed with students and advisors, which has since led to a statewide project in Washington.
DataKind
Clearer Pathways to Career-Aligned Credentials
Using AI and data to help students determine the shortest path to career-aligned credentials
DataKind
Clearer Pathways to Career-Aligned Credentials
Project Overview
One of the major barriers to degree attainment is credit loss when students stop out or transfer between colleges. To address this barrier, DataKind is developing AI-powered solutions that analyze a student’s course credits and identify the most efficient path to a career-aligned credential. This project aims to create a comprehensive playbook for broad access institutions so more students can achieve their educational goals with innovative, data-driven solutions.
Ed Advancement × Virginia State University
Front Porch Portal for Student Success
Creating a centralized platform for campus information, support, and resources to improve student success
Ed Advancement × Virginia State University
Front Porch Portal for Student Success
Project Overview
What if institutions could use an existing technology to guide students straight to the resources they need to succeed? Developed by Ed Advancement in partnership with Virginia State University, the Front Porch Portal is a mobile-friendly platform that consolidates campus information, support, and resources into one place. This streamlining promotes degree persistence, freeing up student time to focus on academics and building strong relationships with faculty, staff, and peers.
ResearchEd
Building Data Capacity for Student Success
Developing tools that help institutions use their own data to drive student success
ResearchEd
Building Data Capacity for Student Success
Project Overview
To ensure higher education fulfills its promise of providing supportive learning environments that lead to credentials of value, institutions need to be able to draw insights from data about how students experience college and where barriers to success exist. ResearchEd is working with three broad access institutions to develop tools that help each college use its own data to improve student outcomes. These tools will be open access, helping other institutions better understand and support their diverse student populations.
State University of New York
Using Data to Drive Student Retention and Completion
Developing an integrated dashboard to scale the Advancing Success in Associate Pathways | Advancing Completion through Engagement model across the State University of New York
State University of New York
Using Data to Drive Student Retention and Completion
Project Overview
Advancing Success in Associate Pathways | Advancing Completion through Engagement (ASAP|ACE) is a proven model for improving student success through a holistic advising program that provides academic, personal, and financial support. The State University of New York (SUNY) is developing a data collection system and online dashboard to provide real-time insights that support advising, program improvement, and decision-making. ASAP|ACE has continued to expand across SUNY and is currently on 44 campuses.
University of Massachusetts Boston x MentorPRO
AI-Enhanced Peer Mentoring
Implementing an AI-enhanced peer mentoring model to expand personalized support and boost student retention
University of Massachusetts Boston x MentorPRO
AI-Enhanced Peer Mentoring
Project Overview
Mentoring is a cornerstone of academic and professional development. MentorPRO’s “human-at-the-helm” approach leverages AI to provide mentors with in-the-moment student information to better support their mentees. MentorPRO is reaching more than 900 first-year students at the University of Massachusetts Boston, with plans to scale across the UMass system in the coming years. By combining trained peer mentors with AI-informed guidance, the partnership aims to improve student retention, academic performance, and overall well-being.
University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation x University of Michigan-Dearborn
Scaling Student Success Across Michigan
Creating a Student Success & Momentum Toolkit to boost retention and graduation rates
University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation x University of Michigan-Dearborn
Scaling Student Success Across Michigan
Project Overview
How can we align cross-campus partnerships, institutional resources, and technology to improve academic momentum, student retention, and career readiness? The University of Michigan’s Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) developed the Student Success & Momentum Toolkit, which leverages innovative university technology and resources to drive student success. The University of Michigan-Dearborn is implementing the toolkit, while CAI is expanding its offerings — laying the groundwork to extend the project’s impact and findings to public institutions across Michigan.
Washington Student Achievement Council
Enhancing College and Financial Aid Access With Community-Centered Chatbots
Expanding access to college and financial aid through a statewide student chatbot in Washington
Washington Student Achievement Council
Enhancing College and Financial Aid Access With Community-Centered Chatbots
Project Overview
How can we create more accessible ways for students and families to navigate the college planning and financial aid process? The Washington Student Achievement Council is refining and expanding OtterBot, a chatbot that helps students with college planning and the financial aid process. By co-branding with local partners and implementing regional engagement strategies, OtterBot has the potential to unlock millions of dollars in available financial aid, removing a major barrier to higher education.
Meet Our Partners
Grantmaking
Investing in the Future of Learning and Work
Since 2023, Axim has provided nearly $32 million in catalytic funding across 44 partners, reaching hundreds of thousands of learners. Over the next three years, we will support more than 100 partnerships to put millions of students on a path to better opportunities.
Total funding for 44 partnerships since 2023
Funding by Partnership Type
Funding by Primary Focus Area
At Axim, we believe that every path should lead to opportunities for learners, their families, and their communities. By investing in bold ideas and ambitious partnerships, we are transforming the education-to-career ecosystem so every learner finds a clear path to a better future.