2025 ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT
From closing gaps to building systems.
In 2025, Last Mile supported 4,213 students across the country, surpassed $16 million in total student investment, and strengthened the national infrastructure connecting financially vulnerable STEM students to graduation and the workforce.
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
2025 was an inflection point.
What began as a rapid-response fund for students facing urgent financial barriers has become something larger: a national model for degree completion and workforce development.
Last Mile expanded its reach, strengthened its data and technology infrastructure, and launched new partnerships connecting student persistence with critical workforce needs. Through it all, the model remained the same: move quickly, trust students to know what they need, and invest at the moment that investment can change the outcome.
4,213 — students supported in 2025
13,287 — students supported since 2020
$16.4M — invested directly in students
1,119 — institutions represented
80% — confirmed graduation rate
30% — say Last Mile significantly or decisively affected graduation
THE MILEMARKERS
National reach. Individual precision.
Last Mile supported students at more than 1,100 institutions, including community colleges, four-year universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities.
The reach is national. The intervention is personal. Every award responds to a specific barrier standing between a student and the next step toward completion.
$1,250 — average award
$3,073 — average Bridge and Last Mile award
+30% — year-over-year growth in students supported
50 states and U.S. territories — represented across Last Mile’s student community
Top five funded states:
Texas
Michigan
California
Florida
New York
THE STUDENTS
The students traditional aid was not built to catch.
Last Mile students are close to completing high-demand STEM degrees, but financial vulnerability continues to shape what opportunities they can access and whether they can remain enrolled.
These students are not short on ability, commitment, or ambition. They are navigating food and housing insecurity, unreliable technology, family responsibilities, and financial systems that rarely respond at the speed their circumstances require.
Student population:
49% — Pell Grant recipients
59% — first-generation college students
61% — experiencing food insecurity
33% — experiencing housing insecurity
22% — supporting dependents
32% — lacking a reliable device
22% — lacking reliable internet
15% — living with a disability
Student demographics:
80% — students of color
47% — women
51% — men
2% — nonbinary students
Financial vulnerability is a circumstance, not a measure of potential.
THE DESTINATION
Last Mile-funded students graduate at an 80% rate, well above the national average and nearly twice the completion rate of students with similar financial resources.
That outcome holds across groups that typically experience significant completion gaps. Pell and non-Pell recipients both graduate at 78%. Students experiencing food or housing insecurity achieve employment outcomes comparable to those of their peers.
Graduation and employment grid:
80% — confirmed graduation rate
78% / 78% — graduation rate for Pell and non-Pell students
68% — overall employment rate
51% — employed in technology roles
72% — employment rate among four-year graduates
57% — tech employment rate among four-year graduates
Nearly 7,000 Last Mile alumni now form a growing community of graduates, mentors, ambassadors, and early donors.
“Last Mile graduates come to us not only with technical skills, but with grit, resilience, and determination. They are workforce-ready from day one.”
Oona King
Chief Economic Opportunity Officer, Uber
Students do not just stay enrolled. They finish and move forward.
FOR GRADUATES
The degree changes the earnings trajectory.
$85,516 — Last Mile graduate starting salary
$23,119 — some-college-no-degree starting earnings
$887K — 10-year income and wealth gain per graduate
By year 10, the model projects $82,000 in cumulative savings for a Last Mile graduate, compared with $19,000 for the counterfactual, with the graduate’s student loans paid off by year eight.
THE ABUNDANCE APPROACH
Timing and trust change outcomes.
Traditional aid systems are often built around scarcity: limited dollars, narrow eligibility requirements, long decision timelines, and merit filters that assess students as risks.
Last Mile begins somewhere else. We ask what stands between a capable student and completion, then respond with the right support at the moment it matters.
We do not ask students to perform poverty or prove that they are worthy of investment. We validate financial need, trust students to understand their own circumstances, and provide unrestricted cash gifts that do not displace scholarships or create tax consequences.
Model principles:
Inclusive — no GPA or institution-based restrictions
Unrestricted — cash gifts based on what the student actually needs
Agile — emergency support delivered within days
Reliable — students may receive additional support when circumstances change
Dignity-focused — need is validated through FAFSA and individualized review
Abundance-minded — eligible students are funded based on need and available resources, not forced into scarcity-driven competition
We do not ask, “Who deserves support?” We ask, “What will it take to get you to the finish line?”
HOW IT WORKS
The right funding for the barrier in front of the student.
Last Mile provides a continuum of support spanning urgent needs, degree completion, career-building opportunities, and the transition into employment.
Emergency Fund — up to $595Overcomes short-term obstacles that threaten immediate enrollment or academic progress
Bridge Fund — up to $4,500Addresses potentially catastrophic financial barriers or unlocks critical career-building opportunities
Last Mile Fund — up to $10,000Covers tuition and other expenses required to complete the final credits of a degree
Launch Support
Extends beyond graduation through career preparation, skill-building, certifications, and employer networks
Theory of change:
Financial stability → persistence → degree completion → workforce entry → economic mobility
Immediate relief gives students space to focus. That stability supports stronger academic and career outcomes. The result is not simply a completed degree, but a durable pathway into the innovation workforce.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
When students lack food, housing, transportation, technology, or money for tuition, they are also locked out of the experiences that shape career outcomes: internships, conferences, certifications, professional memberships, mentorship, and employer networks.
Last Mile stabilizes students first, enabling them to take full advantage of the education and workforce ecosystem already around them.
For employers confronting persistent shortages in semiconductors, cybersecurity, manufacturing, and other technical fields, Last Mile strengthens the final link in the talent pipeline: helping students already pursuing the right skills complete their degrees and transition into the workforce.
The Semiconductor Pathways Fund
In 2025, Last Mile launched the Semiconductor Pathways Fund, a $20 million national coalition designed to keep 6,700 semiconductor students on track to graduation by 2028.
Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA Foundation, AMD, and Cadence came together around a shared, pre-competitive strategy: rather than compete only for the graduates who make it through, invest earlier to ensure more students reach the workforce.
The innovation is not only the capital. It is the collective architecture that allows industry leaders to become co-builders of the workforce they need.
Completion is a talent strategy.
FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP
As Last Mile has grown, we have invested in the systems, expertise, and oversight required to manage that growth responsibly. Strong internal controls, independent audits, active board governance, and continuous impact measurement ensure that resources remain aligned with donor intent and student need.
Revenue distribution:
46% — corporate grants
33% — foundation grants
13% — in-kind and other revenue
8% — individual donors
Where the dollars go:
85% — programs
12% — general administration
3% — fundraising
Individual giving:
198 — individual donors
$868 — average individual donation
Transparency shows not only where the money went, but what it made possible.
Growth matched by accountability.
WHAT COMES NEXT
In 2026, Last Mile is building the systems, partnerships, and evidence needed to convert a proven intervention into lasting completion and workforce infrastructure.
Our priorities:
Expand longitudinal tracking and data systems
Follow the full arc of student outcomes, from award to graduation, employment, and reinvestment, creating a stronger evidence base for policy and philanthropic decision-making.
Deepen employer partnerships and alumni reinvestment
Build stronger pathways into high-demand careers while creating opportunities for graduates to return as mentors, advocates, connectors, and donors.
Build targeted funds for critical industries
Apply the Last Mile model across sectors where workforce demand is high and late-stage student attrition is especially costly.
Scale without losing speed, trust, or dignity
Strengthen the infrastructure behind the model while protecting the student-centered principles that make it work.
“We’re not waiting for systems to change before students succeed. We’re changing the system by proving what works.”
Ruthe Farmer
Founder and CEO, Last Mile Education Fund
Last Mile turns persistence into graduation, and graduation into impact. Together, we can ensure that financial hardship does not determine who gets to finish a degree, enter the innovation workforce, or help build what comes next.
From proof to scale.
See the people, partnerships, and progress behind the numbers.
Explore the complete 2025 Annual Impact Report for student stories, detailed outcomes, program data, financial information, and the partners helping Last Mile build a stronger path from college to the innovation workforce.