GRADUATION & EMPLOYMENT REPORT 2020-2024
The finish line is financial.
Five years of data on 4,296 Last Mile awardees say the same thing every way you cut it: the last barrier to a degree isn't ability. It's a few hundred dollars, at the wrong moment. Here's the evidence.
Sarah A. Outland, PhD · Melissa Osborne, PhD · Batool Zaidi, PhD
THE HEADLINE
Completion isn't random. It responds to design.
When financial security is restored near the finish line, students graduate, regardless of income, race, gender, or institution type. This report is the data behind that claim: what drives completion, what happens after graduation, and where the model still has work to do.
80% — graduation rate, holds across every demographic cut
51% — tech employment rate, full gender parity
4,296 / 3,134 — students analyzed / graduates tracked
WHAT THE DATA SHOWS
Six findings, one pattern.
78% = 78% — Pell and non-Pell awardees graduate at identical rates (nationally, Pell trails by ~20 points)
84% vs. 74% — awards funded within 6 months of graduation vs. 19+ months out
76% → 97% — graduation rate climbs from sub-$600 awards to awards over $5,000
51% / 51% — women and men land tech jobs at the same rate
62% vs. 35% — tech employment with an internship vs. without
88% / 59% — bespoke, needs-tailored awards beat the program average on both graduation and employment
HOW WE KNOW
Built to hold up.
4,296 awardee records, anticipated graduation through December 2024. 3,134 graduate records with tracked employment, sourced via LinkedIn starting Fall 2025. A 1,571-student subset isolates bespoke, needs-tailored awards against fixed emergency awards under $600. Every figure in this report is benchmarked against NCES, IPEDS, National Student Clearinghouse, and BLS data where a comparable figure exists.
WHO WE SERVE
Last Mile's population looks like the innovation workforce needs it to — not like the students traditional scholarship criteria screen for.
51% women / 46% men / 3% other gender
49% Pell-eligible
80% students of color
50/50 split between 2-year and 4-year institutions. Concentrated in computer & information tech, engineering, and cybersecurity.
The students merit aid wasn't built to catch.
DEGREE COMPLETION
The economics are almost absurd.
Last Mile
4-year institutions — 89%
2-year institutions — 72%
Pell-eligible — 78%
Non-Pell — 78%
National
4-year institutions — 65%
2-year institutions — 39%
Pell-eligible — ~58%
Non-Pell — 78%
Women graduate at 82%, men at 77%. Every racial group graduates at 75%+. Students reporting food or housing insecurity graduate at the same rate as everyone else.
AFTER THE DEGREE
Graduation is the finish line. It's not the whole race.
51% tech employment
51% / 51% — gender parity
62% vs. 35% — with vs. without an internship
–5 to –10 pts — Pell graduates trail non-Pell into tech roles
This is the one gap that reopens after graduation. Last Mile closes it at the degree. Closing it in the workforce is next.
THE RETURN
A few hundred dollars, at the right moment, changes the outcome.
Average award, graduates: $1,634
Average award, non-graduates: $922
Needs-tailored awards outperform fixed emergency awards at every size, including under $600 — flexibility drives return as much as funding level does.
THE TAKEAWAY
The barrier is financial. It's solvable.
Last Mile's model doesn't just improve completion — it narrows the gaps that usually widen at graduation, because it meets students at the exact moment those gaps end an education for good. That's design, not luck. The open question is what happens after: equity at the degree hasn't yet become equity in the workforce. That's the next phase of this research.
FOR RESEARCHERS & PRESS
CITE THIS RESEARCH
Outland, S.A., Osborne, M., & Zaidi, B. (2026). Dimensions of Graduation and Employment Outcomes for Last Mile Education Fund Awardees, 2020–2024. Last Mile Education Fund.
Permalink: lastmile-ed.org/research/graduation-outcomes
Contact: research@lastmile-ed.org
The talent pipeline doesn't need to be wider. It needs to stop leaking.
The students who will build, secure, and direct the innovation economy are already enrolled. Last Mile makes sure they graduate.