From a Dream to a Movement: Five Years of Impact with Last Mile Education Fund
By Ruthe Farmer, Founder & CEO
The largest untapped pool of technical talent in the U.S. is hiding in plain sight — students already in college, striving toward tech and engineering degrees, but vulnerable to being derailed by modest, unexpected financial hurdles. In 2019, we founded the Last Mile Education Fund to stop this hidden leak in the tech talent pipeline—and today, that mission has grown into a national movement.
This 5-Year Impact Report is more than a set of numbers—it’s a testament to the resilience of striving students, the power of timely intervention, and the collective will to rewrite the story for thousands of financially vulnerable aspiring technologists. I’m thrilled to share the milestones we’ve reached, the lessons we’ve learned, and the road ahead.
The Vision: Supporting & Launching High-potential Talent
From the beginning, our mission has been clear: close critical financial and career support gaps for college students in their “last mile” to graduation—particularly in high-demand tech fields. We chose to focus not on those beginning their college journey, but on those already on the path who simply need support getting to the finish line.
We know that nearly half of U.S. students in the lowest income quartile leave college without a credential. But Last Mile students defy those odds. With an average investment of less than $3000, Last Mile students graduate at a rate of 74%—far above the national average for similarly resourced peers.
The Results: Big Returns from Small Investments
Through 2024, we’ve invested more than $11 million in over 9000 individual students in the ‘last mile’ to a technical degree, supporting them with tuition assistance, emergency funds, tech tools, rent, utility payments, and more. This wasn’t charity—it was investment.
Our data-informed social return on investment (sROI) model reveals staggering outcomes: a $1 investment generates a 14x return in the first year alone. Over ten years, the projected return is 246x. That’s higher earnings, more wealth creation, greater tax contributions, and reduced reliance on public support—for the student and society alike. Students like Jada, who was able to drop two of her three part-time jobs after receiving our support and watched her GPA soar. Or Gentle, who discovered Last Mile on TikTok, graduated from NYU debt-free, and now gives back as a mentor and ambassador. These stories are proof that abundance—when applied strategically—transforms lives.
The Students: Determined, yet Overlooked
Last Mile students reflect the true diversity of America’s talent. They are 39% Black/African American, 23% Hispanic/Latiné, 18% white, and 6% Asian. Over half are first-generation college students, and 11% support dependents. More than 60% experience food insecurity; one-third face housing instability.
These students aren’t struggling because they lack ability—they’re struggling because our systems weren’t designed to support them. But when we believe in them, invest in them, and meet them where they are, the results speak for themselves.
“It reminded me that a lot of my issues were financial rather than school simply being too difficult. Gave me more confidence in myself to continue and to feel like I deserved a better chance than the one I was given. ”
The Model: Agile, Abundance-Minded
Last Mile is decidedly not a scholarship. We don’t ask students to perform their poverty or jump through unnecessary hoops to qualify. We move quickly, providing support within days. We allow students to ask for help again, if they need it. We listen to their needs and treat them with dignity.
We offer unrestricted cash awards and review every application individually. We provide funds to stabilize the student financially and then offer post-award Launch Support and connections to our partners. And we're working with employers to find and support aiming for key in-demand roles like cybersecurity, biotech, skilled trades, semiconductors and more.
The Ecosystem: Community-Powered, Student-Centered
We couldn’t do this alone. From our early champions to major philanthropic and corporate investors, our work is fueled by collective action. We partner with tech employers, higher ed institutions, and advocacy organizations to create pathways into the workforce and drive systems change.
Our ecosystem is growing—and our students are giving back, becoming ambassadors, mentors, volunteers, and donors. This virtuous circle of investment and reinvestment is core to our vision.
The System: Built for Privilege, in Need of Change
Last Mile students are operating within a structure that benefits those with privilege, while disadvantaging and dismissing students lacking a financial safety net. As a result, the system overlooks a significant amount of untapped talent by only selectively supporting the highest achieving of this talent. That’s why Last Mile is leveraging our data to inform policy. We’re advocating to eliminate scholarship displacement, require equitable compensation for research and teaching assistants, and eliminate surprise costs that disproportionately affect lower-resourced students. We’re making the case for upfront funding instead of reimbursement models that exclude those without access to capital or credit.
One of our proudest recent wins? Influencing the National Science Foundation to increase computing-related REU stipends, unlocking up to $10 million more in annual support for undergraduate researchers.
The Future: Scaling for Sustainable Impact
Our goal is ambitious but achievable: invest in 10,000 students every year—representing 70% of technical talent in their ‘last mile’ at risk of leaving due to financial shocks. With $30 million in annual funding, we can turn this vision into reality.
We’re building tools to scale career prep and advising. We’re collecting longitudinal data to measure graduation and employment outcomes. And we’re forming direct hiring pipelines with employers to launch our graduates into the tech workforce.
As we look ahead, we are laser-focused on maintaining our high-efficiency, high-impact model while growing responsibly. With continued investment, we can ensure that no student must choose between groceries and graduation.
The Invitation: Join Us
Last Mile is not just a fund—it’s a movement. It’s a collective belief in the untapped potential of students who have always been capable, just never fully supported. It’s a challenge to systems that perpetuate inequality. And it’s a promise: that with the right intervention at the right time, we can change the course of someone’s life and create a flow of talent into the innovation economy that serves us all
If you’re reading this, you are part of that story. Thank you for being on this journey with us.
Let’s keep driving forward—together.
With gratitude,
Ruthe Farmer
Founder & CEO, Last Mile Education Fund