Q2 2017: PelotonU Update

Sarah and I were sitting in a pitch training when she showed me a text.

This one was big. Jared had earned his Bachelor’s degree.

He was the first student I ever pitched PelotonU (in a Burger King dining room, no less) and one of three who formed our inaugural cohort. We’ve watched vice-presidential debates, shared weekend road trips, and played summer softball. Jared’s proof-read my emails, and I’ve edited his poetry.

I know his mom’s fantastic cooking first-hand and have sat late on the porch with his father talking about leadership and education. He’s met my Dad and stepmom, and they ask how he’s doing most every time we talk.

We’ve both almost quit, and both reminded each other of the men we hope to become. I’ve seen him work four jobs and grown up alongside him — both of us learning who we are together over the past five years.

Jared’s fallen in love, gotten married, and now moved to Southeast Asia to pursue his dream job. His last class was finished from a small town outside Bombay. Where Jared was once a mentee, he’s now a friend I seek for wisdom.

That’s why we do this work — because in supportive relationships, our team and our students both begin to change. While we’re excited about speaking on podcasts and presenting at conferences, it’s the individual stories we’re invited into that are the most rewarding part of the work.

Episode 29 - Student Mentoring, the Post-Traditional Learner, and Unbundled Education

To stay accountable to y’all on that work, here’s the numbers and analysis.

Key Metrics

• 82% Persistence (steady from Q1). These are students who began college with PelotonU who are still enrolled or have graduated, and compares to a 16% completion rate for Central Texas part-time students.
• 81% On Time Pace (down 12% from Q1). These students will earn a BA in six years or less, and compares to 28% of Bachelor’s students in Texas who graduate on-time.
• 22 Completions (6 in Q2): One student earned his BA, four students earned their Associate’s degree, and one student passed 60 credits.
• 84 Students Served: (13 started in Q2) with 58 currently in the program.

Ask For Help

• Call Centers: There’s over 20,000 call center jobs in Austin, and we want to help their staff graduate from college.

Do you know folks in management at a local call center?

• Local Media: As more students start to graduate, we want to share their stories with the Austin community.

Do you know a reporter who’d be interested in interviewing a PelotonU student?

Q1 Recap

• Recruitment. We’re thrilled to join the Austin College Access Network (ACAN). 27 students start Academic Onboarding with us in May, our second largest class, due in part to referrals from local non-profits (shoutout to Breakthrough and KIPP Through College). We also continued to invest in student access, by expanding our availability to 9pm during the week, and introducing our south location pilot.
• Financials. We pitched alongside some great local nonprofits at Philanthropitch and received $22,750 in funding to launch our south site. Total revenue was $134,508 ($5,000 over budget). Earned income was 14% of revenue (21% of expenses). Q2 expenses were $96,441 ($11,000 higher than budget). This unplanned spending is a good thing, because it’s related to (and funded by) our planning grant from the Greater Texas Foundation to study expanding our model outside Austin.
• Student Support. Pace is down this quarter, largely due to students transitioning to the BA program at SNHU. The curriculum and standards are even more robust, and we’re seeing more resubmissions before projects are mastered. In response, we’re building new student resources. Holly introduced a career navigation curriculum, Sam built a debt calculator, and Sarah’s onboarding curriculum was presented at an annual SNHU meeting as a national framework for student orientation.
• Fundraising. Our expenses continue to exceed projections, due to additional student support costs related to caseloads and extended hours. It’s cost more than budgeted to staff our office on nights and weekends when our students need to study. Raising funds for this layer of support will be our priority for the second half of this year.

Alongside Jared, we’re also excited to honor the students who started college in July. They include the mom of one of our first seven students, a student who became a citizen in June, the future founder of a non-profit supporting re-entry felons, and an aspiring social worker.

These are the dreams of folks in our community you make real by supporting PelotonU. Thanks for being part of our peloton.

Gratefully,

Hud + the PelotonU Team