Giving Compass' Take:

• In this first-person essay for The 74, a student from Newark's KIPP charter school network discusses the difficulties of matching up low-income students with colleges that fit their skills and needs.

• Financial aid is often not enough to address the issues described in this piece — college matching requires holistic solutions. How can nonprofits contribute to the process in a constructive way?

• Here's why the best ways to fix college admissions are probably illegal.

I am not one of the KIPP kids who finished college in four years. I will not be one of the KIPP kids to finish in six years, either.

On top of the challenges that came with being a low-income student, the college I attended was not the best fit for me and heightened difficulties to persist. I am hopeful for the fate of students like me, especially now that Bill and Melinda Gates recently pledged $92 million for organizations, like KIPP Foundation, to get it right.

In Newark, New Jersey, where I grew up, commendable efforts are underway to raise higher education attainment rates citywide. Charter-district collaboration on this issue — staff from three Newark district public high schools attended KIPP’s College Counseling Institute in July to learn about college match (also funded by Gates) — seems promising.

Pairing low-income, first-generation college students with their best college match is the difference between making it to college and making it through college. College match is hard. Even KIPP got it wrong.

Read the full article about matching first-generation, low-income students to the right college by Kei-Sygh Thomas at The 74.