Who We Are
Transforming the College Experience for First-Gen Students
The Kessler Scholars Program opens doors for first-generation students from limited-income households, helping them succeed—and thrive—on the path to a four-year degree. We combine financial support with cohort-based community, mentorship, and personalized guidance, ensuring Kessler Scholars feel a true sense of belonging and have the tools to lead with confidence.
Kessler Scholars are part of something bigger: the Kessler Scholars Collaborative, a nationwide network that connects more than 1,000 first-generation college students across the country. Together with our 16 campus partners, we are creating a supportive community for first-generation students that fuels success in college and beyond.
Our Approach
The Kessler Scholars Class of 2024 achieved a 78% four-year graduation rate, outpacing their first-generation peers at their home institutions and nearly tripling the national average for first-generation students.
View the Annual Report (2025)Collaborative Cornerstones
These cornerstones guide our collective work with Kessler Scholar campus partners, students, and alumni, helping us work toward a set of shared goals, promoting learning and innovation across the network, and coming together to enhance the Kessler Scholars student experience.
Support
First-Generation Student Success
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Campus-Based
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What Sets the Kessler Scholars Collaborative Apart?
The Kessler Scholars Collaborative is built on a unique multi-institutional model. At the heart of our work is partnership. We collaborate closely with campus leaders to design and deliver holistic support—combining financial resources, cohort-based engagement, and individualized guidance—so that Kessler Scholars thrive in college and beyond.
Together, we form the Kessler Scholars Collaborative, a national community of practice where campus partners share knowledge, celebrate successes, and tackle challenges collectively, ensuring continuous improvement and stronger outcomes for students. Most importantly, we center student voice—elevating the perspectives of first-generation scholars to shape programs and drive impact.
The Kessler Scholars Collaborative is founded on the idea of collective impact–that higher education institutions are stronger when we work together.
What We Believe
At the Kessler Scholars Collaborative, our mission to close equity gaps and transform the college experience for first-generation, limited-income students drives everything we do.
Put First-Gen Students First
We believe first-generation students are a source of strength and transformation on every campus. Our work is driven by an unwavering commitment to elevating their voices, honoring their experiences, and supporting their success.
Promote Learning & Growth
We embrace curiosity, reflection, and continuous improvement. By learning from both challenges and successes, we create space for innovation and growth—for students, campus partners, and ourselves.
Seek True Collaboration
We know progress happens when every voice is heard. We foster authentic partnerships, built on trust and shared purpose, to advance first-generation student success together.
Foster Equity & Inclusion
We are committed to building more just, inclusive, and equitable opportunities that empower first-generation students to thrive on campus, in their communities, and beyond.
Our Story
The national impact of the Kessler Scholars Collaborative began with a simple but powerful question: Beyond financial resources, what kinds of support mattered most for talented students from lower-income families as they pursued a four-year college degree?
In 2008, University of Michigan alumni Judy Kessler Wilpon and Fred Wilpon launched the Kessler Scholars scholarship fund at U-M, providing last-dollar scholarships to more than 200 students over its first eight years. Yet they envisioned something greater: a program that didn’t just open the door to college but ensured students could thrive once enrolled.
That vision came to life in 2017, when Michigan welcomed 35 first-generation, limited-income students into a reimagined Kessler Scholars Program. No longer just a scholarship, it became a comprehensive, cohort-based model—pairing financial aid with community, mentoring, and individualized guidance—designed to support students academically, personally, and professionally. That first cohort showed the program’s impact and promise, graduating at rates higher than their first-generation peers and on par with continuing-generation students.
Inspired by this success—and Fred Wilpon’s own experience as the first person in his family to earn a four-year college degree—the family expanded the model nationwide. The Kessler Scholars Collaborative was established in 2020, with program operations at six campuses. A partnership between the Wilpon Family Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies expanded the Collaborative’s reach to 16 institutions in 2022, advancing a national movement to support and elevate first-generation, limited-income college students.
Our Team
Shakima M. Clency, PhD
National Director of Campus
Partnerships and Student Success
Gail Gibson, PhD
Executive Director
The Kessler Scholars Collaborative operates as a direct initiative of the Judy and Fred Wilpon Family Foundation. Support for the Collaborative and campus-based Kessler Scholars Programs is provided by the Wilpon Family Foundation and by Bloomberg Philanthropies (Bloomberg.org)