This Giving Tuesday, Invest in a Student's Future

Key Takeaways

• Giving Tuesday (Dec. 1, 2026) is a global day and movement built on the idea that every act of generosity counts. Investing in the future of disadvantaged students is one of the best cause areas to support.
• First-generation and nontraditional college students face steep, often invisible barriers: unfamiliar application and financial aid processes, financial strain, academic preparedness gaps, and isolation.
• Career barriers mirror educational ones. Low-income students of color tend to have less confidence and fewer role models to help them reach their goals.
• Psychological support matters as much as financial support. Guidance and encouragement from mentors and role models help students believe a brighter future is possible.
• On Point for College has spent 25+ years removing barriers to success for students in Central New York, offering free services from application through career placement.
• Donors have many ways to help: one-time or recurring gifts, employer matching, stock donations, legacy giving, volunteering, or simply spreading awareness.

What Is Giving Tuesday?

Giving Tuesday began in 2012 as a day set aside to encourage people to do good. It has since grown into a year-round global movement that inspires people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity, spanning more than 100 country-level movements and countless local communities.

This year, Giving Tuesday falls on Dec. 1, 2026, a day to direct that generosity toward causes that change lives.

If you want to make a difference but are wondering about the best places to donate on Giving Tuesday, consider investing in the futures of young people who face practical barriers to higher education and job training programs.

Here’s what those obstacles can look like and how education and career counseling nonprofits empower students to break them down.

The Barriers Disadvantaged and Marginalized Students Face

Higher Education

First-Generation College Students

The barriers for college students without a family history of higher education start long before their first class. First-generation students must navigate college applications, financial aid applications, and enrollment largely on their own. They’re often also managing financial strain, academic preparedness gaps from attending under-resourced grade schools, and the isolation that comes with being the first in their family to attempt this path.

Nontraditional College Students

There’s a different but overlapping set of barriers to academic achievement for adult students: juggling jobs, childcare, and other responsibilities while trying to afford tuition and navigate unfamiliar college systems, frequently without the institutional guidance younger students receive.

Students of Color

The National Center for Education Statistics has found that as of 2022, roughly 13% of Americans ages 18 to 24 were neither enrolled in school nor working, with Native American, Black, Pacific Islander, and Hispanic youth disproportionately affected. That’s often because these groups experience financial barriers to college for low-income students at higher rates than their white peers. Large numbers of academically qualified students don't enroll in top colleges due to cost alone.

Psychological barriers matter just as much as financial ones. Researcher Dante Dixson's work shows that students from marginalized groups often lack the everyday messages of possibility that fuel ambition — role models, encouragement, and a belief that a brighter future is actually reachable. Without that sense of hope, even capable students can quietly lower their expectations for themselves.

Access matters beyond individual outcomes, too. Diverse, well-supported student bodies strengthen the civic and democratic fabric of campuses and communities, giving young people from different backgrounds the chance to learn alongside one another and develop the skills needed to engage across difference.

Career Preparation

Research on low-income students of color has found no meaningful gap in career aspirations compared with their white peers. Instead, the gap shows up in confidence about actually reaching those goals. Limited exposure to professional role models, fewer family connections to high-quality workplaces, and the fear of not belonging in unfamiliar fields all push capable young people toward settling for less than they're capable of.

Career and higher education counseling programs that succeed often share common ingredients: financial support, mentors who share students' backgrounds, and a community that pairs encouragement with high expectations.

How On Point for College Removes Barriers to Success for Young People

On Point for College has spent more than two decades breaking down exactly these obstacles for students in Central New York. Since 1999, the organization has helped thousands of young people overcome barriers to college and meaningful work. Most students served are low-income, first-generation, and between the ages of 17 and 29, and many face added challenges such as refugee or immigrant status, housing insecurity, foster care involvement, or parenting responsibilities.

On Point's many supportive services — including access to college and job certifications, education success support, and career planning and placement — remain free to students. They’re sustained by donors, foundations, corporate partners, and public funding. Graduates go on to become doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, firefighters, business owners, and scientists, strengthening the communities they came from.

Ways To Give This Giving Tuesday

On Point offers a wide variety of ways to support its students, so you can choose the method that works best for you:

• One-time or monthly donations to fund advising, financial-aid assistance, and mentorship
• Employer matching gifts, which can double the impact of your donation
• Stock or appreciated securities, a tax-smart way to give
• Legacy or planned gifts, memorial and tribute gifts, or qualified charitable distributions from a required minimum distribution
• Volunteering your time as a mentor, tutor, or administrative helper
• Spreading the word about the barriers first-generation, nontraditional, immigrant, and low-income students face

Every gift, large or small, helps turn ambition into a diploma, a credential, or a career. This Giving Tuesday, consider putting your generosity behind a student's future.

Break Down Barriers to Bright Futures This Giving Tuesday With On Point for College

On Point helps traditional and nontraditional students in the Central New York region overcome the barriers to higher education and careers. We support our students from application through graduation and beyond, empowering them to fulfill their dreams and achieve their potential, which ultimately benefits both the individuals and our community.

Our Education Services and Career Services teams provide a range of supportive resources designed to help On Point students and graduates find the right college or university, training program, job, and “life” things in between. But we can’t do it without you. Consider investing in accessible higher education and job training programs for young people facing barriers to success by participating in our Legacy Giving program or our many other ways to give!