The Fund provides financial, educational, and emotional support to a small group of excellent students to enable to attend high schools and universities. These students do not have the economic resources that they need in order to be able to devote themselves fully to their studies. Through experience, we have learned the importance of consistent and comprehensive support for such students and the high quality of the results of such support. It is also essential to recognize that the families of our students, though poor, are willing and happy to forgo the income that our students could have earned during their years of study. This is an important reason for comprehensiveness of support. Parents are already sacrificing what, for them, is a substantial portion of family income.
In many Latin American countries, graduation rates from universities are abysmally low, often less than 25%. For students in poverty, there are especially difficult obstacles. These come from medical costs, family emergencies, auxiliary costs, lack of knowledge and experience with universities, and limitations in prior education.
The Fund systematically addresses this range of problems by providing (1) consistent financial backing that goes well beyond scholarships, (2) educational assistance and tutoring, especially in mathematics, and critical reading and writing, and (3) regular consultation about academic and personal concerns.
David's Educational Opportunity Fund 