Free on a Mission to Connect Students to Opportunities
Every student deserves to feel hopeful about their future. Encourage is free because we believe access shouldn’t be a barrier to opportunity.
We help students understand their options—college, career, and military—and, if they choose, connect them with colleges and educational partners who can offer a meaningful path forward.
How Encourage Is Free
Encourage is supported by colleges, universities, and educational organizations nationwide — big and small, including many in your region — that partner with our higher education division, Encoura.
Encoura’s partners ensure that Encourage remains entirely free for educators, parents, and students, without ads, fees, or hidden costs.
Optional Recruitment = More Connections
When students opt in to recruitment, they gain access to opportunities that align with their goals.
Through our higher ed division, Encoura, they can be connected with a trusted network of colleges, universities, and educational organizations.
These opportunities are shared only for educational purposes, helping students take meaningful steps toward their future.
Colleges & Universities
Connect students with opportunities they didn’t know existed but fit them perfectly.
Financial Planning Resources
Help students find and apply for student loans and scholarships.
Enrichment Programs
Give students opportunities to expand learning through travel, camps, extracurriculars, and more.
Academic Support
Offer students tutoring, remedial help, and preparation for college entrance exams.
Community Service Opportunities
Help students engage in civic activities and build pathways to meaningful service.
Affordable Educational Materials
Provide students with access to curriculum resources, books, online programs, and literary magazines.
Recognition Programs
Celebrate and motivate students by honoring their high achievements.
Career Exploration
Help students discover career paths, employment opportunities, and military options.
Closing Gaps for First-Generation Students
Research from Eduventures® analyzing 5.8 million students who participated in optional recruitment like Encourage’s program shows that first-generation students are just as likely to enroll in college as their peers with college-educated parents.
Sometimes, knowing that a college is interested is all it takes to go from “I’m not college material” to “I belong here.”
Recruitment Closes Gaps for
First-Generation Students
The Eduventures® research on 5.8 million students shows that optional recruitment programs like Encourage can eliminate the enrollment gap between first-generation and continuing-generation college students.
Boosting Confidence with "Interested in Me"
For students who participate in recruitment, they can see when a college expresses interest, through our unique "Interest In Me" feature - helping them feel seen, supported, and inspired.
Whether students opt in to recruitment or not, the Encourage experience remains the same. We don’t prioritize our partnering colleges and universities in the college matches, so they can be sure that matches are for them.
“I love seeing what schools match with what I want, seeing what schools have the major I want to go into, and seeing what schools are interested in me.”
— 11th Grader, Massachusetts, Nov. 2024
Committed to Protecting Student Data
- Participation in recruitment is always optional
- Student data is only used for educational purposes — to present opportunities like college matches and scholarships
- Never sold to commercial marketers
- Students can update or revoke sharing preferences any time in the app
