32 of the 64 current students
graduated from Salinas High Schools,
including 1 from the first graduating
class of Rancho San Juan.
Since our first class in 2008,
136 of the 220 students in our
program have been from Salinas.
100% of our Pay It Forward Scholars are first-generation college students at CSUMB. More than 80% graduate and more than 60% do so in 4 years or less. Half of our Scholars graduate with honors.
By comparison, the national 4-year graduation rate for first- generation college students is 11%. At CSUMB, that number is 28%..
Pay It Forward Mentors are
community leaders in Salinas,
including Salinas City Attorney, Cris
Callihan, Taylor Farms CAO, Tama
Bistrian, and former CHIPSA CEO,
the late Alfred Diaz-Infante.
Pay It Forward Alumni
live and work in Salinas.
They are teachers and
administrators in Salinas
elementary and high
schools and employees
at places like Natividad
Hospital, Hayashi
Wayland, Tanimura &
Antle, and First Tee.
Carmen and Juan Ramirez, graduatesof North Salinas High and CSUMB Since 2008, Pay It Forward
Scholars have provided over
28,000 hours of tutoring and
mentoring Salinas youth.
To date, over 3 million dollars
in scholarship money has been
provided to Pay It Forward
Scholars. As a result 90%
graduate debt-free!
Compare that to the national
average of 65% of students
graduating with an average of
$40,000 in debt!
Pay It Forward Class of 2022