Pack Your Backpack with the Tools You Need to Succeed This School Year

August 13, 2025 | By NRCF Team

August is Back-To-School Month, and this is a time that can be both excit­ing and stress­ful for stu­dents of all ages and back­grounds.

Being pre­pared with school sup­plies is one thing, but what about prepar­ing men­tal­ly, emo­tion­al­ly, and finan­cial­ly for the year ahead?

Sto­ries like Nation­al Rain­bow Schol­ar­ship Recip­i­ent (NRCF) M’Niya reveal the strength and per­sis­tence it takes to pur­sue high­er edu­ca­tion after grow­ing up in fos­ter care, expe­ri­enc­ing home­less­ness, and nav­i­gat­ing men­tal health strug­gles. Now study­ing kine­si­ol­o­gy, she is deter­mined to use her edu­ca­tion to give back to oth­er youth who face sim­i­lar obsta­cles.

Anoth­er recip­i­ent, a bisex­u­al Mex­i­can Amer­i­can woman, is cur­rent­ly attend­ing com­mu­ni­ty col­lege in Cal­i­for­nia, work­ing toward a career in com­put­er sci­ence while care­ful­ly pro­tect­ing her iden­ti­ty from her fam­i­ly. She’s not yet out to her par­ents but finds strength through an affirm­ing friend group, rep­re­sen­ta­tion in Lati­na LGBTQ+ men­tors, and the sup­port of NRCF. For her, finan­cial aid is just one piece of the puz­zle. Com­mu­ni­ty, men­tor­ship, and vis­i­bil­i­ty are equal­ly life chang­ing.

Their sto­ries show the range of chal­lenges LGBTQ+ stu­dents face and the impact NRCF can have on their lives.

The chal­lenges LGBTQ+ stu­dents face

Sta­tis­tics show that 28% of LGBTQ+ youth expe­ri­ence hous­ing insta­bil­i­ty or home­less­ness due to parental rejec­tion or con­flict relat­ed to their sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion or gen­der iden­ti­ty (The Trevor Project, 2023). Addi­tion­al­ly, near­ly one in three trans­gen­der and non­bi­na­ry youth report being unable to access men­tal health care due to parental sup­port being with­drawn or denied (The Trevor Project, 2023).

These chal­lenges don’t end in ado­les­cence. LGBTQ+ col­lege stu­dents are over four times more like­ly to report finan­cial stress due to a lack of fam­i­ly sup­port (Williams Insti­tute, 2020).

The costs of col­lege can be espe­cial­ly steep for LGBTQ+ stu­dents who are nav­i­gat­ing emo­tion­al hard­ship and finan­cial inde­pen­dence ear­li­er than their peers. LGBTQ+ stu­dents are often in a dif­fi­cult posi­tion to begin the school year rel­a­tive to their straight coun­ter­parts. Every stu­dent deserves a fair chance at suc­ceed­ing in high­er edu­ca­tion, regard­less of their sex­u­al or gen­der iden­ti­ty.

What resources are avail­able to help stu­dents suc­ceed?

The Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund (NRCF) exists to sup­port stu­dents who iden­ti­fy as part of the LGBTQ+ com­mu­ni­ty, whether or not they have pub­licly dis­closed their sex­u­al iden­ti­ty. It’s one of the first schol­ar­ships of its kind to offer LGBTQ+ stu­dents finan­cial sup­port with­out need­ing to com­pro­mise their pri­va­cy.

NRCF is designed to be a safe space for all stu­dents who are not ready to share this part of them­selves with their fam­i­ly or friends, as well as those who are out about their sex­u­al iden­ti­ty but also need the finan­cial sup­port to pur­sue high­er edu­ca­tion.

NRCF schol­ar­ships can be used at four-year col­leges, com­mu­ni­ty col­leges, and voca­tion­al schools, mak­ing high­er edu­ca­tion more acces­si­ble regard­less of the path stu­dents choose.

Why col­lege access and afford­abil­i­ty mat­ter for LGBTQ+ stu­dents
In 2023 and 2024, the cost of attend­ing a non­prof­it pri­vate col­lege in Cal­i­for­nia reached $75,000 per year, while pub­lic options like UC and CSU aver­aged $38,000 and $33,000, respectively—even after adjust­ing for infla­tion (PPIC). While many stu­dents receive finan­cial aid, costs such as tuition, hous­ing and food remain a heavy bur­den. These bar­ri­ers are even steep­er for LGBTQ+ stu­dents who lack fam­i­ly sup­port, high­light­ing the need for schol­ar­ships like NRCF.

Col­lege pro­vides oppor­tu­ni­ty

Despite the chal­lenges, col­lege remains one of the most pow­er­ful tools for upward mobil­i­ty and self-dis­cov­ery. For LGBTQ+ stu­dents, high­er edu­ca­tion offers more than aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ment. It can also mean free­dom, safe­ty and com­mu­ni­ty. Col­lege can pro­vide:

  • A qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion that expands knowl­edge and unlocks real-world oppor­tu­ni­ties
  • Access to affirm­ing spaces and peers, reduc­ing iso­la­tion
  • Con­nec­tions through cam­pus groups, intern­ships and men­tor­ship
  • Greater eco­nom­ic sta­bil­i­ty as col­lege grad­u­ates earn sig­nif­i­cant­ly more over their life­time than those with­out degrees
  • Oppor­tu­ni­ties to shape the future, build lead­er­ship skills, and engage in activism

A col­lege edu­ca­tion can be the first step toward a life where LGBTQ+ stu­dents feel sup­port­ed, empow­ered, and empow­ered to suc­ceed.

Why this access mat­ters

In the Unit­ed States, over 18.4 mil­lion stu­dents were enrolled in col­lege in Spring 2025, with under­grad­u­ate enroll­ment grow­ing by 3.5% year over year (NSC Research Cen­ter).

In Cal­i­for­nia alone, 2.68 mil­lion stu­dents are cur­rent­ly enrolled in pub­lic and pri­vate insti­tu­tions (Uni­vS­tats), and 62% of Cal­i­for­nia high school grad­u­ates pur­sue col­lege with­in a year of grad­u­at­ing (PPIC).

These num­bers reflect a strong desire for education—but not every stu­dent starts on equal foot­ing. Schol­ar­ships like NRCF help close the gap for LGBTQ+ stu­dents who may face added finan­cial and emo­tion­al bur­dens on their path to high­er learn­ing.

Want to Make a Dif­fer­ence?

Here’s how you can sup­port LGBTQ+ stu­dents: