At 15 years old, Des became a ward of the state.

From that moment on, they nav­i­gat­ed life large­ly on their own, bal­anc­ing school, work, health chal­lenges and the real­i­ties of adult­hood with­out the sup­port sys­tem many stu­dents take for grant­ed.

Today, Des is prepar­ing to begin a mas­ter’s degree in social work at Cal Poly Hum­boldt after grad­u­at­ing with two degrees and a 3.8 GPA.

They cred­it much of that suc­cess to some­thing many stu­dents need but too often lack: sta­bil­i­ty.

For Des, that sta­bil­i­ty came through a schol­ar­ship from the Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund. Cre­at­ed to help LGBTQ+ stu­dents and allies over­come bar­ri­ers to high­er edu­ca­tion, the fund exists because finan­cial hard­ship, fam­i­ly rejec­tion and oth­er chal­lenges can make earn­ing a degree feel out of reach. Thanks to the gen­eros­i­ty of donors, stu­dents receive more than finan­cial sup­port. They gain the sta­bil­i­ty to stay in school, pur­sue their goals and build futures where they can give back to oth­ers

“As stu­dents, we’re con­stant­ly mak­ing deci­sions about what bills can wait and what can’t,” Des said. “This schol­ar­ship meant I could spend more time study­ing instead of wor­ry­ing about how I was going to make it through the semes­ter.”

As a first-gen­er­a­tion, dis­abled and queer stu­dent, Des under­stood that deter­mi­na­tion alone was­n’t enough to earn a degree. Like many LGBTQ+ stu­dents, they could­n’t rely on the finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty or fam­i­ly sup­port that many of his peers take for grant­ed. Per­se­ver­ance mat­tered, but so did hav­ing the resources to remain in school and focus on build­ing a future.

Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund’s schol­ar­ship, dis­trib­uted across both semes­ters, pro­vid­ed con­sis­tent finan­cial sup­port through­out the aca­d­e­m­ic year. That struc­ture helped Des bud­get respon­si­bly and focus on com­plet­ing course­work rather than scram­bling to cov­er unex­pect­ed expens­es.

“It was­n’t just about receiv­ing mon­ey,” they said. “It was about hav­ing the peace of mind to con­cen­trate on school.”

Des grad­u­at­ed with hon­ors and is now pur­su­ing a career as a licensed clin­i­cal social work­er, hop­ing to serve peo­ple in their North­ern Cal­i­for­nia com­mu­ni­ty who often fall through the cracks.

Along the way, they also became an ambas­sador for Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund, meet­ing stu­dents whose expe­ri­ences expand­ed even their own under­stand­ing of the bar­ri­ers to high­er edu­ca­tion. Through those con­ver­sa­tions, Des saw first­hand how the fund’s pri­va­cy-first approach allows stu­dents to seek sup­port with­out being required to pub­licly dis­close or relive deeply per­son­al expe­ri­ences. By remov­ing bar­ri­ers to apply­ing for assis­tance, Nation­al Rain­bow Col­lege Fund helps more stu­dents access the sta­bil­i­ty they need to pur­sue their edu­ca­tion.

Work­ing along­side undoc­u­ment­ed stu­dents, DACA recip­i­ents and stu­dents nav­i­gat­ing com­plex fam­i­ly sit­u­a­tions remind­ed Des that even though sto­ry is dif­fer­ent, many share the same need: an oppor­tu­ni­ty to stay in school.

“I real­ized there were peo­ple fac­ing chal­lenges I had nev­er expe­ri­enced,” they said. “It made me appre­ci­ate how impor­tant this schol­ar­ship is because it reach­es stu­dents who often don’t qual­i­fy for oth­er forms of finan­cial aid.”

Des sees edu­ca­tion as so much more than earn­ing a degree.

A degree cre­ates sta­bil­i­ty, opens doors and gives peo­ple the chance to build lives they once thought were out of reach.

That’s why they encour­age oth­ers to apply.

“There are so many peo­ple who assume schol­ar­ships aren’t for them,” Des said. “I want them to know they should apply.”

They also hope donors under­stand that their gen­eros­i­ty pro­vides some­thing every stu­dent deserves: sta­bil­i­ty. For many stu­dents, that sup­port can mean the dif­fer­ence between stay­ing in school and being forced to put their edu­ca­tion on hold.

“Every dona­tion mat­ters,” they said. “You’re help­ing some­one stay in school, build a future and even­tu­al­ly give back to their com­mu­ni­ty. That changes more than one life.”

Des, 47, is proof that there is no sin­gle path to high­er edu­ca­tion.

Their next chap­ter begins this fall.

Thanks to the sup­port they received, Des is enter­ing the next chap­ter focused on help­ing oth­ers do the same. With the sup­port of donors, more stu­dents can find the sta­bil­i­ty they need to stay in school, earn their degrees and build futures defined by oppor­tu­ni­ty rather than cir­cum­stance.