About ScholarPath
ScholarPath was founded by Elliot Geise to close the information gap that drives first-generation and underserved students into costly, avoidable college decisions. We're a national nonprofit combining a curated school directory, free educational workshops, and direct scholarship support — designed for the students that every other system fails.
"I changed my major twice. I graduated with a degree I wasn't passionate about and debt for a decision I didn't fully understand when I made it. That's not a personal failure — it's a systemic one. ScholarPath exists to close that gap."
Our story
ScholarPath's founder, Elliot Geise, grew up in Santa Cruz, California — a college town that nonetheless offered him little practical guidance on what college would actually mean for his future. His mother never attended college. His father was the first in his family to go, earning a linguistics degree from UC Santa Cruz before opening a restaurant in town with Elliot's mother. The college tradition in Elliot's family was new and narrow: there was no parent or relative who had navigated the strategic choices that turn a degree into a career.
When Elliot graduated high school in 2009, he did what everyone around him expected: he applied to college. But he faced impacted admissions and limited financial resources, and didn't get into the schools he wanted — and couldn't have afforded most of them anyway. So he took the most common pathway for first-generation and low-income students: two years at Cabrillo Community College, followed by a transfer to UC San Diego.
The transfer process required him to declare a major before he had any framework for understanding how that choice would shape his life. He picked political science. He graduated with a degree he wasn't passionate about and debt for a decision he didn't fully understand when he made it.
"I changed my major twice. I graduated with a degree I wasn't passionate about and debt for a decision I didn't fully understand when I made it."
The financial weight of that uncertainty is something students rarely talk about openly. Choosing the wrong school — or the right school for the wrong reasons — can mean tens of thousands of dollars in additional debt, years spent in a career that doesn't fit, or the painful process of starting over. These aren't small consequences. They follow you.
What frustrated Elliot most wasn't that he made a mistake. It was that the information he needed existed — it just wasn't given to him. There were students out there who had navigated these exact decisions and come out the other side with clarity and purpose. He just never had access to their stories.
That gap is what ScholarPath is built to close.
Our programs
ScholarPath operates four integrated programs designed to make college decision support and direct scholarships accessible to any first-generation or underserved student in the country.
Research-backed profiles of more than 200 colleges spanning HBCUs, HSIs, community colleges, public universities, and private institutions. Filter by Pell eligibility, net price, and what actually fits you — not what shows up first in a search engine.
Browse the directory →Curated, free educational content on the five highest-leverage college prep topics: financial aid and the FAFSA, choosing a major, college essays, SAT/ACT prep, and the community college transfer pathway. Sourced from Federal Student Aid, Khan Academy, and the UC system.
Explore workshops →Need-based scholarship awards for first-generation and underserved students, funded entirely through philanthropic giving and distributed through a streamlined application process. Awards are paired with the platform's information resources to provide complete decision-and-funding support.
Apply for a scholarship →A growing library of verified first-person student perspectives from students who actually attended each school. Built through partnerships with college access organizations and a planned student ambassador program. The most distinctive long-term asset ScholarPath is building.
Share your story →Our students
ScholarPath serves first-generation and underserved students nationwide. While we are headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, our digital model means we can reach students in every state in the country.
Our primary audience includes first-generation college students whose parents did not complete a four-year degree; low-income and Pell-eligible students from families with limited financial resources; community college students considering transfer, particularly through the California community college-to-UC/CSU pathway; and students from communities historically underrepresented in higher education, including students at HBCUs, HSIs, and tribal colleges.
We do not screen by GPA, test scores, or academic achievement. ScholarPath is not a program for the highest-achieving students or for students already on track to elite institutions. We are a program for the students who fall through the cracks of every other system — and that is the population whose outcomes our work is designed to change.
Our position
Several established organizations serve adjacent student populations, but none combines what ScholarPath combines.
QuestBridge and Posse are admissions-matching programs that pair high-achieving low-income students with elite colleges. Students they don't match — the vast majority — receive no service. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation awards highly competitive scholarships to a few hundred students per year nationwide. Scholarship America administers scholarships on behalf of corporate donors. College Board's Big Future provides college planning information, but it's operated by the same organization that runs and profits from the SAT.
ScholarPath does what none of them does: combines honest, student-perspective information across the full landscape of American colleges with direct scholarship support, focused specifically on the financial-impact decisions that shape first-generation students' futures — school selection, major selection, transfer pathways, and financial aid. We are not a matching service. We are not a single-scholarship program. We are not a pure information resource. We are the integrated guidance platform for first-generation and underserved students that doesn't currently exist anywhere else.
ScholarPath, Inc. is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation incorporated April 5, 2026. Federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is pending IRS determination, with Form 1023-EZ filed May 7, 2026.
Officers and Directors:
ScholarPath currently operates as a solo founder operation, with plans to add contracted and volunteer roles as funding allows. A formal advisory board is in development.
Join us
ScholarPath is just getting started, and there are several ways to be part of building what comes next.
Fund a scholarship for a first-generation student who needs it.
Fund a scholarship →First-generation or underserved student? Apply for need-based support.
Apply for a scholarship →Help us build the largest first-person student perspective library in the country.
Share your story →Organizations and schools: reach out about partnerships, referrals, or collaborations.
Get in touch →