Student U
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 273460491
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Durham, NC, USA
- Phone
- 9195602110
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Student Services, Organizations of Students
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,770,678
- Expenses
- $4,138,181
- Assets
- $9,510,216
- Liabilities
- $70,285
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHELLE PRICE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- MICHELLE PRICE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $149,858 total reported compensation
- ELENA MAINA (CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER): $100,700 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to empower and equip first-generation college students in durham public schools, their families, and educators to become the leaders that will transform our city.
What it reported doing in 2024
College programming: student u's college program provides academic, social-emotional, and financial support for students during their college years. Staff support students through in-person meetings on campus, phone check-ins, topic-focused retreats, and connections to on-campus resources. Families of college students receive support during the advising, enrollment, and transition periods through workshops that educate parents on the road ahead and ways they can support their children.sharing best practices: while we may not be able to serve every student in durham directly, our ability to share what we've learned allows us to expand our impact in durham and beyond. Through our sharing best practices initiatives, we work to ensure our knowledge and insights are accessible to durham public schools, practitioners, and other key stakeholders, while also preparing our teacher alumni to take on leadership roles in the community. We provide additional training and consulting to partners in these key areas.student and family support services: student u supports student and family-led advocacy and change efforts in our city and beyond through ongoing engagement and regular programming. We develop strategic partnerships to help parents and students build the skills they need to shape their futures.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.2%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 76.8%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.3%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.3; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 67.2% of revenue deployed · 76.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $150K · 22 people listed
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.