Two figures anchor JP Conte’s recent Forbes Business Council column on education, and together they tell a sharper story than either does alone. Conte, founder and managing partner of his family office, Lupine Crest Capital, cites a national completion rate showing only 24% of first-generation college students graduate with a bachelor’s degree within six years. He then points to programs offering sustained, multi-year support that report an 85% graduation rate among participants.
The gap between those two numbers is the entire argument. If the same population of students can post such different outcomes depending on the type of support they receive, then the deciding factor isn’t the students themselves but the structure surrounding them.
Reading the Numbers Correctly
Conte is careful in how he frames the comparison, noting that the students entering these support programs aren’t necessarily different from first-generation students overall in terms of ability or motivation. What differs is access to consistent mentorship, financial aid guidance, and academic preparation over multiple years rather than a single semester or a single check.
He also ties the completion gap to a broader economic argument, writing that closing it nationally could generate billions in economic benefit as more graduates enter the workforce with degrees already in demand among employers.
Two Numbers, One Underlying Question
Conte treats the gap between the two figures as a question about program design, not a question about the students themselves. If 24% represents the outcome without sustained support and 85% represents the outcome with it, then a business considering where to direct education giving is really deciding whether it’s prepared to fund the kind of program that gives first-generation students a real chance to finish.
Where the Investment Should Go
Conte’s recommendation follows directly from the data: fund and support programs built for the long term rather than one-time interventions, and evaluate them using the same rigor a business would apply to any other investment decision, tracking graduation rates and outcomes rather than simply the number of students served in a given year. He has directed his own support toward organizations including SEO San Francisco and 10,000 Degrees, and through the J-P Conte Family Foundation.
Reading the Two Figures Together Rather Than Apart
Conte cautions against treating either statistic in isolation. The 24% national completion figure describes an outcome without explaining its cause, while the 85% figure describes a result achieved under a specific, resource-intensive model that hasn’t been scaled nationally. Placed together, the two numbers function less as a verdict on first-generation students and more as a measure of how much completion rates can move when the right support structure is actually in place.
The original column and additional data-driven commentary from Conte are available through his Forbes Business Council profile, linked below alongside his personal website.
