Free Is Not Enough: A Decade-Long Case Study of No-Cost STEM Coaching for Underprivileged First-Generation Learners in Delhi, India (2012–2020)

<p>Fee-free educational interventions are widely assumed to remove the principal barrier that low-income students face. This retrospective case study interrogates that assumption through the experience of Udgam Welfare Foundation, a community-embedded non-profit that provided free, two-year mathematics and science coaching for engineering-entrance preparation to 393 students (Grades 10–12) from Delhi government schools between 2012 and 2020. All participants came from households earning under INR 15,000 (~USD 180) per month; 92% lived in single-room housing, none had a dedicated study space, and only 5% were girls. Despite zero fees, free materials, transport support, and meals, 90.5% of enrolled students left before completing the programme—driven by pressure to earn, parental resistance, health crises, household duties, and, for girls, safety concerns. The minority who completed (approximately 37 students) achieved striking trajectories: programme and alumni records indicate engineering admissions, defence-services selection, and stable formal employment for every completer. Drawing on ecological systems theory, social capital theory, and critical pedagogy, the paper argues that cost removal addresses only one layer of a multi-layered exclusion, and derives an "educational ecosystem" model in which academic coaching is scaffolded by material, emotional, familial, and community supports. The study offers implications for social work practice in education, for India's National Education Policy 2020 goals, and for the design of scalable interventions—including digital platforms—for first-generation learners. All named cases are pseudonymous.</p>