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The Future for Micro-Scholarships is Bright

The Future for Micro-Scholarships is Bright

In 2011, I had the opportunity to do a brief stint teachinghistory and economics tohigh school juniors andseniors.It was an incredible experience working with a diverse group of students, many of whom came from challenging backgrounds. Despite the manyobstaclesthrown their way early inlife, these students displayedresilience and a contagious enthusiasm for the future. It was a joy and honor of a lifetimeto serve as their teacher for this brief period, and while I’m sure most of them have forgotten me by now, I will never forget them and the lasting impact they had on me.


Ƶwas born from this experience, from conversations I had withmystudents as wellashundreds of college counseling professionals and college administrators over the ensuing year. At the crux of the idea was a simple observation: though billions of dollars of financial aid are being awarded each year to help students pay for college, these dollars aren’ttypicallyawarded until after students are supposed to have already decided whether and where to apply to college. For students, this is often too late to impact their college ambitions and application decisions, and for colleges it means that they are missing out on an opportunity to maximize the impact of their aid resources. The idea behindƵwas to flip this model on its headbygivingstudentsthe opportunity to accruecollegescholarshipsas they progress throughout high school based on their achievement of specific college readiness milestones.

In theory, thiscouldcreate a much more transparent, motivating, and empowering system for students, while also giving colleges an opportunity to dramatically increase the impact of their aid.Additionally,participatingcollegeswouldhavean opportunity to engage prospective studentsas early as 9thgrade. They can use this opportunity for connection toincentivize the college readiness behaviors they’ve seen prepare students for their school, foster a more diverse applicant poolthrough a more targeted use of funds, and ultimately helpallprospective students see past thecollegestickerprice earlier in their journey.

In 2013, we launched our first pilot of theprogram,giving students the opportunity to earn“micro-DZ󾱱”astheyprogressedthrough high school,rather thanasone big lump sum upon admittance.From the get-go, the program received great reviews from students, counselors, and collegesalike, and won multiple awards such as the Gates Foundation-sponsored College Knowledge Challenge.

Studentssharedtheir excitement about seeinghow their hard work in high schoolwasrewarded by colleges. High school counselors shared theirexcitement abouthaving a new college readiness tool that could help teach students aboutinstitutionalscholarships,while also motivating theirstudentsto stayon track for college. Finally, colleges loved the idea ofengaging with students earlier, andwere excited to see the diversity of students participating in the program. Asthe companyscaled,weworked diligently torespond to user feedback andharvestlearnings from academic research to iterate on and improve the platform,while also scaling to meet thegrowingdemandfrom students, educators, and universities.

Overthe past seven years,the platformhasgrowntremendously:Ƶhasserved over 2.5 million students who have received over $6 billion in scholarships. In that time, wehavebrought on over 300 college and university partners, while alsointroducingcountless new college discovery and financial aidcomparison features, a mobile app for iOS, and a platformfor community collegeand transferstudents.

This spring,CampusLogicapproached us with an offer to put our organizations together.This appeared to be a great opportunity to bring together two of the leading champions for Student Financial Success. By combiningƵ, which primarily focused on pre-college financial and academic readiness, andCampusLogic, which focused on supporting students during theirhigher edjourney, the combined organization would be uniquely capable of supporting students bothtoandthroughcollege.

As the exploration progressed, it became clear that the strengths of our two organizations could drive an even larger impact for students and college partners. WithƵ’smicro-scholarship platform driving empowerment and motivation for students via pre-committed financial aid, andCampusLogic’smarket-leading Student Financial Success solutions driving ease and clarity incollege financing, we’ll be able to create new, tightly integrated experiences together that unlock massive potential for students and institutions alike.

As we come together to meet thehigher education challengesof today, it’s critical— for the success ofstudents, for the institutionsservingthem, and for our nation as a whole —that students from all backgrounds have a clear and affordable path to college. We look forward to working with our current partnersand the newpartnerswe’ll be welcoming in the years ahead to reimagine the student financial journey and make sure that every student has a shot at the American Dream.

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