Student debt is such a great problem that it has been the single handedly the core of Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign. We love what Lambda school and General Assembly and many others did to build the next generation of universities. Building low cost internet first universities with a fraction of the cost and all the important benefits. One of the catalyst for the heavy adoption of these models is utilizing Income Shared Agreements to align incentives between the institution and the student.
For a normal university they want you “student” to take massive amount of upfront debt and pay them. What happens next is you on you not them. For next-gen universities you attend without taking any debt and you start paying back money only if your income is above a certain threshold. And of course you pay an agreed % of your income for an agreed period of time (there is a cap usually X2 to X3 the cost of education after which you are not obliged to make any further contribution). However the challenge for next-gen universities as Lambda school and GA is that their core focus is Technical/design education that there is usually a clear path to better paying job. For people who still want to pursue education the same old way they don’t have many options but loans, or maybe that wealthy uncle we all hear about. Avenify was born to tackle this exact issue. They offer students an alternative to borrowing money, utilizing ISA for people to pursue education. Instead of looking into the past of an 18 year old and checking her (or her families) “Credit Score”, Avenify takes a more futuristic approach. They look into the potential of a candidate to be able to pay back the loan in the next 5-10 years using some yum yum algorithms. This simple change in perspective offers access to education to people who may have not previously had an opportunity to seek higher education and a better way for students all around to finance their education without taking on the burden of debt. For the first time out there, you have an education financing institution that is actually ON YOUR SIDE and has a vested interest in your success.
We are excited to be part of this Journey with Justin and the Avenify team and look forward to impacting the lives tens of thousands of people