Where There’s the Will, There’s a Way

As tuitions climb skyward and scholarships prove increasingly scarce across all sectors of higher education, prospective business school students are hunting for new sources of funding.

At this intersection of supply and demand stands organizations such as CommonBond, Prodigy Finance, and SoFi, alumni-based loan programs that help MBA and EMBA students finance their education at fairly attractive rates. A recent Bloomberg Businessweek article described how the programs, started in recent years by Oxford, Stanford, and Wharton alumni, create an efficient market with less paperwork and headache for lenders and candidates alike.

Here at Eduvantis, we expect to see more of these creative funding programs as various strata of loan candidates meet financial backers who take a closer look at the relative risk a specific student segment affords. Just as there’s no such thing as “the” average student, there is no “average” student loan. Differentiation among loan offerings is likely to develop further. Imagine future loan programs by private backers where rates vary according to:
• school involvement (membership in organized clubs or areas of study)
• academic performance or predictors thereof (undergraduate or first-year GPA; GMAT scores)
• intended professional field, sector, or geographic region
• professional experience (pre-MBA and/or summer internships)

We see this as a positive development and another encouraging sign of the power of business schools’ alumni networks, and we look forward to seeing the impact of these programs as they evolve.