Around 250,000 students get admitted into UK postgraduate programmes every year but do not enrol because they cannot secure the funds
For this very reason, many others shy away from applying altogether. StudentFunder is an inovative funding platform for post-graduate students in the UK, founded by people who struggled to fund their own education and now wish to help others finance theirs. The team is passionate about what they do and go out of their way to help people achieve their goals. Studentfuder won the RSA Centenary Prize in 2014, which provided an additional £3,000 to boost their original Catalyst grant. It was selected by others Fellows as the project with the most potential in a live vote at our Centenary Event in June.
how fellows can help
Fellows can help further this project by:
- Providing introductions to university governors, vice-chancellors and/or finance directors.
Project Team
Juan Guerra
Founder & CEO - Student Funder
LON
6 Comments
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James Thomas
9th April 2016
Hi Juan
Sounds like a great project and an increasingly important one for potential PG students.
As it's a loan, what is the typical level of interest charged on repayments?
Is the loan granted on the basis of low income background or is it available to any potential PH student?
Also do you prioritise students undertaking a first higher degree e.g Masters over those doing a second Masters or even a Doctorate?
JT
Frederic Nze
17th May 2015
Hi Juan,
Few questions about the project:
(i) are all funds disbursed as loan or do you also have potential to disburse them as grants - for students from low income families
(ii) is Student Funder run as a for profit?
(iii) Is SF the p2p platform or do you also act as the lender in some cases?
Best
F
Juan Miguel Guerra Davila
18th May 2015
Hi Frederic,
1) All are loans. We used to run donations crowdfunding campaigns in the past, but the failure rate was too high. We can help more people if we focus all our resources on loans. I wish we had scholarships we could distribute as well. Hopefully in the future.
2) Yes - with two pecularities. The company's objective is to provide financial services to improve access to higher education and, secondarily, to generate a return for shareholders (some of our shareholders are foundations) and at least 50% of profits need to be reinvested or given away to charities in education and financial inclusion.
3) Both.
Great questions!
Frances Tsakonas
18th January 2016
Hi Juan,
I see from your reply to Frederic above that at least 50% of your profits are reinvested or given to charities in education. I have recently set up the NGO, International Students Network UK (ISNUK) to provide scholarships, bursaries and grants to international students studying in the UK. Would we be able to work together???
Juan Miguel Guerra Davila
21st January 2016
Sounds like it, Frances, and good on you! My email address is juan at studentfunder dot com. Drop me a line and let's discuss further. Even if we can't work together, I may be able to help.
Frederic Nze
19th May 2015
Hi Juan,
thanks for your responses.
I think i might be able to find some ways to help the scholarship piece.
We should have a chat.
Drop me an email direct on frederic.nze@oakam.com
Best