Earn to Learn: Empowering Students to Learn and Grow • Earn to Learn (2024)

The Earn to Learn scholarship, at a high level, is a matched-savings scholarship. We see it as a tool that helps empower eligible students to successfully complete a postsecondary education. Postsecondary education? This includes your traditional 4 year universities, community colleges, trade schools, and short-term credential programs. The organization and scholarship was established in 2013 and is the largest and most successful matched-savings scholarship program in the country. It combines student savings with scholarships, financial training, andeducationsuccess coaching to help eligible students obtain an education and graduate workforce-ready with little to no student loan debt. Basically, our founder saw an issue with the lack of availability of educational opportunities, the ever-growing student loan debt crisis, and decided to do something about it.

How does it work?

Eligible students and their families deposit $500 into a savings account each year, then receive an 8:1 match through combined university support and other public and philanthropic funding. This creates $4,500 per academic year in total available funds for tuition, fees, room and board, and other costs to support educational success.

Here’s what the typical journey might look like:

Interested?

Join our 2,500+ talented, responsible and determined students who are working hard towards furthering their educationwith little to no student loan debt.

We’ve got you covered. Our team is passionate about helping and making a difference in the lives of students. So, if you would rather talk to someone, then click here to reach out to us or, if you’d prefer to read, then simply continue on down the page.

We enlist students as investors in their own education, so they’ll have a stake in their success. We empower them with financial training to ensure they can navigate their personal financial responsibility and improve their economic mobility. And we support them with postsecondary education success coaching, business mentorship and workforce development. These Earn to Learn “pillars” comprise a groundbreaking, holistic approach to financial preparation for higher education with remarkable results.

We get it, this sounds great, but you want to know if this even applies to you and you’re specific scenario. While we can’t cover every possible scenario, we can certainly help narrow things down.

Facts about the Scholarship:

• 65% are first generation university students
• 85% are ethnic minorities
• Ages span from 18 to 73
• We have educational partners that are trade schools, community colleges, and universities.

Are you applying to a (postsecondary school)?

What do we mean by postsecondary? This could be a traditional 4 year university, a community college, a trade school, or short-term credential program. There may also be other opportunities, so make sure to reach out and ask questions about your specific scenario, we’re happy to help.

Eligibility:

This will depend partly on the institution to which you’re applying. Each school will have their own eligibility requirements and that is provided on our individual education partner links below:

Education Partners:

New Partnerships in the works:

We currently have 5 pending partnerships and 2 more that are in the works.

Intrigued but still not sure? Sign up here (don’t worry we won’t spam you), we’ll add you to the early interest list. What does that mean? There’s no commitment, just a reminder for us to reach out via email to see if you have any questions and we’ll include you on the email announcement for when the scholarship application goes live.

One of the ways in which we are different is that we don’t just have you apply, award the money, and then say we’re done. We want to see you succeed, which is why we have success coaches and financial training, among other things, as requirements. Our goal is to encourage equity within education, to make obtaining an education and the dreams that come with it, a reality. Therefore, our process looks a little different. Below are the steps to obtain the scholarship:

See Also

The Blinn College District names its 2024 Teaching Excellence Award winnersCUNY Welcomes Students Back for Largely Virtual Fall Semester – The City University of New YorkUniversity of Tennessee hiring Enrollment Counselor, Mocs One Center in Chattanooga, TN | LinkedIn

Step 1:

Registration

During the application period, you can click the Scholarship Application button at the top right-hand of this page to get started. The Registration Form helps you determine if you are eligible.

Step 2:

Online Application

After you register, you will be logged into the Application Dashboard to complete online forms and upload copies of your FAFSA Student Aid Report and identification to verify your eligibility.

Step 3:

Application Review

Complete your application by the nearest date listedherefor the best chances of securing your place in the program. Your application will be reviewed by a member of our team within 4-6 weeks, and you’ll be provided with information and instructions on the next steps.

Step 4:

Personal Finance Training

If you are eligible to continue, you will be contacted with instructions on next steps to login to the Earn to Learn Student Portal, where you will have one week to complete an online personal finance training course (estimated 3-6 hours). You must pass the course with a minimum score of 80% – don’t worry, you’ll be able to retake the post-tests.

Step 5:

Savings Plan & Agreement

Within two weeks after your training, you will review and sign the Agreement, which will detail all about how the Earn to Learn scholarship works and get set up with your savings plan!

Step 6:

Open Your Matched Savings Account

After you sign and submit the Agreement, you’ll be provided with paperwork and instructions to open your matched savings account at one of Earn to Learn’s partner financial institutions. You will have one week to open your account and make your first deposit.

Step 7:

Welcome to the Earn to Learn Community

You’ll be off to a great start in reaching your annual savings goal of $500, participating in online webinars, have the opportunity to join a mentorship program, and get excited to receive your Earn to Learn scholarship next year!

Would it be alright if we reached out?

We’d love to answer any questions you may have about Earn to Learn that weren’t answered here, maybe about the scholarship, our process, our model, or something else?