Get Your Tuition Sponsored with GradeFund

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GradeFund is a new tuition financing tool that lets students garner sponsors online who pay for good grades. This web application allows students to enlist friends and family to ease the burden of heavy tuition bills. The system works like a charity sponsorship pledge, where sponsors agree to pay a certain amount per specified grade.

“Understandably kids get disheartened when contemplating the rising costs of education,” said Michael Kopko, CEO of GradeFund. “The debt load of the average graduating student is nearly $20,000 and growing every year. However, where many people saw a problem, we saw an opportunity.”

How GradeFund Works

After creating a profile and inviting sponsors on GradeFund.com, students periodically upload their transcripts to the site. GradeFund charges the credit cards sponsors have on file credits the student’s personal account or makes payment directly to an educational institution, depending on the sponsor’s choice. (GradeFund’s site states that they verify the grades.)

The more sponsors the better. Social networking skills could pay off big time. Sure grandma and grandpa will sponsor you, but if you can leverage all those old bosses and neighbors, and their friends, and their friends…. (Of course, like all social sites, a good looking picture can’t hurt.)

Buzz for GradeFund

According the The Harvard Crimson, student Tony W. Wang  is helping publicize GradeFund through other social media, namely Facebook. He’s also spreading the word on campus and via email.

“I thought it was very innovative and something Harvard students should know about,” he said of the site.

Leading academics seem to be on board:

“Parents routinely reward their children for good grades because they understand that students often need a tangible link to the higher earnings that a good education brings,” said Jonah Rockoff, Associate Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School. “Formal structures such as GradeFund can provide powerful tools to raise student achievement.”

Micro Scholarships and More

In addition to providing sponsorship to students personally know to the sponsors, they may also choose to donate to high achieving scholars in their alma mater or in their major. This provides the opportunity for philanthropic organizations and corporations to support particular fields important to their cause or industry.

GradeFund is to scholarships as micro-financing is to traditional lending. High schools, colleges, universities, and graduate schools can all participate. I can imagine an option for grade school students to set up a savings plan that gets funneled into a 529 plan.

Encouraging Success in School and Beyond

Brothers Michael and Matthew Kopko founded GradeFund as a community-based approach to education financing that encourages academic success. The vision includes helping students find jobs and internships to ease the transition to life after school.

The site will eventually feature features a job marketplace. Employers with access to your grades in specific classes? Sounds like a match made in business school heaven!