Dive Brief:
- Each year’s graduating class of college seniors has more debt than its predecessors, but some students are turning online for financial help.
- State Impact reports students have raised $26 million through gofundme.com by putting their stories and their fundraising appeals online.
- While crowdfunding has received more attention in controversial political debates, it has quietly been providing a platform for students hoping strangers will pitch in to make their education dreams come true.
Dive Insight:
College tuition prices have nowhere to go but up. Scholarship funding is limited and students are being forced to take out more money in loans to pay for their degrees. But besides the $26 million raised on gofundme, State Impact highlights other crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo Life, Pigit, and Zerobound that offer similar fundraising platforms. Colleges and universities might consider making similar appeals on behalf of their own students — broader requests than the one Howard University made to alumni via email earlier in May. When the existing donor base seems tapped out, online may be the next frontier.