Dive Brief:
- U.K. startup Uniplaces has announced the crowd-funded Living the Dream scholarship to fund students’ accommodation expenses.
- eCampusNews reports the new scholarship will fund one semester of housing costs for five students, to start, but should grow along with Uniplaces because the company will donate one London pound per booking with its student accommodations business.
- Students are selected based on video proof of their acts of kindness on campus, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
The idea of a crowd-funded scholarship is a novel one. Uniplaces makes money by helping students book housing online. By collecting donations from people across the globe and donating a portion of its profits to the scholarship fund, the number of students funded each year should increase. Of course, with a global competition and just one winner per continent, basically, the competition will be fierce. eCampusNews reports initial pilot scholarships will be awarded to one student in the U.S., along with one student from Spain, Italy, and the U.K., as well as one student from anywhere in the world. At least as students are vying for this scholarship they will be contributing acts of kindness to their campus communities.