education-finance
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Earnest lets borrowers set the payment. The hard part is everything behind it.
The student lender built its name on loans that fit a monthly budget. Its journey through venture funding, a Navient acquisition and a $2.5 million settlement shows what that promise demands.
Henry Chibuzo Is Turning the School Fee Spreadsheet Into Infrastructure
Schoolable began with a stubborn, unglamorous problem: money moving through schools without enough visibility. Henry Chibuzo Nnalue has spent years turning that administrative tangle into financial infrastructure for schools, parents and, now, children learning to manage money.
Nelnet
Nelnet is known for student loans, but the more revealing story is the infrastructure behind them: a Nebraska company that turned regulatory fluency, payment rails and school software into a diversified financial machine.
Edstart
Edstart is a Sydney-based technology and financial services company that makes paying and managing school fees easier. It gives schools an end-to-end fee management platform with guaranteed payments and dedicated support, while offering families flexible payment plans that spread tuition costs across or beyond the school year. Founded in 2016 by Jack Stevens, Edstart works with 700+ schools across Australia and the UK, has supported more than 100,000 students and processed over $2 billion in fees.
Casey Powers
Casey Powers is the CEO of Climb Credit, a New York-based fintech that finances career-focused and vocational education for students of all credit profiles. She rose to the top job in February 2022 after three years as Climb's Chief Operating Officer, bringing more than 15 years of experience across investment banking and mission-driven fintech startups. A vocal advocate for skills-based hiring, Powers has centered her leadership on expanding access to affordable education that improves earning potential for underserved learners and career switchers.
Forte
Forte is a New York-based social enterprise that finances reskilling and workforce development at no cost to individuals or governments and without relying on philanthropy. Founded by Dr Nat Ware on an idea he developed during his economics PhD at Oxford, Forte (Financing Of Return To Employment) sits between funders of education and training and the providers who deliver it, so funders 'never fund failure' - they only pay when people are trained and placed into better jobs. Repayment is tied to the future income-tax uplift generated by newly employed workers. Forte has run programs across Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, the United States and Peru, and its model has been endorsed by the World Economic Forum.
Nat Ware
Nat Ware is an Australian economist and social entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of Forte, a New York-based company that finances education, reskilling and healthcare at zero cost to individuals or governments. An Oxford PhD and Rhodes Scholar, he invented the Forte (Financing Of Return To Employment) mechanism, where governments repay training costs only out of the additional income-tax revenue that newly employed graduates generate. He earlier built 180 Degrees Consulting into the world's largest consultancy for nonprofits and social enterprises. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and three-time TEDx speaker, he calls his approach trickle-up economics.
Funding U
Funding U (legally Funding University) is an Atlanta-based fintech lender that gives high-achieving undergraduates private student loans without a cosigner and without relying on FICO scores. Instead of judging students by their family's credit or wealth, the company underwrites loans using academic performance, progress toward a degree, likelihood of graduating, and projected earnings - factors a student actually controls. Founded in 2015 by Jeannie Tarkenton, Funding U aims to serve low- and moderate-income students that traditional private lenders won't touch, positioning its product as a responsible 'last-gap' option that fills the space left after grants, federal aid, and scholarships run out.
Jeannie Tarkenton
Jeannie Tarkenton is the founder and CEO of Funding U (Funding University), an Atlanta-based fintech lender that makes no-cosigner student loans to high-achieving, low-income undergraduates based on grades, grit and trajectory rather than a parent's credit score. A Princeton English major who spent a decade in Atlanta education nonprofits, she built an AI underwriting model that reads transcripts and internships instead of FICO and balance sheets. Since 2018 the company has deployed well over $125 million to thousands of mostly first-generation students, and counts Goldman Sachs and her former college roommate MacKenzie Scott among its backers.