Although U. Toledo’s Office of Student Financial Aid already provides students with an excess of information about student loans, parent loans and scholarships students may be eligible for, there are still many resources out there to help students pay for school.
TuitionU is a website designed for students seeking financial aid as well as helping students understand the available loans and options.
It provides information on lenders and other donor resources.
“TuitionU is meant to work complimentary to the financial aid office,” said Bill Hubert, founder and president of TuitionU. “It’s a great resource for [the financial aid office] to use. There are lenders that aren’t being found. The credit unions on TuitionU aren’t just people and companies TuitionU works with. No one pays to be listed on the TuitionU website.”
Brian Cox, Chief Business Development Officer for TuitionU, said the website is “student focused.”
According to a press release, “TuitionU’s borrower profile tools and advanced qualification features guide users through a step-by-step process to find options that help students make informed decisions about paying for college.”
According to its founder, TuitionU is a user-friendly website.
It offers students the option to “Become a Member” or “Find a Loan,” to help students discover what they are looking for when it comes to paying for school.
“As far as the lender selection, there are over 100 credit unions on the site,” Hubert said. “This means 100 different options for students. TuitionU narrows it down to ones the students have qualified for.”
Creating an account with TuitionU requires answering basic questions regarding information such as which university a student is attending, their grade level, student organizations they are involved in, a username, password and a security question.
“What makes us special is that we have more products than any other site,” Cox said. “We send students through a process to find them the lowest cost products.”
The website also contains a list of all loans one can apply for simply by clicking the “apply” link on the right side of the page. Students also have the option to compare a maximum of three loans side by side.
By comparing the loans, students can obtain a list of the category, program, description and provider of the loan. At the bottom of the screen is also additional information including the benefits of the loans selected.
Another feature of the website is TuitionU’s GreenNote program. The program is designed to use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter for students to have their family and friends from out of town send money for college through these websites. This would eliminate the use of paper and loans would be done electronically.
“Our peer-to-peer program, GreenNote, uses student’s social networks. There are no cosigners or specific schools. The site is very unbiased,” Cox said.