Is Undebted a non-profit organization?
No, it’s a not-for-profit social enterprise. (Read the Wikipedia article on social enterprises for more details.) We’re very excited to be part of this growing movement toward solving large societal problems through entrepreneurship, which fills a gap between the public, non-profit, and for-profit sectors.
Wouldn’t it be better to be a non-profit or charity?
Not necessarily. It would help in some ways — but according to our advisors and research, it could hinder our development.
One significant issue is that our mission will require us to approach and meet with members of Congress and other government officials. Doing so as a non-profit or charity creates complications and strict restrictions. Even accidentally breaking the related rules could risk losing our non-profit status.
As we move ahead, we will continue to examine the best structure for our mission. We don’t rule out converting to a non-profit in the future, but we have no plans at this time.
I’ve heard about “student loan forgiveness” and “cancellation.” Is this what you’re doing?
No. Those are very specific solutions that only apply in certain circumstances. And they require the use of government money to fund. Both forgiveness and cancellation are hot topics right now, but they are completely different approaches than ours. Cancellation is also very politically explosive — the Undebted solution is non-partisan and neutral.
A lot of current available scholarships and funding go untouched. Wouldn’t your efforts be better put toward getting more students to apply for scholarships before and during college to spare them the debt in the first place?
There is already a lot of help on that side of the equation — we’re trying to address the other side. Students have guidance counselors, financial-aid advisors, books, seminars, and more that inform them of the importance of scholarships and the path to getting them. But the problem is three-fold:
- some students don’t qualify for assistance before or during school;
- some students get poor guidance and advice through no fault of their own;
and - that funding doesn’t help the millions of people right now who are out of college and drowning in their student debt.
We fully support all efforts to prevent more students from going into debt now and in the future. We believe “undebted” is best in all ways. But we are here to offer a lifeline to some of the millions who no longer have scholarship options.
How do I reach you with a different question?
Easy, peasy, fresh and squeezy — just pop over to our contact page and shoot us a message!