Paying for College With a Stride Funding ISA
Brian Geiger is a co-founder of Scholarships360. He previously worked on the growth team of a hypergrowth startup and in investment banking. Through a combination of private grants, outside scholarships, and income from freelance writing, Brian earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University with $0 in student debt.Have you ever thought about using an Income Share Agreement to fund your college education? A Stride Funding ISA might be what you’re looking for.
Stride Funding, founded in 2018, offers a flexible and supportive way to pay for your education with ISAs that may be a better option than taking out student loans. If you’re wondering whether a Stride ISA is right for you, keep reading!
Table of contents
What is an ISA?
With an Income Share Agreement, you pay a small, fixed percentage of your future earned income over a few years following graduation. The ISA is based on where you’re going, not where you’ve been, so rates are based on your expected earnings based on your program of study.
How does a Stride Funding ISA work?
With a Stride Funding ISA, students can received a maximum of $25,000 per year that they then pay back over a 5 year period following graduation. The amount of your post-grad income that you pay back ranges from 3% – 9% per ISA.
Payments are based on a fixed percentage of future income, which is especially helpful during periods of unemployment or under-employment. In other words, if you’re unemployed or making below $40k per year, you don’t pay anything.
In addition to financing, students will receive career support and other membership benefits through Stride. After all, Stride is incentivized to want you to have a strong income! There is no accruing interest, no principal amount, and no hidden fees.
Who qualifies for a Stride Funding ISA?
Stride ISAs are focused on students who are close to graduating in a select group of majors. Eligible undergraduate students include:
- Junior & Senior Bachelor students in Engineering majors, Computer Science, STEM, and nursing
- Nursing can include RN/BSN, Bachelor (Juniors & Seniors), 2nd Bachelor
And Graduate/Masters students focused in:
- STEM: Mechanical Engineering, Information Technology (IT), Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, Biomedical, Biostatistics, Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Sciences, Biology, Data Science
- Healthcare: Physician Assistant, Physical Therapy, Healthcare Administration, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Health Informatics, Medical Dosimetry, Nursing (RN/BSN/MSN/DNP – Graduate or 2nd Bachelor)
- Business: Masters of Accounting, Masters of Finance, MBA
Stride Funding ISA vs. student loans
So should you sign up for a Stride ISA, or take out student loans?
The quick answer: it depends.
If you’ll pay less overall with an ISA than other education financing options, a Stride ISA is a good option for you. You’ll need to crunch the numbers and see if paying 3-9% of your income over 5 years will end up being less than the interest payments and fees on a student loan over the life of that loan.
Other things to consider include distinct advantages of ISAs compared to student loans:
- Shorter duration (~5 years) vs. traditional loan (10+ years)
- The payment cap is 2x the borrowed amount
- No accruing interest or interest payments are owed
- Grace period and automatic deferral for periods where you are unemployed and/or make less than the minimum income threshold ($30-40k depending on the program)
- No co-signor required
- No hidden fees (which you may find on some private student loans)
While we always recommend winning as many scholarships and financial aid as you can before exploring other options, an ISA through Stride Funding could be a better financial move than taking out private student loans to round out your education financing.
Also see: How much student loan debt is too much?
Conclusion
ISAs are an exciting new financing option available to students, and Stride Funding is one of our favorite companies offering them.
To help you learn more about Stride Funding ISAs, we partnered with Stride Funding to offer the Fund My Future No Essay Scholarship!
To apply for the scholarship, simply request an ISA quote through Stride and respond to our follow up email. There is no cost and no impact to your credit score for receiving a quote. Once you have your quote, you’ll be able figure out if an ISA makes sense for you. Furthermore, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a $1,000 scholarship! Find out more about the scholarship details on our site.
This scholarship is open to all students who are eligible for a Stride Funding ISA.
As always, feel free to reach out with any questions: [email protected]
For more scholarships: Scholarships360’s Scholarship Search Tool
Further reading:
- For an even more in-depth review, check out NerdWallet’s review of Stride Funding Income Share Agreements
