Leif’s platform increased access to education with cumulative originations surpassing…

On the brink of a talent vacuum, some cite the technical skills gap in the US workforce as the greatest threat to the nation’s long-term economic prosperity. Leif’s multi-product tuition payments platform helps directly bridge this gap by reducing the risks to students and aligning incentives with schools - something that is missing in the traditional student debt ecosystem.

Student loan debt is the second largest consumer debt category - behind only mortgage debt - and greater than both credit cards and auto loans. Incentive-aligned financing is the first step to reducing the nation’s $1.7 trillion of student loans.

Leif’s platform facilitates alternative capital solutions for high-performing programs, with over $700 million in financing arranged to date…

Unique to ISAs and other outcomes-based tuition finance products managed on Leif’s platform, student affordability is fundamental to each offering. Students only make payments after receiving gainful employment above the Minimum Income Threshold. We saw rapid growth in job placements and a consistent payment track record for tuition payments solutions managed on Leif’s platform....

In contrast to the incentive-aligned products offered through Leif’s platform, the country is in the midst of a debt epidemic in the form of unmanageable student debt. Since 2007 Americans became delinquent on student debt at twice the rate that homeowners became delinquent on mortgages at the height of the housing crisis. Additionally, more than 2.8 million Americans over the age of 60 are contending with student debt, a number that has quadrupled from 700,000 in 2005. Outcomes-based financing products protect students from these harmful scenarios through embedded wage insurance.

The alignment of incentives ensures that schools are held accountable for the outcomes of their students. Schools only do well if their students ultimately do well. Guided by that fundamental belief, Leif expanded into several new market segments in 2021 and is proud to work with over 250 partner schools…

Offering a clear indication of the need for change in education, only 32% of Americans have a bachelor's degree. Traditional Higher Education has turned to ISAs to increase access and diversity while improving completion rates. Alternative Education programs such as coding bootcamps and vocational schools leverage ISAs to enable additional pathways for life-changing skills and upward mobility.

Black graduates with a bachelor’s degree default on traditional student loans at five times the rate of white graduates with a bachelor’s degree – 21% compared with 4%. The current system perpetuates and exacerbates inequalities within disadvantaged populations by virtue of taking on too much debt and the negative impacts of accrued interest. Nearly half of black graduates (48 percent) owe more on their federal undergraduate loans after four years than they did at graduation, compared to just 17 percent of white graduates (a situation known as negative amortization). Women on average carry approximately 10% more in student loans than their male peers and even more pronounced for women of color (25% more for black women).

Outcomes-based financing removes the burden of traditional student debt by sharing the risk with schools. Reasonable Payment Caps, Minimum Income Thresholds, and Maximum Deferment Periods are foundational to outcomes-based financing and separate those products from traditional student loans. This allows schools on Leif’s platform to reach a broader socioeconomic demographic and underserved populations…

Furthermore, traditional student loan debt can suppress higher education aspirations among first-generation students and those from historically underrepresented groups. Conversely, the majority of students educated through Leif’s platform apply with no college degree…

Outcomes-based financing more closely ties the cost of education to expected earnings with a more transparent path to upward economic and social mobility. Those benefits can be seen directly through the positive outcomes created through Leif’s platform. The impact from the education received by students on Leifs platform ultimately resulting in Total Lifetime Earnings in excess of...

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