Foster Equality of opportunity
Invest in opportunities for all
Percentage of children from low-income households who access higher education, as opposed to nearly 90% of the wealthiest in France.
Source: Centre Henri Aigueperse
Infinite
When I started looking with my own kids about their future studies, I was struck by the profound inequality of the higher education system.
True to my entrepreneurial background, I tried to understand where the sticking points were by doing market research.
With my team, we met with students, universities, banks, governments, and social organizations for over a year. As one could expect, the main barrier to young people coming from low-income households to access higher education remains the financing of their studies and living costs.
But going deeper into our research, we found out that while solutions exist, such as grants or student loans, these have significant limitations:
– The amount of these grants are often not high enough for universities with ever-increasing tuition fees.
– In most cases, students who take out loans need to have a guarantor, which places a heavy burden on families. Usually, parents can’t vouch for their children.
– As financial aid is limited, the access to it can be very difficult for students who do not fit all of the exact criteria, even if they come from a low-income household. A lot of them fall between the cracks.
With my new startup, called INFIИITE, I want to bring innovation within these financing mechanisms in order to support students coming from low-income backgrounds to access university. I am creating a solidarity-based student loan that will be launched in the coming months.
