Beam

ABOUT

Edquity administers emergency aid to college students suffering a financial shock. After completing a five-minute application, Edquity can provide students access to cash assistance in 48 hours and deliver referrals to social services. 

CHALLENGE 

Three million students drop out of college each year due to a time-sensitive financial crisis of less than $500. While colleges have invested in emergency aid programs and Congress has authorized federal funding for emergency aid; these programs are costly and can take as long as 2 weeks to get from application to disbursement, limiting their efficacy.

SOLUTION

Edquity partners with educational institutions to help them identify students with the most need through an algorithm, improving retention rates for the highest risk student populations. To do this they focus on four areas: 

• Emergency aid provision – Edquity takes over the management of college and university emergency aid funds and deploys grants on their behalf.
• “Yelp for social services” – list of food, housing, transportation, wellness, and job assistance services.
• Transaction tracker – simple budgeting tool to keep track of expenses.
• Events feature – facilitates finding local events offering free or discounted goods and services.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic

Edquity has made product adaptations to support managing federal CARES Act emergency aid dollars on behalf of college partners, and to allow partners to serve all students, including DACA and undocumented students, with a single application.

FINANCIAL HEALTH FOCUS

50% of college students struggle with basic-needs insecurity, often dropping out for financial reasons. Edquity is helping students stay in school by making it easier and quicker for schools to provide them with emergency financial aid.