iGrad, a San Diego-based financial technology company providing AI-powered financial wellness solutions, has partnered with Indiana University Online to provide its customized, interactive online and mobile student financial wellness platform to the public University’s more than 8,000 online degree students.
iGrad’s platform at Indiana University includes comprehensive customized and interactive information on everything from building and maintaining good credit, budgeting, and money management to student loan/debt management and calculators. It aims to empower students, alumni, staff, parents, and families to make adequate personal finance, student loan, and career decisions throughout their lives. Currently, the platform serves over 2.7 million students at 650 colleges and universities, over 20,000 employers, and more than 300 financial institutions.
Commenting on the latest development, Director of Enrollment Management & Student Services of Indiana University, Whitnie Powell, said:
Financial literacy goes beyond understanding the impact of a student’s financial investment in their education to encompass a broad scope of financial decisions and planning that impact students’ lives and goals. For many of our online students, IU Online is only one chapter of their story, and we wanted the ability to provide them with an always-on free resource to support their overall financial wellness. Our goal is that iGrad is a complimentary addition to our wrap-around support portfolio with which our online students have meaningful engagement.
iGrad serves a vibrant community engaged on a social level and educated in a highly personalized way. Its entire company is 100% focused on improving financial capability. The firm also aims to exceed all expectations in every partnership while providing customized, personalized, and reportable solutions to our partners’ unique challenges. It is used by public and private colleges and universities of all sizes, including Wake Forest University, the University of North Georgia, Emerson College, and Cleveland State University.
Using artificial intelligence and proprietary algorithms, iGrad personalizes financial information for each student’s situation and needs. It offers tools, quizzes, videos, articles, and multimedia content. The platform also provides a student loan tracking tool that aggregates student loan balances and estimates monthly payments, helping to prepare students for these payments after graduation. Because it adapts to each user’s circumstances, it can even provide interactive educational content on retirement and mortgages to those needing it.
According to the research, student financial literacy programs like iGrad can decrease financial stress, improve academic performance and teach students how to manage their finances for a lifetime.
Vice President of Business Development of iGrad, Donna Miller, commented:
Students, colleges, and universities are facing tremendous financial challenges that impact enrollment, graduation rates, and the level of student loan debt, which is already the second-largest category of debt in the country. Indiana University Online has prioritized student financial literacy, and we are thrilled to be a key part of their efforts.
Indiana University helps faculty develop innovative, engaging, and rigorous online learning opportunities by using a collaborative support model that brings together expertise and resources across the University. The faculty are guided through every stage of designing and delivering an online course or program, from instructional design to course sustainability. The University offers affordable, flexible, and relevant online education that provides access and opportunity to a diverse student body. By partnering with on-campus student service providers, the institution leverages the unique expertise of each campus to ensure that online students have the support they need to be successful.
Last year in October, iGrad was acquired by Aztec Software (“Aztec”), a NexPhase-backed company and leader in educational software focused on adult education and workforce training and certification.
