A Brief Guide To Paying Your College Fees Through Crowdfunding

Today, one of the most popular ways to fulfil your financial needs is through fundraising. But how effective is it? How does crowdfunding work? Education is everyone’s basic right, but not everyone can afford quality education. Courses such as Medicine and Management cost a fortune. Parents or students arrange for the heavy tuition fees by saving early on or through fixed deposits. Many of them even go for student loans. But is applying for a loan your only option? How else can you raise money for your college education? There are an array of options by which you can pay your college fees. Let’s find out below: 

1. Apply for Education Loan: Perhaps, the most obvious one. Here’s how one can apply for an education loan:

1. Selecting your bank: Different banks offer different rates of interest on a loan. You can compare the rates of interest and processing fees for various banks and select a bank of your choice. The monthly EMI that needs to be paid on the loan is calculated considering the loan amount, interest rate and tenure.

2. Eligibility Check: Various factors such as age, nationality, academic record, qualification, income source etc. is considered while applying for a loan. All you need to do is go to the bank’s website and check the eligibility criteria. 

3. Documentation: Now that you are eligible for the loan, certain documents need to be presented at the bank for verification. Nowadays, the verification of documents is not too much of a task. The paperwork is limited. Once the documents are verified, you are good to go. 

4. Application: The final step includes filling up details on an application form. This can be done online or offline. 

The student loan crisis: During the pandemic, in 2020, the demand for education loans reached its peak up to Rs 1 lakh crore. The burden of education loans and the low college placement rate together make it difficult for students to repay their loans. An alternate option could be collecting funds. Approaching person to person for donations is not easy. Hence, there are various crowdfunding websites in India that lift students’ financial burden by collecting funds.  

2. Scholarships and TFWS scheme: The government of India offers merit-based scholarship programmes to students who perform exceptionally well in academics. The scholarship is offered on various grounds such as socioeconomic status, sports merit, national awardees etc. The Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) introduced the Tuition Fee Waiver Scheme (TFWS) in 2007 to subsidize economically backward students, women and physically challenged students in their graduate/post-graduate programmes. A major part of the college fee structure constitutes tuition fees. In this scheme, the government pays off the students’ tuition fees. Thus, they only have to pay a nominal amount. There are two challenges in this scheme:

1. The number of seats is limited

2. Not all colleges offer this scheme

3. Paid programmes that offer stipends: Some institutes offer stipends to meritorious students enrolled in their training programme while others offer stipends to meritorious students in the form of academic awards. It is one of the forms of scholarship. 

Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/35cr5zub

4. Part-time jobs and internships: One of the ways to cover your academic expenses is by taking up a part-time job. A paid internship in a relevant domain will not only help to cover your fees but will also provide an additional experience to candidates that they can use while applying for jobs in the future.  

5. Crowdfunding: One of the ways in which you can raise funds for your education is through crowdfunding. Online fundraising is now a more common way of collecting funds than directly approaching people. After all, we are the internet generation. 

Here’s how to fundraise online for your education fees:

1. Choose a fundraising platform

2. State your cause

3. Promote it online 

Knowledge is the most valuable thing of all; everybody has a right to it and we, at      ImpactGuru, understand it better than anyone else. To start your fundraiser on ImpactGuru and raise funds for your college fees, click here.

To receive personalized fundraising assistance, reach out to us here [email protected] or call us on: 18008912903