For too many students, higher education feels financially out of reach. Outstanding student loan debt in the United States in 2017 was around $1.42 trillion and the average student loan balance for 2016 graduates was $37,172, up 6% from 2015. Especially when combined with a lack of a degree, student loan debt impedes economic mobility for a lifetime. An innovative, new approach to financial aid distribution is needed, not just to increase the post-secondary education completion rate of students, but to provide access to higher education to individuals from diverse economic backgrounds. Earn to Learn is a promising solution that is addressing many of the issues facing low- to moderate- income students and families in Arizona. Combining student savings with scholarships, financial education, and success coaching, Earn to Learn helps LMI students obtain a college degree and graduate ready to enter the workforce with little to no student loan debt. Kate Hoffman ~ Biography
Kate Hoffman is the executive director and founder of Earn to Learn, a nonprofit that empowers low- to moderate- income students to successfully complete college by providing matched-savings grants, personal finance training, and workforce readiness. Hoffman founded the organization to help LMI students and their families close the opportunity gap by investing in their own education. She worked to facilitate a collaboration between Arizona's three public universities, the Arizona Board of Regents, high schools, community colleges, and financial service providers to launch Earn to Learn in 2013. Earn to Learn operates one of the largest and most successful individual development account programs in the country. Students who income-qualify save $500 per academic year. These funds are matched 8:1, bringing their total scholarship award to $4,500. Combining student savings with scholarships, financial education, and success coaching, Earn to Learn helps LMI students obtain a college degree and graduate ready to enter the workforce with little to no student loan debt. Prior to launching Earn to Learn, Hoffman worked in the financial services sector managing over $100 million in assets. The crisis in higher education inspired her to focus her boundless energy on helping LMI students and their families have every opportunity to achieve the dream of a college education by eliminating barriers, building financial assets and creating pathways out of poverty.
