As students are faced with the mounting challenges of paying
for college, few options are presenting themselves in the
open market aside from the usual sources: Pell Grants, scholarships
and student loans. Even now at Bakersfield College,
Pell Grant disbursements are being delayed for as long as 12
weeks with the added surge of students who have been laid off
and are returning to school.

With just under 18,000 students on campus this semester,
waitlists are full and classes are being dropped due to state
budget cuts. Tuition fees have also increased and the cost of
living is rising. There are companies, however, that are telling
students not to worry just yet, there are alternatives. One of
these “alternative lenders” is a company called TuitionU.

TuitionU.com was launched on July 1, 2007 and in the second
quarter of 2009, already boasts over $400 million out in
student loans through a program called Peer to Peer Lending.
TuitionU not only connects the students to banks and other
private lenders, but they also help the student locate potential
lenders through sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as
utilizing friends and possible family funding sources.

Joan Wegner, Director of Financial Aid at BC stated, “We’ve
never heard of TuitionU, but that doesn’t mean anything. What
students need to know is that while they may utilize whichever
lender they wish to, they need to still abide by BC Loan
Guidelines or their loans will be denied.”

TuitionU is owned by Cology, Inc. which is partnered with
several credit unions across the country including the USC
Credit Union in Los Angeles. Representatives at the USC
Credit Union state they’ve never had any problems or complaints
in the two years they’ve been partnered with Cology
and TuitionU, and they further noted that Cology underwrites
all student loans at their campus.

Evie Smith, public relations specialist with TuitionU stated
that, “Peer to Peer Lending is like a pledge drive. Alumni of
the college or university pledge a certain amount to help students
at that school, and so can anyone else such as community
philanthropists.” She further noted that before TuitionU
can be utilized, their main requirement is that the FAFSA is
completed and current. The FAFSA is the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid that must be completed in order for
the student to receive funding for attending school. “Without
the FAFSA, students can’t utilize the TuitionU system. We
need to know that the students are following what they need
to do so we can form a working partnership with that school’s
financial aid office,” Smith said.

Smith also indicated that within the TuitionU system is a
program called Tuition Flex. “Tuition Flex is a really unique
and exciting program because it gives the student the opportunity
to make payments on their loans and not have to worry
about whether or not their loans are going to go into default.
Tuition Flex is a two-part program. The first is Tuition Ease
which gives the students 12 months to pay on their loans disbursed
through TuitionU. The second part is called Tuition
Expense where we give the students 12 – 120 months to pay
on high loan balances.”

For more information on the TuitionU program, visit www.
tuitionu.com.