The traditional education system in the US is inaccessible for millions, especially people of colour and/or low-income. It fails to deliver tangible benefits greater than the costs for many of those who do access it. Ascent was built to disrupt student lending by providing funding to students who stand to benefit significantly from academic or vocational education but are excluded by the traditional loan market. Ascent has a large proprietary dataset, comprised of over 2 million student histories over more than 15 years, that allows analysis of prospective education, employment outcomes and credit risk of borrowers. Using this data set, Ascent can underwrite loans based on prospective higher future earnings and enable students excluded from traditional sources of financing to pursue education and secure better employment. Ascent helps direct prospective students to courses most likely to benefit them and also provides a wraparound support platform (AscentUp) which supports them to succeed in their course and to secure attractive employment.

Access to higher education and workforce training can have long-lasting impact on an individual’s employability and financial wellbeing. College graduates earn 84% more across their lifetime, equating to over $1 million in aggregate wages. Ascent has proven that students who are not credit-eligible by traditional measures can still be creditworthy and transform their financial wellbeing. Ascent has – amongst other products – pioneered the outcomes-based loan for students typically ineligible for conventional loans due to no co-signer, no income, and no credit history, and which reduces the risk that a borrower is burdened with unsustainable debt. Nearly 100% of Outcomes-Based Loan borrowers qualify as low-income, with an average income of $13,000 annually.

Read more about Ascent in their Impact Report 2023.