ONLINE EDUCATION
PRnewswire | March 31, 2023
The Ellucian Foundation, established in 2020 by the leading higher education technology solutions provider Ellucian, today announced that the 2023 Progress, Accomplishment, Thriving, Hope (PATH) Scholarship Program will accept applications March 27th – May 12th for U.S. institutions and March 27th – May 26th for eligible institutions outside of the U.S. Now in its fourth year, the PATH Scholarship provides grants to higher education institutions globally to support students facing economic hardship and educational disruptions. For 2023, the PATH Scholarship Program will focus on providing grants to 2-year public colleges in the U.S. and eligible higher education institutions in Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
"Students across the globe cite lack of financial resources among the biggest obstacles to achieving their educational goals," said Laura Ipsen, President & CEO, Ellucian. "We are proud to support students through The Ellucian Foundation's PATH Scholarship program, helping those facing financial hardship stay in school and complete their program of study."
• "Receiving the Ellucian PATH Scholarship means that I will be able to prioritize and focus on my education rather than worrying about how to finance it." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Pacific University
• "Funding with my bills will take some of my worries and stress away so I can concentrate and finish school, which will be a dream come true." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Central Carolina Technical College
• "This program provided invaluable support to students who were needing additional assistance...because of this award, our students are edging closer to achieving their goal of earning a degree." - an administrator from Our Lady of the Lake University. • "With the allocation of these funds, I can complete my degree this year. If I was not awarded...I would have had to remain on an academic registration hold, restricting my enrollment in Spring semester classes." - 2022 PATH Scholarship Recipient, Pacific University
"In the U.S., two-year public colleges play a vital role in providing access to higher education for underserved students, offering an affordable and flexible learning pathway to a better life," said Jen Welding, Executive Director of the Ellucian Foundation. "We are honored to continue this program and support students at these institutions and other higher education institutions around the world through this year's PATH Scholarship program, providing much-needed financial relief to help students facing hardships stay in school and achieve their educational and career goals."
In 2020, Ellucian partnered with the Business-Higher Education Forum and pledged an initial $1 million to create the PATH Scholarship. Now administered by the Ellucian Foundation, the program will award block grants to higher education institutions in $10,000, $15,000 and $25,000 (USD) amounts. The institutions will then distribute the scholarships to students in financial need, with a maximum award of $1,500 (USD) per student. Students can use these funds to help cover items such as housing, tuition and food. Since its creation, the program has distributed over $1.6 Million in scholarships to 1,900+ students.
For 2023, The following types of higher education institutions are invited to apply:
• In the U.S., public two-year institutions that are eligible to participate in the Federal Title IV Student aid programs. Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are strongly encouraged to apply.
• In Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico and the United Kingdom, not-for-profit higher education institutions that are approved by the country's ministry of higher education (or other national government ministry) to provide associate's or bachelor's degrees.
An independent judging committee will select the institutions chosen to receive a PATH Scholarship award. Recipient institutions in the U.S. will be notified in mid-July and those outside the U.S. in mid-September.
ABOUT ELLUCIAN
Ellucian powers innovation for higher education, partnering with more than 2,900 customers across 50 countries, serving 22 million students. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, including data-rich tools for student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners and user community of more than 45,000 provides best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Businesswire | May 12, 2023
AI is sweeping education, but fact-checking remains a serious issue. AI systems can produce incredible results that can legitimately help students learn, but they can also amplify incorrect data and cause harm to students looking for a quick and easy answer. eNotes has decided to dual-track its online educational software by marrying the best of both worlds – AI tools with human direct help.
We are excited to announce the launch today of the new and improved enotes.com. As one of the internet's most-visited Literature and Humanities websites, eNotes has been a leader in the online education space for over a decade. With the integration of customized features using GPT-4 technology, we continue our tradition of innovation and excellence.
Our new website includes two launch products: Essay Outlines and Instant Answers. Essay Outlines helps students come up with the best possible essay outline to begin their writing journey, while Instant Answers uses our vast content library, combined with AI technology, to provide instant answers to any possible question a student may have about any book, author, historical period, or other educational question.
These answers can be instantly fact-checked by our network of educators, ensuring the accuracy of the generated information. This unique feature allows students to harness innovative technology in a safe, academic environment where Educators are present to fact-check and critique the AI output. Every eNotes member gets unlimited access to AI answers and can purchase fact-checks as part of their subscription. We’ve posted a real fact check on our blog to show just how this process works.
All the published content on enotes.com is written by experienced educators and fact-checked by our in-house editing team. Our new AI products work in tandem with our vast content library to generate information and outlines, creating a best-of-both-worlds educational experience. All AI answers directly link to existing, human-written eNotes content.
We are proud to offer a free trial for anyone to test our new and improved enotes.com, which will allow students and teachers alike to use AI to generate starting points for research or continue their journey using our premium education content and educator services. We are confident that these new features will further enhance the user experience and continue our mission to provide valuable resources to students around the world.
eNotes.com’s CTO, Matthew Fonda, had this to say about the product launch:
“At eNotes, we believe that a personalized learning experience is key to a good education. Our Homework Help service has succeeded in connecting students with real educators, but scale has always been a challenge. When we discovered GPT-4 and the quality of answers it provided, we knew this would be a game changer for education. Students can ask unlimited questions and get the personalized help they need. This pairs perfectly with our existing network of educators; when students need additional help, they can get their AI answers fact checked and expanded upon by a real human. We are very excited about this new feature and excited to see the impact it has on education.”
eNotes is available with a 48-hour free trial and is $14.95 per month after that. Each subscription comes with one fact-check per month and the ability to purchase more depending on the user’s needs.
About eNotes
Whether you're studying, teaching, or simply enjoying a book, we're here to help. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts and our teaching resources are written by real educators. All of our content is edited by our in-house editorial team to ensure that everything we create, from a study guide to a curriculum plan, is academically rigorous and rewarding for students and teachers alike.
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Businesswire | April 27, 2023
Summer, the certified B Corp committed to addressing the national student debt crisis, announced that it has raised $6M in new capital, with $18M raised in funding to date. General Catalyst, QED Investors, Flourish Ventures, Greycroft, Story Ventures, Gaingels, Calm VC, Partnership Fund for NYC, Fenway Summer, BDMI, and Avidbank participated in the financing.
The company also announced it has surpassed $1 billion in total projected savings for borrowers, and it has hired Leigh Gross as Chief Revenue Officer to lead partnerships with recordkeepers and other financial institutions interested in Summer Secure, the company’s automated solution for SECURE 2.0 retirement matching.
Student loan debt in the United States now stands at $1.75 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve, exceeding credit card and auto debt. It is often the first meaningful debt that young people incur, and can lead to a domino effect on their financial life–making it harder to save for retirement or buy a home years after graduating. Summer works with leading financial institutions, employers, and unions to provide a high impact, comprehensive digital solution that helps individuals plan for college costs, reduce the burden of student loan debt, and optimize retirement savings. To date, the company has delivered more than $1 billion in total projected savings for borrowers across the United States, offering assistance on every leg of the personal finance journey.
“We’re thrilled to announce this new funding, especially at a time when the need for better college planning and student loan solutions has never been more acute,” said CEO and co-founder Will Sealy. “As student loan forgiveness hangs in the balance and payments are set to resume for the first time in years, we’re excited to share our solution with more people to enable them to unlock financial freedom.”
Summer’s funding comes at an exciting time for the business as it continues to expand partnerships with retirement recordkeepers and payroll providers on the heels of its partnership with Fidelity Investments in 2022. Due to the recent passage of the SECURE 2.0 Act, many institutions are turning to Summer to support their employer clients with student loan retirement matching, leveraging Summer’s digital API suite and its expertise with operationalizing complex student loan policies into high-adoption solutions.
In a recent survey, 91% of employees with student debt said they would save more money for retirement if their employer offered a student loan repayment program. By ensuring that an employee’s student loan payments count toward the retirement match provided by their employer, Summer’s workplace solution can relieve student loan borrowers from having to make an impossible decision between paying down their debt or saving for retirement.
Summer was founded in 2017 by Sealy, a former Policy Analyst and Assistant to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and a veteran of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Chief Product Officer Paul Joo, with previous experience at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Boston Consulting Group, and Chief Product Officer Vincent Tran, who previously led product at Pave and Orchard and was an investor at the Partnership Fund for NYC.
Summer’s recent partnership milestones include a student loan benefit launched with Intuit’s personal finance subsidiary, Credit Karma, and an expanded partnership with the American Federation of Teachers to support their 1.7 million teachers, government employees, and healthcare workers. Summer will use the new funding to expand the platform to help even more borrowers with a holistic approach to financial well-being.
About Summer
Summer partners with financial institutions and employers to empower their populations to reduce education costs and student debt through proven technologies, policy expertise and human support. Founded in 2017 by industry experts, Summer’s mission is to alleviate student loan debt for 46 million borrowers by providing leading solutions for college cost planning, automated enrollment for loan assistance plans, tuition assistance, student loan contributions and retirement matching, and emergency savings. Summer is a certified B Corporation.
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