LEADER IN EDUCATION FUNDING PROVIDES RESOURCES IN RESPONSE TO ONGOING FAFSA® ISSUES

AscentUP’s “Ultimate Guide to Paying for College” provides the much-needed solution

SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Committed to helping students plan, pay for and succeed throughout their education, Ascent is proud to launch the “Ultimate Guide to Paying for College“through its partnership with AscentUP, a professional training and career readiness platform. A completely free resource that AscentUP created for nonprofits, high schools, parents, and students, the 10-minute interactive guide provides an answer to the negative updates of this year of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid Application Process (FAFSA®).

The 2024-2025 FAFSA form updates were intended to help more students qualify for financial aid through a streamlined application. Unfortunately, a three-month delay in accessing the form, coupled with debilitating errors and miscalculations, meant a 27 percent drop in submissions compared to last year. In addition, nearly 20 percent of FAFSA submissions to date have had to be reprocessed due to errors in the student aid index calculation and incorrect tax information provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The consequences are so great that local authorities have even declared this a ‘state of emergency’, as was recently the case West Virginia.

While many await their FAFSA fate, AscentUP’s “Guide” provides actionable tools to help students and families evaluate and make informed decisions about which college to attend and how to make it a financial reality. Through The Bright Futures™ Engine, students begin the course by learning how to select their ideal college based on criteria such as cost, majors, faculty, location and on-campus experience.

After understanding how to select their future college, students are guided through the options to make education affordable, including federal financial aid, scholarships and employment opportunities. This includes an overview of how the FAFSA process is intended to work and what its results mean for families’ financial capabilities, as well as where private loans can close the gap between FAFSA and the actual costs associated with their selected college. Finally, the Guide defines and informs students about common terms and strategies to pay off loans quickly and with confidence.

“When passionate arbiters of student success and loan guarantees result in positive outcomes, we are frustrated by the Department of Education’s lack of performance for students studying at university,” said Ken Ruggiero, co-founder and CEO of Ascent. “AscentUP’s ‘Ultimate Guide to Paying for College’ provides transparent and accessible tips and best practices to alleviate the stress that students and families naturally face during their college application and admissions process. Our guide is even more important in the aftermath of this year’s terrible FAFSA mistakes.”

Because most higher education institutions require students to secure their enrollment with a non-refundable deposit May 1many still don’t know how much aid they will qualify for, if at all. As a result, approximately 700,000 students are faced with an impossible decision about college admissions and the prospect of attending college at all. These blunders will further widen the education-employment gap that low-income and first-generation students already experience. AscentUp and its guide are intended to help as many students as possible deal with the staggering consequences of this year’s FAFSA updates.

As a leader in results-based lending and education financing, Ascent is committed to providing students with the comprehensive support services and educational resources designed to help borrowers succeed and live financially independent lives. The investment in AscentUP and the “Ultimate Guide to Paying for College” furthers its mission to set students up for success regardless of hardship or external forces.

For more information about the Ultimate Guide to Paying for College, Ascent and the AscentUP program, visit ascentup.com/ultimate-guide-paying-for-college.

ABOUT ASCENDER
Ascent is a leading provider of innovative financial products and comprehensive student support services that help more students access education and achieve academic and economic success. Everything Ascent offers is designed by leading industry professionals with cutting-edge technology and innovation to increase every student’s ability to plan, pay and succeed. Ascent’s rare Outcomes-based Loan provides financing to credit-invisible borrowers who generally do not benefit from traditional credit. Ascent products also include: Cosigned loans, Solo Loans, Career Loans, Parent loans, Graduate loansAccess loans, Enterprise loans and Impact loans.

For more information visit www.ascentfunding.com.

ABOUT ASCENTUP:
AscentUP is committed to bridging the gap between education and employment and empowering students to reach their full potential in the job market. Through comprehensive training, coaching and experiential learning opportunities, AscentUP aims to equip students with the skills and confidence needed for career success. For more information visit AscentUP.com.

SOURCE Ascent Financing