SAN DIEGO—Leading financial wellness education company iGrad has partnered with Duke University to offer its adaptive, interactive financial literacy platform to students and alumni.
iGrad, a private company based in San Diego, is a leading provider of interactive and adaptive online financial wellness platforms for universities, companies and financial institutions. Its financial wellness education platform for college students, also called iGrad™, is used at more than 600 colleges and universities nationwide.
iGrad is part of the Personal Finance @ Duke educational initiative, which also offers live workshops, individual financial counseling, and personal finance educational resources.
“iGrad’s online financial wellness platform is especially useful because each student’s experience is tailored to their unique interests,” said Duke Director of Student Lending Irene Jasper. “Not only that, we are provided with data that helps us develop more relevant financial literacy programming on our campus.”
Duke launched its personal finance initiative because its research showed that students were graduating unprepared to manage their personal finances.
The 16,000-student private university established a primary goal of reducing student loan borrowing while promoting financial literacy as a life skill.
Student loans are now the second-largest category of household debt in America, topping $1.5 trillion this year, according to the Federal Reserve.
“Many students and alumni face unique challenges when it comes to building credit while balancing debt and launching their careers,” said iGrad founder and CEO Rob LaBreche. “We are thrilled to partner with Duke University to provide personalized and adaptive financial education to its students and alumni.”
Duke’s financial literacy initiative was a collaborative effort that included faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff from a range of departments and schools across the University, including the Student Loan Office, Bursar, Financial Aid, Career Center, Alumni Affairs and the Economics Department.
Designed around a proprietary behavioral algorithm, iGrad personalizes financial information for each student’s situation and needs. It also offers tools, quizzes, videos, articles and a library of multimedia content.
Included in the iGrad platform is a student loan tracking tool which aggregates student loan balances and estimates monthly payments, helping to prepare students for these payments after graduation.
iGrad adapts to each student and alumni’s specific circumstances, even providing interactive educational content on retirement and mortgages to those who need it.
iGrad is a three-time winner of Education Program of the Year (The Institute for Financial Literacy), Best Product award for three years running (University Business Magazine), as well as the Outstanding Consumer Information Award (AFCPE). For more information, visit http://schools.igrad.com.
