Students Gain Valuable Tools With New Credit Union Student Choice - iGrad Partnership

Aug. 5, 2014 - PRLog -- Washington, D. C. (August 5, 2014) – Credit Union Student Choice (http://www.studentchoice.org/), the leader in higher education financing solutions for America’s credit unions, is now providing even more tools to help students and families make smart decisions about paying for college and everyday finances. Student Choice has partnered with iGrad (http://www.igrad.com/), an award-winning source of financial literacy tools and resources, to offer free online tools that guide consumers in making wise choices about their finances and their future.

While Student Choice provides solutions for funding a college education, it also focuses on educating students and their families about making responsible financial choices. Through iGrad, students can answer a short series of simple questions to create a customized, interactive experience designed for their unique situation. Modules include videos, articles, quizzes, and interactive calculators.

“Many students arrive at college with limited knowledge of how to maintain a budget, save for the future, and manage their financial aid,” said Scott Patterson, President of Student Choice. “Our partnership with iGrad will help them learn all of these life skills in a format familiar to today’s high school graduates – online modules that provide the building blocks for a responsible financial future.”

In addition to financial guidance, iGrad also provides job search tools, allowing students and graduates to upload résumés and search job postings in their field. Additional articles give grads advice on landing a job.

“The lessons available through iGrad help recent graduates plan for the future, including job searches, budgeting after college, and managing their student loans. They’ll be able to use iGrad to make educated decisions at every step of their college career and beyond,” Patterson said. “This partnership continues to drive home the fact that credit unions are best-practice lenders, providing not only fair-value loans but also the necessary information to help students make financial decisions that are in their best interest.”

Student Choice has also worked with iGrad to design and launch an innovative interactive module that prospective borrowers and co-borrowers may complete before a loan application is submitted. The module helps ensure that students and parents understand the costs of college and student loans, as well as career salary expectations and the appropriate amount they should borrow to achieve their desired degree. Additionally, the companies are working on a third module designed to help borrowers effectively enter their loan-repayment cycles.

According to iGrad CEO Rob LaBreche, both organizations work to put students and their needs first. “There’s a natural synergy between our two organizations, and I’m excited for the opportunities that lie ahead,” he said. “We’ve implemented our financial education platform at more than 600 college campuses across the country, helping over a million students in the process. We’re thrilled to work with Student Choice and bring this innovative program to the credit union space.”

About Credit Union Student Choice

Credit Union Student Choice is a credit union service organization (CUSO) that positions credit unions as leaders in education finance by offering a comprehensive solution that helps them deliver fair-value private education loans and corresponding financial education to students and families. For more information, visit www.studentchoice.org. (http://www.studentchoice.org)

About iGrad

iGrad is privileged to partner with more than 600 schools nationwide to provide a financial literacy platform which connects more than 1.2 million students, as well as alumni and staff. iGrad is the only organization to offer a customizable, adaptive learning financial education platform with optional video-based student loan entrance and exit counseling (http://schools.igrad.com/blog/video-entrance-exit-counsel...) (http://schools.igrad.com/blog/video-entrance-exit-counseling-federal-student-loans).  For more information, visit www.schools.iGrad.com.