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Brown University undergrads using their powers for good: using the pay-it-forward concept to assist college students with higher education fundage while decreasing (and hopefully obsolete-ing) the need for banks and their Machiavellian student loan schemes.

It’s an amazing idea whose time has come. I’m incredibly impressed with Mr. Simmons and his team for building this project, thereby making a good solution possible for college students who could use some help funding their higher education.

Cody Simmons, Founder, CEO and President of CO-Fund, is crazy busy officially launching Co-Fund.org today, but here’s the press release he smartly sent out:

CO-FUND’S OFFICIAL LAUNCH

Co-Fund, America’s College Opportunity Fund, now publicly accepting donations

PROVIDENCE, RI (May 17th, 2010) — CO-Fund has just publicly launched its website today and is now accepting donations for its students at www.co-fund.org. CO-Fund is a nonprofit organization that enables individuals to sponsor a student’s college education through direct, person-to-person donations.

CO-Fund empowers students to garner support from their community in an easily-accessible and credible fashion while also connecting them with supporting individuals nationwide. Through CO-Fund’s online platform, donors can sponsor a student with as little as $1, with 100% of the donations made to students going toward “closing the gap” of the selected students’ college tuition costs.

Founded by a group of talented and entrepreneurial undergraduates at Brown University, CO- Fund was developed for students, by students. CO-Fund is a unique hybrid: a non-profit mission, scalable and cost effective technology, and the organization and energy of an Internet start-up. CO-Fund succeeds not by making money but by funding and empowering students to succeed.

Akin to micro-giving sites like Kiva and DonorsChoose, CO-Fund connects donors directly to recipients, lowering cumbersome barriers for donors and fostering a rapport between donors and recipients. Instead of offering students zero-percent loans that students pay back, CO-Fund Fellows instead “pay it forward” by supporting other students and communities like their own. As examples, students can pay it forward by working for a CO-Fund partner organization for at least one year after graduation or by completing a community service requirement.

CO-Fund is fiscally sponsored by Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education (RISE) and its pilot launch includes students and partner organizations (Brown University’s College Advising Corps and College Visions) from Rhode Island, as they seek to validate the effectiveness of their model with a small group of students before scaling to work nationwide. CO-Fund is legally sponsored by Partridge, Snow & Hahn in addition to several corporate sponsors; it has also received recognition and funding in several business plan and social enterprise competitions.

This is how the donating works:

Donating

Individuals submit donations via PayPal through our website, and these donations are then tracked by PayPal and internally through our platform. Micro-donations made directly to students are “temporarily restricted funds,” meaning they are only used for that given individual recipient. Once a Fellow enrolls in college, CO-Fund works directly with his or her college’s Bursar office to cover part of their tuition bill using the money raised.

And here’s the bit I like the most:

“Pay-it-forward” pledge

Students sign a pledge to CO-Fund and their donors to complete one of three “pay-it-forward” options. First, students can work for CO-Fund or a partner organization for at least one year after graduating. Second, students can donate one-fifth of the amount received back to other CO-Fund students within five years after graduating. Third, students can complete at least 100 hours of community service while in college. CO-Fund and its partners then work with the students to make sure they carry on CO-Fund’s social mission and confirm their completion of a pay-it- forward option.

Posted by Alexa Harrington