Just as there are lots of different types of payment options out there for students, there are also many different approaches someone can take when applying for one. Below, we’ve got five types of people you might have in your program, and how we work hard to make sure our applications fit them — whether they’re one of these types of students or even a combination of them!
The procrastinator
This is the student who always finds time to do it tomorrow, until of course “tomorrow” is the due date. (Once they’re enrolled in your program, they might be found pulling an all-nighter right before a big exam or project.) This person will need a fast, simple financing process that they can get through quickly, just in case they put off their application until the last minute.
Fortunately, one of the people we kept in mind when designing our application was the person on a time crunch. Maybe they’re unable to print out and sign physical documents, or they don’t have time to go through pages and pages answering questions about themselves — that’s no problem! Our online application takes, on average, about five minutes to complete, and all documents can be e-signed through students’ online accounts. Because time and trees are both worth saving!
How Climb helps: fast, simple process
The early bird
In a 180-turn from the procrastinator, we have the early bird. When this person makes a decision, they get right down to business. As soon as they decided to go your school, they started looking at all the ways they can pay for it, from scholarships to payment plans to student loans. For the early bird, it’s better to get things done now and not have to stress about it later, but sometimes, that might mean making a decision before more information or opportunities emerge.
If your student is this type of person, they shouldn’t have to worry about being stuck in a commitment just because they like to be ahead of time. When they submit a Climb Loan application, we only do a soft credit pull*, so applying won’t negatively affect their credit score — they can even take out multiple applications. And, should something come up before they start your program and they no longer need a loan, they can cancel easily with no penalty.
How Climb helps: commitment-free application
The questioner
Like us here at Climb, this student believes that the only bad question is the one left unasked. After all, it’s better to ask now than to get surprised later on — whether that be by enrollment criteria, a question on an exam, or fine print on a financial document! So to be sure they’re not caught unaware, they want to be able to have consistent contact with someone knowledgeable who can help them with whatever question has just popped up.
That’s why we make having a robust (and friendly) Student Success Team a priority. We’re available throughout the process, and not just by an email that gets answered days after it was sent! Our team can also be reached on the phone, or they can live chat with a member of our team right on our website.
How Climb helps: Student Success Team
The newbie
The great thing about the programs we work with is that they’re a viable option for many people who want to forgo a traditional degree, either because of time commitment, tuition costs, program reviews, or any number of reasons. So, several students might be dealing with tuition payments for the first time. They may not have all the answers about scholarships, upfront payments, payment plans, or loans, and they also may not even know what questions to ask.
Because of this, it’s important to have transparency in our application. Your students can check their actual offer (not just an average or range) without any commitment and can view all their loan documents, disclosures, and deadlines in one online account. They can even see how we calculate monthly loan payment amounts and how we determine which programs to work with!
How Climb helps: Transparent applications
The returning student
These people have already gone through a program or two, and might be in the middle of a career right now. But they want to go further, building their skills or brushing up on industry developments, so that they can either advance their career further or enter into a whole new one. This person also may have already taken out earlier loans, which would increase their debt-to-income ratio (DTI) and may make it more difficult to get a new student loan.
But we believe this type of person shouldn’t face such steep obstacles to continuing their education. Our loan approval process also looks at future-debt-to-future-income, not only their current state. If they already have loans, but their educational program is going to open them up to a salary bump, then they’ll be more likely to qualify. This makes our loans, alongside our other payment options, more accessible to students who might otherwise be turned away by different lenders who only look at current financial status, rather than the financial status that their education investment will help them reach.
How Climb helps: accessible payment options
Curious how Climb can help you and your students?
*Climb performs a “soft” credit pull to evaluate eligibility, but this soft credit check will not affect your credit score. A hard credit pull is only performed once the loan is accepted and funded.