NEW YORK — Prepare for some information that may shock you: Technology is not the end-all, be-all for teenagers — at least when it comes to their finances.
That was the big revelation that hit Kelly Peeler, founder of NextGenVest, who this week launched a network of "money mentors" around the country — college students who have hacked how to pay for college and want to teach others how to do it, too.
The move marks a slight pivot for the New York-based startup, which launched at the end of January with the goal of eradicating the $1.3 trillion epidemic of student loan debt in the U.S. At the time, Peeler was banking on her sophisticated system of text message alerts and reminders to appeal to her target demographic.
“We were frankly wrong, which is great. I’m glad we figured that out in a month and a half,” Peeler, 28, told me. “Students like the reminders, but what they really like is to know that they’re connecting with a human — which makes sense, too, right? I think what a lot of people get wrong about Gen Z is they’re so obsessed with technology, but really they’re just using technology as a new way to connect with people.”
The move to add the money mentor network is timely, now that high school seniors are in the thick of college acceptance season. They’re finalizing decisions on where to attend and figuring out if they can afford the college of their dreams.
We first wrote about Peeler(who paid for a large portion of her Harvard education through a combination of scholarships and side jobs) and NextGenVest back in January. At the time, the company had users in 12 states. After our story ran, users from 25 more states texted to start using NextGenVest. She's since added one full-time employee to her team of five and 15 paid interns.
The money mentor network doesn’t abandon the technology entirely. As Peeler says, “we’re taking that conversation of talking to a customer service person and putting it on the platform or medium that students feel most comfortable on.”
There are 11 mentors so far. That number will jump to 20 soon. And each has a particular student debt superpower. One found $20,000 in scholarships. One got into 20 colleges and went to each one to negotiate the best possible financial aid package.
In Peeler's beta testing, those mentors have been passing along that insider knowledge — and producing results. The day I talked to Peeler, NextGenVest helped secure $2,000 for one student. Three days before, another student got $3,000. And the standout was the student who used NextGenVest to get $40,000 to go to the University of Pennsylvania.
This week, those experts became available throughout the country.
NextGenVest is a for-profit venture, one she started with the help of $15,000 from the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Scholars Program. And while the text messages and the money mentors are free for students, Peeler has also created a financial literacy curriculum that she licenses to high schools around the country. Seventeen states now require the completion of a financial literacy course upon graduation from high school, so Peeler is meeting a need at a critical time.
Experts call it "just-in-time" financial education.
“This is when you learn about a very specific topic, just before you do it,” NPR reported. “So teaching high schoolers about mortgages is not very helpful. But a class on college loans is useful. And a class on credit scores just before a young adult gets a credit card could make a big difference.”
And that’s Peeler’s plan moving beyond college acceptance season.
“We’re going to be following our users through the decisions that they go through,” Peeler said.
“How do we help keep students on track with signing up for their first bank account, picking out their meal plan, figuring out, if they’re living off campus, how does that work with their budget for rent?” she said. “Our overarching mission is to save students time and money, and if we can do both of those things, then hopefully they’ll trust us for the long term.”
To connect with NextGenVest, students should text "I want help paying for college" to 646-798-1745. Parents can text "Please guide me" to the same number.
Connect with Kelly Peeler: LinkedIn; Twitter; Website
