What is Swayam? What do we do?

Swayam's vision is to eradicate the financial barrier to education by enabling individuals to invest in the education of bright students in return for a share in their future income for a fixed period of time. Swayam is founded by Ashni, Deepti, Thomas and Somik. We are four social entrepreneurs who met at Stanford while facing the same funding problems we now seek to solve. Our idea was one of the winners of the 2008 Stanford Social Entrepreneurship Challenge. Two of the contest judges have since become our advisors and we have begun a pilot to connect our first batch of Swayam Fellows to Swayam Angels interested in investing in their educations.

Why do we care? 

The four of us have experienced firsthand the frustrations of lack of funding for our educations. Having been international students at Stanford, we were unable to access federal loans available to U.S. citizens only and couldn’t get private loans unless we had U.S. citizen co-signers - not an easy feat for such large amounts! Some of us put our families through financial hardship, exhausted our life savings or burdened ourselves with several part time jobs to make ends meet. Somehow, we got here and managed to attend our dream university. However, so many of our peers gave up their dreams to study in the US because of lack of funding. Moreover, our difficulties do not rival those of millions of poor students in the developing world whose desires to pursue education even in their own countries are hampered by lack of funds.

We founded Swayam, meaning ‘self-reliance’ in Sanskrit, because we believe that money should never stand in the way of every person’s right to an education and a better life. We are building a community of people investing in the amazing untapped potential of others like them all over the globe. 

How we do what we do?

We are building an online portal to connect Swayam Fellows with Swayam Angels interested in investing in their educations. Students admitted to a higher education institution will be able to create profiles describing their academic background, professional aspirations and funding needs. Swayam will offer students a choice of future income contracts (FICs) with higher percentages of income for a shorter time or smaller percentages for a longer time, to cater to their wide range of risk preferences. Once students select the option best suited to their circumstances, Angels visiting our website will be able to browse their profiles and make funding offers.

How is a FIC different from a traditional student loan?

Funding a Swayam Fellow is an investment, not a loan. The returns that Swayam Angels receive on the money they invest in Fellows is a percentage of Fellows’ income once they start earning, not a percentage of the original amount of funding. This means that the returns received by Angels are aligned proportional to Fellows’ incomes and could change over time with changes in income.

Why students love us!

Our Swayam Fellows can attend the best university they get admitted to. They can make career choices free of crippling debt and will always repay amounts they can afford because repayments are aligned to income. They never have to make a payment during college when they should be focusing on their education. Repayments begin once they embark upon a job. Moreover, they will have the opportunity to interact with other Fellows and Angels from all walks of life and will be paired with mentors interested in their professional well-being, who can offer career-related advice.

Stay tuned for additional benefits and programs that will be offered through the Swayam Fellowship!

Why investors love us!

Swayam Angels can do well and do good! An investment in a cohort of Swayam Fellows will benefit them financially while offering them the opportunity to create a tremendous social footprint by helping young people achieve their dream educations and careers. Since their investment provides good monetary returns comparable to or better than investing in the stock market while helping young people in need, our Angels become an integral part of the Swayam community and frequent our website to continue making a difference.

What are we up to right now?  

We are in pilot with our first cohort of Swayam Fellows. If you are a potential Swayam Angel interested in investing in our initial cohort and helping them achieve their dream educations, we invite you to contact us at pilot@swayam.org. If you are a student in need of funding and are interested in joining the first cohort of Swayam Fellows, also contact us at pilot@swayam.org.

How can I find out more about Swayam?  

Be sure to stay updated on Swayam happenings through our blog. For general queries other than the pilot, please contact us at info@swayam.org.