HOUSTON – The average college student graduates with $37,000 in student loan debt, and every year, students leave billions of dollars in financial aid unclaimed because they don't know how to get it.
One financial advisor company wants to get your college-aged or college-bound student more money for school by texting.
"What would it look like to have someone who (is) available at 11 p.m. on a Sunday to answer your question about, 'Oh! How should I start building credit? I'm a college student,' or 'How do I find more money for college?'" said Kelly Peeler, CEO of NextGenVest.
The company trains college students to be money mentors for their peers and college-bound kids. All communications are by text, they're available 24-7 to chat and it's a free service.
They'll help your student fill out the free application for federal student aid or FAFSA. Peeler said they will never ask for your sensitive financial information, like social security numbers. Once they learn a little more about you, they get to work.
"Our back-end technology would actually find customized scholarships for them, so that they wouldn't have to do the work going to lots of different scholarship sites, which is basically what we see the student not doing," Peeler said. "They end up procrastinating (on) that."
NextGenVest says it has helped more than 40,000 students get access to $39 million in financial aid for free.
To get started, you just fill out a short form on NextGenVest, including your cell phone number. You will get a text from a money mentor to get started.
