The year 2020 saw student financial well-being placed center stage of the SaaS platform. In the wake of COVID-19, using Blackbullion’s personalized UX and data-led learning pathways, the company’s university partners were able to identify indicators of student hardship and support intervention requirements, providing effective support responses as student finance needs escalated.
Notably, their new Funding Tool streamlined application processes for hardship funds, loans and scholarships, reducing completion time from 2-4 weeks to 1-2 days. Staff were freed up to support students more proactively resulting in improved retention.
Blackbullion users will save £360 (about $480 USD) per year compared to students who haven’t completed the course:
60% create a student-specific budget using their budgeting tool
71% make positive money changes
28% reduce the need for repeated funding support
Of the 59% of students currently considering dropping out of university, 36% cite money as the cause. Breaking down barriers between finances and student success is why the company transitioned to an open-banking powered financial wellbeing proposition so students can:
Access eligible financial support
Apply directly for funding
View relevant courses + guidance
Open banking allows a frictionless experience and evidence upload for students as they continue to underpin financial solutions with education. Blackbullion continues to play a strategic role in widening participation cohorts, retention strategies and parent education, especially for first-in-family students
Blackbullion was founded in 2014. Founder Vivi Friedgut believes every student has the right to financial wellbeing. The London-based team of about a dozen is on a mission to reach 1M students by 2021. Blackbullion is a Cool Tool Award Finalist (2021) for “Best Higher Education Solution” as part of The EdTech Awards from EdTech Digest. Learn more.
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