Who We Are
We’re a small consulting company with a passion for providing students with support in school and beyond. At Major Smarts, we create custom financial literacy and student success products and services from the ground up, and work extensively with administrators to ensure successful content delivery and execution. We were created by a former San Diego-based community college student in response to the financial literacy equity gap.
Our Approach
While we focus on financial literacy, we also incorporate other key retention indicators such as student services education too. Whether it’s a campus-wide initiative or a starter pilot, our team can build it!
We understand that it’s challenging to find a one-size-fits-all when it comes to financial literacy programs and implementation, because every school is different. By providing you with both custom content (product) and strategic delivery support (services), we’re able to create a program or product that is unique to your school and your students. And if the custom route isn’t your thing, don’t worry: We have standard options available too!
What We Offer
We build custom financial literacy and student success workshops, and provide comprehensive implementation and recruitment consulting to ensure a successful project.
Research shows that students do better when provided with accessible financial literacy and student services education. They demonstrate higher completion rates, higher GPAs, and are less likely to default on student loans.
Critical questions we ask at Major Smarts are: How are we reaching them? What is the quality of learning that is provided for these crucial indicators? And how are products and programs measuring and tracking it? In short: How effective are we in our efforts? >> Read more
The Mission
...The student debt & college completion crisis:
Student loan debt for higher education has surpassed the trillion-dollar mark in the U.S. With state budget cuts, a still-rebounding economy, and a shift from needs-based to merit-based aid, more students and families are signing on for loans and the current probability of a near 45% dropout rate (resulting in residual loans, but no degree or upward mobility) and 27% default rate. This, at a time when socioeconomic inequality in the U.S. continues to grow, means that we need education and community support more than ever.
We believe students and parents deserve to be financially educated while embarking on what is for many one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives - rather than finding out the hard way about the pitfalls towards completion - and that administrators are faced with tremendous challenges in this process. That's why we're here to help.
... How higher education is changing, and why it's important:
Over the past few decades, the landscape of higher education has changed dramatically. With increasing budget cuts to state schools, the advent of online education, and the merging of higher ed with the for-profit sector, a host of new challenges arises. The rise of predatory recruitment practices and lenders, sky-high debt, and conflicting employment data for graduates have left a gap we're determined to fill: to empower administrators to provide students and parents with the knowledge, skills, and the right questions to navigate higher education safely.
...How we help:
Major Smarts provides web-based platforms for college investment and career education, bridging the information gap and leveling the playing field between prospective college students, parents, colleges and universities, and financial lenders through education, research, and transparency. We are passionate about educational equity, diversity, and access, and this is reflected in our programs.
We engage key voices in education, and work with researchers and universities to develop and deliver relevant student success and financial literacy education to students.
Our goal is to support administrators in providing students with the tools they need to succeed in college and beyond.