Student loans and access to education can be a huge issue for anyone living in the United States, but for some living outside of the country, it can be even more difficult to access American universities, especially without significant financial backing. One of the people trying to solve this problem for international students everywhere is Manu Smadja, co-founder and CEO of MPOWER Financing.
SMADJA: MPOWER, in a nutshell, makes loans to international students, and DACA students, who come here to top universities in the U.S.. For me, and for the thirty people that work at MPOWER in D.C., this resonates very personally. So, twenty years ago, I was myself an international student, at UVA, so not too far from here, and frankly, I struggled financially through school. I did well academically, but I had to take a bunch of odd jobs. I was a grader, a tutor for math, physics, computer science, French. I was even an indoor soccer referee, which I joked was like refereeing cage fighting. Ultimately, I pulled through, with the help of my family. Continue reading “The startup giving education loans to international students”