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StepEx vs. EdAid: The Technologically Advanced Choice for Education Finance
Both StepEx and EdAid expand education providers’ reach by offering deferred payment plans. However, StepEx’s advanced, customizable technology makes it the clear choice for institutions looking to tailor finance solutions to their unique needs. 1. Customised Credit Products Tailored to Your Needs StepEx’s proprietary tech stack offers tailored credit solutions based on your target market, course outcomes, and the students’ financial profiles in your target market. This approach allows institutions to design financing that closely aligns with specific program objectives and student outcomes, creating a stronger match between applicant needs and provider goals. 2. Higher Applicant Acceptance and Reliable Repayment StepEx’s data-driven approach looks beyond one-size-fits-all credit scores to focus on applicants likely to meet future payment obligations. This specalisation enables providers to say “yes” to more qualified applicants, maximizing conversion rates and bolstering repayment reliability by filtering for long-term affordability rather than narrow credit metrics. 3. Real-Time Updates and Seamless Team Integration StepEx enhances admissions teams’ workflows with live updates and self-serve functionality, streamlining finance approval processes. Integrating seamlessly into team operations, StepEx minimizes delays, allowing faster decisions that can be managed directly by staff and resulting in higher conversion rates. We all know conversion rates fall as wait times rise. Support is also readily available through dedicated Slack channels, ensuring quick assistance whenever it’s needed for edge cases and reducing any potential friction in applicant processing. Conclusion For education providers seeking deferred payment options that optimise attraction and conversion rates, StepEx is the superior choice. Its customisable and wide ranging product options, and efficient, real-time support empower institutions to boost both enrolment and repayment outcomes without interrupting admissions flow. It is no wonder that StepEx provides finance-as-a-service to more education providers in the UK and EU then anyone else.
StepEx vs. Balance Sheet Lenders: A Balanced Approach for Education Finance
StepEx and balance sheet lenders like Lendwise and Prodigy Finance both play important roles in the education finance landscape, but they serve different purposes. While balance sheet lenders offer direct funding to students, they often face higher costs of capital, which get passed on to students in the form of higher interest rates and repayment terms that can result in students paying 2-3 times the course fee. This can be a significant burden on borrowers. 1. Lower Repayment Burden for Students Unlike balance sheet lenders, StepEx works with education providers to create tailored payment plans that are more flexible and affordable for students. With StepEx, students don’t have to deal with steep repayment amounts, as the finance options are designed to align with their future income, reducing the overall financial pressure. In contrast, balance sheet lenders are constrained by the need to pass on high costs of capital, meaning students often face much higher total repayment amounts. 2. Broader Access Through Customisable Criteria Balance sheet lenders typically rely on strict credit scoring models, resulting in a significant number of applicants being rejected—especially those with non-traditional credit histories. StepEx, however, offers more flexibility with its customizable eligibility criteria. Within the regulatory framework, StepEx partners can adjust financial conditions to match their specific needs, allowing them to say “yes” to a wider range of students. This opens the door to more applicants, including those who may otherwise miss out on financial support through more rigid models like those used by balance sheet lenders. 3. Cashflow vs. Course Demand: The Trade-Off Balance sheet lenders provide direct funding, offering immediate cashflow to education providers. This is ideal for providers seeking fast liquidity but comes with the downside of limiting the number of students who can access finance due to high repayment obligations. StepEx, on the other hand, enables institutions to expand course demand by offering more varied financial products with longer repayment terms. While cashflow may not be as immediate as with balance sheet lenders, StepEx drives more student engagement and increases overall enrolments. Conclusion Balance sheet lenders like Lendwise and Prodigy Finance have a valuable role in the market, providing direct funding with quick cash flow. However, StepEx offers a more flexible, student-friendly solution that expands market access through customized repayment plans and broader eligibility criteria. Many education providers use both solutions in tandem to optimize their offerings—combining the immediate cashflow benefits of balance sheet lenders with the expanded market reach and flexible repayment options that StepEx provides. StepEx should not be seen as a replacement but as a complementary tool to grow student enrollment and provide affordable, long-term financial solutions.
StepEx vs. Lenders with Recourse: A Superior Solution for Education Finance
Lenders with recourse, like Omnia or Premium Credit Solutions, provide financing for education providers but come with key limitations that StepEx overcomes, making it the superior choice. 1. No Chasing Delinquent Borrowers – StepEx Does It All One of the main drawbacks of using lenders with recourse is that as soon as a borrower doesn’t repay the lender requires you to refund them the financed fees and take the burden of chasing down delinquent borrowers yourself. Few to no course providers are geared up to do this. With specialist communication nudges, integrations with the major credit bureaus and automated workflows to contact trace absent. StepEx, has all these tools, and takes care of all the collections, allowing institutions to focus on their core mission without the headache of chasing overdue payments. StepEx’s strong track record and comprehensive tools ensure that delinquent repayments are handled efficiently, reducing the administrative burden for providers. 2. A Range of Customizable, Flexible Finance Products While lenders with recourse offer limited financing options, StepEx provides a broad spectrum of customisable financial products. This means education providers can tailor repayment plans to suit a variety of student needs, increasing acceptance rates and ensuring that more students are able to access the financial support they need. StepEx’s flexibility allows providers to create the best possible experience for their students, ultimately improving inclusivity for students and financial outcomes for institutions. 3. Higher Acceptance Rates and Seamless Integration StepEx also stands out for its higher acceptance rates. Thanks to its broad range of financial products and use of data-driven insights that go beyond credit scores, StepEx can approve a wider pool of applicants that are likely to repay compared to traditional lenders with recourse. Additionally, StepEx integrates seamlessly with your team, providing live updates, real-time data, and efficient processes that minimize delays and maximize conversions—no cumbersome manual steps are required, unlike some lenders with recourse. Conclusion Lenders with recourse, like Omnia and Premium Credit Solutions, may serve a purpose but often come with significant downsides, including the need for education providers to manage collections themselves and limited product flexibility. StepEx is a more effective solution, offering comprehensive collections management, a wide range of customizable finance products, and a seamless integration process that enhances your team’s efficiency. For education providers looking to reduce administrative strain and increase student enrolment, StepEx is the superior choice.
StepEx vs. Quotanda: The Clear Advantage in Education Finance
StepEx and Quotanda both provide deferred payment options, but StepEx’s regulated, tech-driven approach makes it the superior choice for education providers seeking long-term, reliable solutions. 1. Longer Repayment Terms and Regulatory Compliance Quotanda, operating in an unregulated space, can only offer finance for terms shorter than 12 months. This becomes a significant limitation, especially since many students who need financial support require extended repayment periods. With regulations set to change in the UK in 2025, Quotanda will be unable to operate in this market. StepEx, however, offers regulated, flexible repayment plans that extend over multiple years, catering to a broader range of student financial needs and ensuring long-term compliance. 2. Tech-Driven Efficiency vs. Manual Processing While StepEx uses an advanced, proprietary tech stack to streamline the application process and ensure quick, accurate decisions, Quotanda relies on manual processing teams based in Spain and Latin America. This dependence on manual workflows leads to longer wait times for approvals, increasing the risk of lost applicants and decreased conversion rates. StepEx’s automated system integrates seamlessly into the admissions process, minimizing delays and boosting conversion rates. 3. Regulated Credit Products with Enforceable Repayments StepEx provides a fully regulated credit product, which ensures enforceable repayment terms and the ability to impact credit scores. In contrast, Quotanda’s unregulated offering lacks these protections, resulting in unenforceable repayment terms and no impact on credit scores. Moreover, StepEx leverages valuable data such as bank transaction and credit bureau information to better assess affordability, ensuring that providers are working with applicants who are likely to repay. Quotanda, on the other hand, lacks this depth of data-driven analysis. Conclusion For education providers seeking a compliant, efficient, and data-backed finance solution, StepEx is the clear choice. With longer repayment terms, advanced technology, and a regulated credit product, StepEx provides more security, faster processes, and a better student experience, ensuring higher conversion and repayment rates.
Impact of economic downturn on graduate incomes
We crunched the numbers on what drives how much people earn and the results are in. There has been a lot of press highlighting the big tech lay-off and the impact of interest rates on the labour market. So we expected to find a significant fall in incomes across our portfolio of thousands of graduates. But that wasn’t the case. Experience is a much stronger driver of your income than the state of the economy if you are employed. For skilled workers, every month you work your likelihood of an increased salary goes up, by an average of £400 per month in the UK (~£5k p.a.). This is only loosely correlated to the economy. The bad news is that if you are unemployed, you are much more reliant on the state of the economy. Graduates of tech, sales and business / law in 2023 had to wait about 50% longer to find employment than those in 2021. This analysis was from thousands of borrowers who work at over 600 employers predominantly in the UK, with qualifications varying from MBAs to entry level software developer courses and includes people employed at Consultancies e.g. Accenture, Big Tech e.g. Apple / Google / AWS, the Public Sector e.g. HMRC, the FCA and BBC and everything in between. This was posted on LinkedIn and one commenter had a great insight. That economic downturns are likely to have an outsized impact on mothers seeking a return to the workforce. Given that this group are more likely to be seeking a return to the workforce than the population in general.
Likely further education policy changes under the new UK government
Introduction On the 5th July a new Labour government came into power in the UK. This is expected to bring significant changes to many parts of the economy as the new government has significant issues to address across health, education, and welfare, with limited funds available given the commitment to only limited tax changes and the high cost of servicing debt that has significantly risen in recent years. This implies that the heavily subsidised further education industry in the UK is likely to be under reform. There is a lot of anticipation about what changes are afoot. However nothing major is yet announced. In this article, we outline our predictions on what will change, and provide an opinion on the impact they might have. Summary of further education plans, – Labour manifesto Equalise education The core aim is to equalise education and training opportunities, as stated inthe manifesto title itself “breaking down the barriers to opportunity…”. This is further confirmed in the clear statement of intent “Labour…must focus on closing gaps in outcomes between children eligible for free school meals and their more advantaged peers” and a graphic of the “attainment gap” between the most and least deprived. We can clearly see that the main attention within the education manifesto is on primary and secondary school age (i.e under 18 years old). However, the education itself is clearly not a priority spending area and main focus will be on the healthcare system. Devolve further education budget decisions There is a clear desire to devolve responsibility to regional authorities, “(Labour will) devolve education budgets to current and future Mayors and combined authorities to …deliver on local skills needs and priorities”. Crowd-in the private sector There is brief mention of a desire to crowd-in the private sector in relation to green skills, “unlock new jobs…supported by private investment in the industries of the future”. Outcome-based assessment There is a clear commitment to shift assessment of government funded training providers to an outcome-based approach. “Labour will set high expectations and…develop outcome agreements to ensure clear accountability for skills spending, which aligns to economic priorities”. Analysis Equalising opportunity Unsurprisingly, we are absolutely in favour of the Labour mission within education. It is not only “fairer” to equalise opportunity but a massive waste of talent to not use the productive capability of the less wealthy majority. The UK has a productivity issue, with a UK worker producing only £60 worth of goods and services per hour compared to £71 in the US and Germany. A solution to this problem is to make the labour market more competitive, ensuring those with the best capabilities to perform a role are able to, rather than restricting this to just those whose family wealth has given them the opportunity to do so. Budget primarily to schools rather than further education In an ideal world there would be budget for everything at once, however this is not the reality. The school system should
Funding Your Students
A guide to the funding landscape for education providers. Introduction Education and training is crucial but the cost is unaffordable for most. For education provider this means they need to find ways to subsidise or defer the cost of their course to expand their addressable market. There are a range of government and private sector funding options available, however the mechanics and pros and cons of each of these are often opaque. This article attempts to shed light on the different options. We are not unbiased observers. We provide the infrastructure that enables many UK higher education providers to offer their course in exchange for a future payment, including pioneering the UK’s first “royalty” style payment option. This has given us broad exposure to how education providers are funding their students and their confusion over which funding options are available. As well as contact with the UK’s Department of Education and Treasury. This article is an attempt to provide practical insights into the various schemes available. If you notice something that is incorrect please let us know so we can update it. Government funding options for education providers Student Loan Company What is it? Funding for education that provides upfront funding directly to universities in exchange for students repaying a share of their income until the amount of funding is repaid plus any accrued interest. Introduced to increase university participation and make this education pathway affordable for everyone. Now the Department of Education has more nuanced aims, as many universities would not survive if this funding was removed, and many UK towns are dependent on the economic benefits that the university provides. This means the scheme not only supports the students and the universities, but all of the local businesses reliant on student’s as their customers such as cafes, gyms, student housing and supermarkets. Covers undergraduate fees and a maintenance loan. In England this was typically between £8,400 and £13,348 for the 2023/24 academic year. Students can utilise this option if studying at an eligible UK university. These Universities then have to accept a cap on the fees they charge. Some universities who don’t accept the fee cap can still be partially funded through this scheme. Able to be used for Masters level degrees with a maximum paid of £12,167 for courses in the 2023/24 academic year. This funding can be used for course fees or living expenses and universities for which it can be used are not subject to a fee cap on their post-graduate courses. Doctoral level degrees are similar to Masters-level degrees, however the amount paid was £28,673 for the 2023/24 academic year. The Conservative party had planned to extend this to non-university courses in January 2026 by enabling individuals to borrow up to £37,000 to be spent on a wide range of courses called the Lifelong Learning Entitlement. Pros Significantly increased university participation across the UK, from 14% of 18-21 year olds in 1980 up to 36% in 2023.
Testimonial about StepEx from Cranfield University
Stephanie Hussels, Member of the University Executive and head of the Bettany Centre describes Cranfield’s experience with StepEx.
Testimonial about StepEx from CAPSLOCK
Jonathon, founder of CAPSLOCK – a leading cybersecurity training provider, discusses their experience using StepEx
