My Belief:
Many students deal with financial insecurity during the first couple of weeks while they are waiting for their financial aid to be disbursed.
A prototypical customer with this issue would be a student at the University of Florida who depends on financial aid to afford living expenses and college expenses during their time here.
Iteration No. 1: Antonio Nazario
Nature of need: Financial aid money for necessities like textbooks can't be satisfied until after disbursement
All the time? or Sometimes?: This problem only affects them during the beginning of a semester in which they are taking classes
How long?: They've been aware of this problem since spring of their freshman year when they began taking degree-seeking classes
When aware?: a year ago
How are you addressing?: They addressed this problem by borrowing money from their parents with the intent to pay them back when the financial aid is disbursed
Are you satisfied?: They felt dissatisfied with this method because it puts an extra financial strain on their parents at the beginning of every semester
Iteration No. 2: Kelsey Malles
Nature of need: Because they have Florida prepaid, their financial aid goes toward paying their rent and gas to get to and from work
All the time? or Sometimes?: This only affects them at the beginning of each semester
How long?: They've known about this issue since high school when their older sibling faced the same issue
When aware?: 4 years ago
How are you addressing?: They often must empty their work paycheck to cover these expenses as they come until financial aid meets them where they are at
Are you satisfied?: They felt dissatisfied with this method because it leaves no margin for error and nothing to fall back on if there is an unexpected emergency expense.
Iteration No. 3: Dean Mangione
Nature of need: Their apartment complex often requires two very close by rent payments, on the move-in day and the first of the next month which is often just over two weeks away causing a great financial strain at the start of the semester.
All the time? or Sometimes?: Only at the beginning of each semester
How long?: Since last semester
When aware?: 9 months ago
How are you addressing?: They borrow money from a friend and pay them back
Are you satisfied?: Not really, they do not like being in debt to people, even for short periods of time
Reflection:
I learned that though this opportunity does affect plenty of students in often similar ways, it is strictly during the beginning of each semester when this problem is prevalent, and nearly non-existent afterwards, until the beginning of the next semester. The most surprising thing to me about this opportunity was the multitude of ways people address the issue personally.
Summary:
Though my belief is still true, and I believe has been made more accurate by backing it with personal student testimony, there isn't that much opportunity since it only occurs during a small period of time. If there were to be some type of solution to this problem, like a cheap loan service that allows students to acquire immediate needs while they await financial aid, it would have to be paired with something else that would allow it to make money for the rest of the year where this is not a problem, or find another monetary related issue to keep it afloat the rest of the year. Entrepreneurs should absolutely mold their ideas to customer need since their primary job is to serve the customer. Their ideas should be malleable in the first place so that they can meet customer need without changing the intent of their idea, that way they can "stay firn" without denying the customer.
A prototypical customer with this issue would be a student at the University of Florida who depends on financial aid to afford living expenses and college expenses during their time here.
Iteration No. 1: Antonio Nazario
Nature of need: Financial aid money for necessities like textbooks can't be satisfied until after disbursement
All the time? or Sometimes?: This problem only affects them during the beginning of a semester in which they are taking classes
How long?: They've been aware of this problem since spring of their freshman year when they began taking degree-seeking classes
When aware?: a year ago
How are you addressing?: They addressed this problem by borrowing money from their parents with the intent to pay them back when the financial aid is disbursed
Are you satisfied?: They felt dissatisfied with this method because it puts an extra financial strain on their parents at the beginning of every semester
Iteration No. 2: Kelsey Malles
Nature of need: Because they have Florida prepaid, their financial aid goes toward paying their rent and gas to get to and from work
All the time? or Sometimes?: This only affects them at the beginning of each semester
How long?: They've known about this issue since high school when their older sibling faced the same issue
When aware?: 4 years ago
How are you addressing?: They often must empty their work paycheck to cover these expenses as they come until financial aid meets them where they are at
Are you satisfied?: They felt dissatisfied with this method because it leaves no margin for error and nothing to fall back on if there is an unexpected emergency expense.
Iteration No. 3: Dean Mangione
Nature of need: Their apartment complex often requires two very close by rent payments, on the move-in day and the first of the next month which is often just over two weeks away causing a great financial strain at the start of the semester.
All the time? or Sometimes?: Only at the beginning of each semester
How long?: Since last semester
When aware?: 9 months ago
How are you addressing?: They borrow money from a friend and pay them back
Are you satisfied?: Not really, they do not like being in debt to people, even for short periods of time
Reflection:
I learned that though this opportunity does affect plenty of students in often similar ways, it is strictly during the beginning of each semester when this problem is prevalent, and nearly non-existent afterwards, until the beginning of the next semester. The most surprising thing to me about this opportunity was the multitude of ways people address the issue personally.
Summary:
Though my belief is still true, and I believe has been made more accurate by backing it with personal student testimony, there isn't that much opportunity since it only occurs during a small period of time. If there were to be some type of solution to this problem, like a cheap loan service that allows students to acquire immediate needs while they await financial aid, it would have to be paired with something else that would allow it to make money for the rest of the year where this is not a problem, or find another monetary related issue to keep it afloat the rest of the year. Entrepreneurs should absolutely mold their ideas to customer need since their primary job is to serve the customer. Their ideas should be malleable in the first place so that they can meet customer need without changing the intent of their idea, that way they can "stay firn" without denying the customer.
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteYou have pointed out a huge issue for so many students across the country. It is interesting to me how well your interview process worked for you since you found that this was only a problem for these people at the beginning of the semester. I think it would have also been great if you asked more about how they solve this problem personally and see if there were similarities in that act as well.