Raising Money For College Has Never Been So Easy

In his final State of the Union address presented on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said that he will continue to work to make college affordable for every American. One way President Obama hopes to make that happen is by providing two years of community college for free. But perhaps Village Scholarships, a company on Friday night's Shark Tank could be an alternative way to achieve this goal.

As you can probably guess by the name, Village Scholarships is a company that's all about helping students pay their way through college without be saddled with debt at the end. I will explain how it does that exactly a bit later. But just knowing that little nugget of information about the company, I have high hopes for Village Scholarships. That's mostly because of the success of Scholly, an app that more efficiently helps students find scholarships that are right for them, in the Tank last season, although the product caused a bit of a feud among the Sharks as well.

Still, all that means is that the Sharks should be interested in at least learning what Village Scholarships is all about, and getting them to pay attention and listen is really half the battle. Educate yourself on Village Scholarships below, and you might just want to check the site out for yourself after Shark Tank.

It Wants To Help You Through School

It's no secret that college is expensive. Because of that, many students find themselves in either the terrible position of not being able to receive a college education because they can't afford it or the not-so-great position of being stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in debt once they get out. Village Scholarships wants to change all of that. This service to be featured in Friday night's episode of Shark Tank is a crowdfunding platform that helps students receive money and other items to help them through college. People crowdfund to raise money for all sorts of things these days, so why not college scholarships?

You Can Help Or Be Helped

The way Village Scholarships works is elementary, my dear reader. Students and donors alike head over to the company's website to create a profile. Users can donate directly to students. Donors can also create custom scholarships through a form on the website that can provide money, a vehicle, assets (stock, business interest, real estate), electronics (cell phone, laptop, tablet, game console), gift cards, or anything else they think would help a student out in college. Students are then matched with eligible scholarships, which could help them worry less about how they're going to pay for college and think more about enjoying and learning from the whole experience.

It'll Also Educate You

If while reading this, you're thinking to yourself, Is college debt going to ruin my life?, then you might want to consider taking the "Village Scholarships Defeat College Debt - 7 Baby Steps" course over on Udemy. For $15, you will learn how to forecast a budget, weigh your future return on investment from a college education, and improve your value in the marketplace when you leave your institute of higher learning. The course is taught by Village Scholarships' founder and CEO Antonio Adams, who you'll soon learn has been through all of this before. The money raised in this course helps make Village Scholarships possible, so by taking it, you're not only helping yourself but also potentially helping others.

It's Not In Session Until The Summer

According to the official Village Scholarships website, the crowdfunding platform is set to launch in Summer 2016. However, the website is still accepting donations to help build it up, so I guess that scheduled launch isn't so set in stone after all. It's also possible that means Village Scholarships may not have snagged an investment from a Shark during its time in the Tank, but we'll have to wait and see how this all plays out.

The Founders Know The Importance Of Scholarships

It was a long road to get Adams to found Village Scholarships. The company's CEO earned two collegiate basketball scholarships but lost them both after sustaining injuries, he explains in the video on the site for Village Scholarships' Udemy course. During his college career, Adams attended five universities, repeated his sophomore year three times, and failed a class because he couldn't afford its textbooks, just to name a few of the hardships he said he has been through. Adams is running the company with a woman named Tasha Adams, whose relation to Antonio is unclear, but she seems to have had a bit better luck in this department, using two full-ride scholarships to help her earn undergraduate and graduate degrees, according to Village Scholarships' website. Hopefully, they can use their expertise to help people have a much easier and more affordable time getting through college.

They Already Look Up To The Sharks

The Village Scholarships Facebook page features a couple of inspirational and informative video clips from Mark Cuban. The company has also tweeted at Robert Herjavec to ask the entrepreneur for some advice. I wonder if the entrepreneurs behind Village Scholarships will come off as prepared for Shark Tank or as Shark fanatics when they appear on the show?

Images: Adam Rose/ABC; Giphy (4)