Nonprofit Aims to Eliminate Student Debt for Future Students through
Innovations to Higher Education Model
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AmericanUniversity—NewU
Inc., a nonprofit in the District of Columbia, announced today it
plans to provide higher education for the future at a fraction of the
cost of incumbent colleges and universities.
NewU intends to serve as a model for higher education reform by
leveraging operations and academic innovations to solve the most
pressing problems with student debt, tuition, academic programs, and
graduation and job placement rates.
Stratsi Kulinski, Founder and President of NewU and a professional whose
career spans almost 30 years in diverse industries worldwide, and
includes service as a trustee, member of the board, and president of a
US regionally accredited university, said: “Higher Education faces a
multitude of severe challenges to its business model and to academic
quality and student outcomes, yet for all the media and political
attention, meaningful reform appears absent. Skyrocketing costs,
tuition, and student debt seem even more egregious in the context of a
persistent skills gap with employer expectations, minimal academic
innovation, and suboptimal student outcomes. The cost to educate a
student at our nation’s four-year private nonprofit undergraduate
schools is now almost $60,000 per student per year, the average
graduation rate across all types of undergraduate institutions is a
meager 57%, while there is more than $1.5 trillion in student debt
outstanding with 19-to-29 year olds carrying about $1 trillion of that
mountain. The burdens to our society are material and urgent, and must
be addressed with a bold and innovative approach.”
NewU is building upon a novel financially self-sustainable model where
the total cost of education to students and their families is projected
to be 70% cheaper compared to incumbents, with academic quality and
student outcomes targeted to meet and exceed those of the status quo.
“We call upon all individuals and organizations who believe it is time
for meaningful reform in higher education to support us in the pursuit
of our mission and vision”, Kulinski continued. “As a nonprofit, we rely
on charitable contributions to enable us to welcome our first class of
students next year. We forecast an operating surplus in just two years,
at which point we expect to be largely tuition-dependent and
self-sufficient thanks to our operations model innovations. The amount
of funding needed is only $1.5 million in the next year, and only $2.5
million the year after that, but the societal impact and the insights
into successful higher education reform will be immeasurably more
valuable. This is a rare opportunity for those who wish to join us as
founding partners to make a very small yet hugely meaningful impact
investment in the future of higher education, and we are now ready for
and welcome discussions with donors and partners to bring NewU to
market.”
NewU Inc. has a 501(c)(3) application on file with the IRS, and is
incorporated as a nonprofit in Washington DC.
About NewU
At NewU we set out to evolve the traditional university model to the
next generation of higher education. Our goal is to deliver this
improved new breed of offline, high-quality yet affordable undergraduate
program often debt-free to students, and equip them with future-proof
skills. The Mission of NewU is to empower students to become successful,
self-aware, socially responsible, democratic, and ethical citizens of
the world for life. Our Vision is that by the year 2030 leading
universities around the world will adopt our operating and learning
model to transform the Higher Education sector for the benefit of
society. Explore NewU at newu.university
and follow our progress at facebook.com/newuworld,
instagram.com/newuworld
and twitter.com/newuworld.
Contacts
Stratsi Kulinski
Founder & President
NewU
+1.202.361.1120
stratsi@newu.university