Higher Education Should Create Opportunity. The Financial Plan Behind It Should, Too.
Degree Worthy was created to help students and families see the financial reality of college before they commit—not years after the decision has already been made.
Why Degree Worthy Exists
This should not be a surprise.
We run the numbers before buying a home.
Businesses build projections before making major investments.
Banks analyze whether borrowers can realistically carry debt before approving a loan.
Yet families routinely make one of the largest financial decisions of their lives without seeing the complete financial picture first.
Degree Worthy was created to change that.
We bring the degree, college, funding, potential earnings, debt, and cost of living together so students and families can see what different paths could look like while they still have time to choose differently.
The Founder Story
This problem is personal.
Our founder grew up at the poverty level and attended college because of a Pell Grant. With little financial help available from family, college meant living at home, working part-time, and doing everything possible to minimize debt.
That education created opportunities that may not have existed otherwise.
Thirty years later, after a career in business, she found herself on the other side of the table as interim president of a private university.
And she kept hearing the same concern.
Students and families were struggling to afford the education they had worked so hard to pursue.
So she started digging into the numbers.
The deeper she looked, the more one question kept coming back:
Why aren't we running the financial projection before students commit?
Businesses model major investments. Banks stress-test debt. Families deserved a way to do the same thing with college.
That question ultimately led her back to school to pursue a PhD and research the problem more deeply—and it became the foundation for Degree Worthy.
Four Perspectives.
One Mission.
Degree Worthy is shaped by experience from multiple sides of the college decision.
Lived It
The experience of being a first-generation, low-income student relying on financial aid created an understanding of what this decision feels like around the kitchen table.
Led It
University leadership provided a firsthand view of students and families trying to make the numbers work.
Modeled It
Thirty years in business brought the financial discipline of budgeting, forecasting, scenario planning, and stress-testing major decisions.
Studied It
PhD research brings another layer of rigor to understanding the problem and the data behind it.
Degree Worthy brings those perspectives together to make a complicated financial decision easier to understand.
What We Believe
Education is an opportunity.
Degree Worthy isn't anti-college. Quite the opposite.
We believe education can change lives. We also believe the financial decisions surrounding it deserve the same thought and planning as the education itself.
Information belongs with the student.
Schools have information.
Lenders have information.
Families deserve information, too.
Degree Worthy is designed to put a clearer financial picture on the student's side of the table.
Projections should be honest.
There is no crystal ball.
Salary, interest rates, costs, careers, and life itself can change.
That's why Degree Worthy uses projections and ranges rather than pretending one number can predict your future.
Opportunity shouldn't depend on luck.
A Pell Grant helped open the door to college for our founder.
Degree Worthy commits 10% of profits to college scholarships to help open more doors for future students.
Our Bigger Goal
Make running the numbers before you borrow the norm.
Imagine buying a house without knowing the mortgage payment.
For millions of families, that's essentially how college financing works today.
We want the financial conversation to become an expected part of choosing an education—not an uncomfortable surprise after the decision has already been made.
More transparency.
Better questions.
Clearer choices.
And more students beginning their next chapter with a financial plan built to support it.
Your education is about your future.
Your financial plan should be, too.
One scenario free