Sallie Mae has announced it has acquired “several key assets” of Scholly, a popular scholarship search app.
Following the acquisition, Sallie Mae will make Scholly free for all students, families, and other users, providing access to search and apply for millions of dollars in scholarships.
Founded in 2015, Scholly helps students easily find scholarships for college and graduates pay off their student debt. The app has reportedly awarded $100 million of scholarships to date and has helped over 5 million students secure funding to colleges and universities across the US.
“With Scholly, we created a solution that helps level the playing field and gives every student the opportunity to go to college, regardless of their financial background,” said Scholly Founder and CEO Cristopher Gray.
Gray himself won $1.3 million in scholarships to attend Drexel University and gained attention for landing a S deal on ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’. In 2016 he was featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list of social entrepreneurs.
Scholly is a web and app search platform that makes custom recommendations for postsecondary scholarships by matching students to the scholarships they qualify for. Using parameters such as gender, state, GPA, and race, it filters a targeted list of appropriate scholarships with a list of links and deadlines.
“It has always been Scholly’s mission to help as many students as possible access financial freedom,” said Gray.“Since launching in 2015 and helping families across the country receive scholarship opportunities, we realized that there were still many ways to help students throughout their journey to pursue higher education and pay for it.”
Sallie’s Mae’s acquisition of the platform includes some of Scholly’s technology, intellectual property, and experienced staff, as well as Scholly Offers, a platform that matches users with strategic partners to help them earn cash back. It comes after Sallie Mae’s acquisition of the assets of education technology firm Nitro College in 2022.
“Acquiring Scholly’s key assets is aligned with our mission to power confidence in students and families and further solidifies Sallie Mae as an education solutions company,” said Sallie Mae CEO Jon Witter. “It also allows us to harness and build on Scholly’s innovative technology to unlock future strategic growth opportunities. I’m thrilled to welcome Chris and his talented team to Sallie Mae.”
Sallie Mae, formerly Student Loan Marketing Association, offers private student loans. Sallie Mae plans to make Scholly free for all students, families, and other users.
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