Education plays a fundamental role in our society.

Without passionate students and dedicated teachers, few things would be possible.

Unfortunately, education isn’t always as affordable as it should be. Whether you’re a student looking to level up your academic career and pursue higher education, or a teacher who wants to provide a great learning experience for your students, money might be the biggest obstacle you face.

At CrowdCrux, we believe no one should be barred from a high-quality education, no matter what their financial status is, so we’re happy to share our top 11 crowdfunding sites for college and education costs.

But first, I want to let you know about a book we have that might help you a lot.

I wrote Crowdfunding for Personal Expenses to show people all over the world, especially students, how they could use crowdfunding to raise money for causes that matter to them. Get the free audio book with Audible’s 30-day Free Trial.

If you’re considering using crowdfunding to fund your education, it’s well worth a read, as it includes a ton of insights into how the crowdfunding world serves individuals – and some tricks you can use to raise more. Plus you can get it for free with a trial of Audible!

With that update out of the way, let’s take a look at some platforms that might help you.

Reward & Donation Crowdfunding

Through reward and donation crowdfunding, donors can pledge financial support for causes and projects in exchange for rewards in the form of products or services.

In the case of crowdfunding for education costs, you may not need to offer an actual award. You’ll just need to sell your story and convince donors that it’s important to help you, and there are plenty of traditional model crowdfunding platforms out there to help you facilitate your campaign.

Here are a few we recommend.

1. GoFundMe

With millions of active donors using the site, GoFundMe is by far the most popular platform for nonprofit crowdfunding, and it has already hosted a number of very successful campaigns for education costs.

One notable GoFundMe success story comes from Alexis Brennan, who raised an impressive $9,000 to cover her Boston University tuition in 2013.

GoFundMe charges a fee of 2.9% of your total raise plus $0.30 per donation.

I’m a big fan of GoFundMe myself and I actually have a free GoFundMe course that will teach you how to navigate the platform and raise as much as possible. If you’re considering trying GoFundMe, I really recommend checking it out!

2. Upstart

Upstart is the crowdfunding equivalent of applying for a loan. 

Campaigners can use the site to offer a percentage of their future income in exchange for immediate funds, so if you’re good at saving and feel you have a lot of earning potential, it might be a great way to finance your education.

The rate of funding that you can receive is customized to you based on your past education and experience.

3. Indiegogo

The internationally popular crowdfunding site Indiegogo is best known as a platform to fund creative projects and technology, but it also hosts a sizable catalog of nonprofit causes, including a robust Education category.

Indiegogo has a community of more than 9 million backers and permits flexible funding, so even if you don’t reach your goal, you can keep all the funds you raise.

Indiegogo charges a transaction fee of 3% + $0.20 and a 5% platform fee.

4. ScholarMatch

ScholarMatch is a San Francisco-based non-profit devoted to helping generous donors provide financial aid to students from underserved communities.

According to their site, the non-profit organization “partners with college access organizations and schools around the Bay Area to find talented, ambitious students dedicated to pursuing higher education and in need of financial resources.”

ScholarMatch has made a huge difference for a lot of people, but it’s not open to everyone. Students must be nominated by partner organizations and apply for funding, but if you think you may be eligible, it’s an opportunity worth investigating!

5. Hubbub

Hubbub uses community crowdfunding to enable a variety of education-related causes, including dissertation fees, research projects, and travel expenses in the academic sphere.

Unlike many of the other platforms on this list, Hubbub is specifically geared toward supporting projects that are led by institutions rather than individuals, so if you are part of a university community, they can serve as a great resource.

A number of reputable UK, US, and Australian universities have turned to Hubbub for support, including King’s College London, South Dakota State University, and Queensland University of Technology.

6. GoGetFunding 

GoGetFunding is a large UK-based crowdfunding site solely intended for personal causes like education.

At the time of writing, GoGetFunding has around 25.2K education campaigns. Students and teachers all over the world have used the site to cover costs for tuition, school supplies, travel, and more.

One of the biggest advantages of using GoGetFunding to crowdfund for college and education costs is the site’s promotional efforts. Well-done campaigns have a chance of being featured on GoFunding’s homepage and social media accounts to attract donors.

GoGetFunding takes a 4% fee on funds raised plus a 2.9% payment processing fee $0.30 transaction fee.

7. Fundly

Fundly hosts online fundraisers for nonprofit and personal causes such as creative projects, community outreach, and education costs.

Both individuals and charity organizations can use Fundly, so whether you want to cover the cost of tuition for yourself or provide resources for a school in need, Fundly can help!

8. AdoptAClassroom

Are you a teacher who needs funds to revamp your classroom and stock it with new supplies? AdoptAClassroom might be perfect for you!

Through AdoptAClassroom, donors can provide teachers and schools in their community with funds to purchase student resources. Teachers who use the platform have a full year to use the funds they receive however they want.

AdoptAClassroom does not take any fees from funds raised on the site.

9. Classful

As a crowdfunding site that doubles as an eCommerce platform, Classful is full of resources for educators.

Creative teachers can use Classful to sell educational products they’ve designed themselves. Or they can use it to host fundraisers.

Teachers turn to Classful to cover costs for classroom supplies, educational programs, and other academic needs.

Classful charges a seller fee of 5% and a sitewide transaction fee of 2.9% plus $0.30.

10. DonorsChoose 

DonorsChoose is a nonprofit organization that uses community fundraising to help public school teachers raise money for projects that matter.

The site aims to help teachers provide for their students without having to pay out-of-pocket expenses.

A number of well-known nonprofit foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation, and the Panda Cares™ Foundation, donate generously to fundraisers hosted on DonorsChoose.

Crowdfunding Student Loans Via P2P Lending

If you’re a student looking to cover the cost of university tuition with student loans, P2P (peer-to-peer) lending is another option you have for crowdfunding education costs.

P2P lending is a way to secure loans from other individuals rather than agencies.

P2P loans usually carry lower interest rates than traditional loans, and they allow borrowers to avoid having to deal with banks, so some students turn to them to cover university costs.

Here’s one site you can use to facilitate P2P lending for your education.

11. SoFi 

If you need money to pursue higher education, SoFi might be able to help you obtain a loan!

SoFi helps individuals secure private loans from groups of accredited investors, and university students are one of the primary groups they serve.

SoFi loans can be put toward university tuition costs such as living expenses, books, food, and more.

Other Sources

You can also check to see if your university runs a private crowdfunding platform for student projects.

Here are a few universities that offer crowdfunding resources for students:

Conclusion

We’re lucky to live in a time when there are plenty of options for students and teachers with expenses to cover.

Nonprofit crowdfunding enables people all over the world to level up in their academic careers and have their educational needs met.

There’s no reason why you can’t harness the power of crowdfunding to finance your education and serve your community.

It’s worth noting, however, that a successful crowdfunding campaign demands more than just a trustworthy platform.

You need to know how to tell your story in a way that touches people’s hearts. Even more basic than that, you need to know how to reach people so that they can hear you.

In case you need some help with this, I’ve put together a program I call the GoFundMe Cash Machine.

It includes a collection of resources, templates, and other tools you can use to make the most of nonprofit crowdfunding. It’s specifically geared towards GoFundMe, but a lot of it works no matter which platform you choose.

I made CrowdCrux because I’m passionate about learning, and I’m really excited about this program because I know it’s gonna help a lot of people take their education to the next level.

Never stop learning!