Brain Capital: the solidary financing that believes in your potential
By
There you are: young, motivated individual, fresh out of your high school years or bachelor’s degree, maybe with a bit of work experience behind you, but not quite enough of a credit record to fall on. You are sitting in front of the bank branch director, your best smile and clothes on, trying to make a good impression on that well-settled, midlife age, senior finance manager who has the power to approve your loan to finance your studies. I don’t know you, but this already is feeling uncomfortable (seriously, I’m sweating!), and feels a little from the last century, doesn’t it? Good for you, KLU allows you to skip this situation and offers you a better method to finance your studies, believing in you: the independent, capable, full-of-purpose student who will become the future of our society.
(Reading time: 6 minutes, 27 seconds)
THE BEST INVESTMENT OF YOUR LIFE
Ok, maybe the early investors of Google or Facebook won’t agree with us here, but we truly believe that investing in your own education is the best investment you can do in your life. That’s because there’s no safer investment than the one you can control. You know your potential and your drive, so you are putting the money into an asset that has all the options to succeed: yourself. Also, the “return on investment” possibilities are infinite, it all depends on how you decide to put into practice what you have learned and mix it with your own value to create a better world. For all we know, everyone can turn into a unicorn!
Two words to create the magic spell of money
You have done your research and are convinced of the value of studying your program in a private university, such as KLU, but you may find yourself in a Cinderella situation: you simply lack the right dress to access the ball in the palace. Well, here comes the fairy godmother (KLU) with her magical words “Brain Capital”, to make your dreams come true. Badabum! Tuition fees accessible to everyone! The concept is simple: Brain Capital provides you with some money to cover the tuition fee while you are studying, and you start repaying it back once you have graduated and you are earning income. Every student admitted to KLU can apply for Brain Capital funds, no matter your study program, your financial background, or your country of origin. Nevertheless, this last factor is important, since nationals of countries that belong to the OECD can apply for up to 100% of their tuition fee, while students with a passport of non-OECD countries will be looking at a maximum of 50% tuition fee financing and must rely on their own other resources to cover the other half of the tuition. Unlike scholarships, Brain Capital funding does not have a pre-requisite of GPA, and they will look at your profile with a focus on whom you will become rather than who you have been so far, so your motivation and previous working experience are a good push to assess your employability.
A burden-free financing that adapts to your reality
For many people a financing service or loan can feel scary. The ghost of unpaid debt shows up in nightmares because life is full of what-ifs. What if I lose my job and have no income? What if I need to take a year off to take care of my parents? What if I fall in love with a nomad Saharawi and decide to live in a tent and ride a camel for the rest of my life? Brain Capital is a system that adapts to real lives, with its ups and downs, and that’s why they have created a flexible repayment system. You will be making your repayments, only when your financial life is going on the right track:
- After graduating you need to find your income source, whether is a job or your own entrepreneurship. You will only start your repayments to Brain Capital once you start working and you earn over a certain threshold (this depends on the country you reside in but i.e. in Germany would be a threshold of about 30.000€ gross salary). If you earn less or earn nothing, you don’t start paying back.
- Once you start your repayments you will have the option to stop them if you are not earning over the threshold for whichever reason. This means that unexpected unemployment, a gap year, parental leave, or a situation like the pandemic, will not make your life more complicated by having the burden of a monthly fee to pay (unlike with other financial institutions, which don’t look at the specifics of your personal situation).
In this sense, it is important the differentiation between the payment period and payment years. The payment period is the total period of time in which the candidate has to pay the partial amounts. The payment years are those in which payment is made. So, for example, you may have 12 years as a payment period but only end up paying during 7.
You scratch my back, I’ll scratch next generation’s
One of the bases that sustain Brain Capital flexibility is its solidarity concept. Under this innovative financing system, those who earn more repay more, and therefore sustain the pool of money for new students who need financing and for those graduates who didn’t make enough income. I see your anxiety creeping in, because you are determined to become a millionaire, and are wondering, ok, how much more do I have to pay? Don’t worry, you’ll keep your millions!
Every contract is different and will be specifically customized for the applicant, meaning the interest rate and repayments are not one-fit-all. You will receive the contract once your application to Brain Capital is admitted and can then decide if it’s the right thing for you. The amount for repayments for each year is a fixed percentage of your gross income based on your income tax certificate. Therefore, if you had a higher income, you pay more (and new KLU students will be so grateful to you!). Since you are about to become the next Jeff Bezos, though, is good for you to know there is a:
- Maximum scenario: the maximum amount that you’ll be repaying to Brain Capital is double the amount you were lent. Congrats! You did amazing and became a philanthropist at the same time, supporting the next generation of students.
- Minimum scenario: if a candidate didn’t pass the threshold of salary in any year after graduation and until the end of their payment period, they will not repay anything back. This may look like an odd scenario, but some people decide to go back to their home countries or engage in a humanitarian project, landing in countries where salaries are modest or low. Brain Capital respect all those decisions and allows for this to happen.
As you can imagine, with this system, Brain Capital (and KLU) have the confidence that you will find a suitable job and a salary to live with dignity. We are betting on your success!
Less commitment than a Tinder date
So, now that you know all the advantages of Brain Capital, you might be wondering if giving it a try would be difficult or expensive. Nope! After applying to your KLU study program, you simply have to fill out the Brain Capital application and send it to our Admissions team (the final deadline is July 15th). Once you are admitted at KLU they’ll send your application to Brain Capital (they are collected and sent at the end of each month) and the financial institution will review them at the beginning of next month. Afterward, when approved, you’ll receive a sample contract with customized conditions for you. Then you can decide whether to take it or not. All this process is completely free of charge, and there’s no commitment until you sign the final contract. So, why not check what you can get?
From a happy student to a happy student
Brain Capital is the true legacy of satisfied KLU students, who are now supporting the opportunity to study of many current students. That’s why Brain Capital is the preferred financing system of many current KLU students, and it may be a great solution for you too. However, we encourage you to always be sure and comfortable with the financing method you choose. Here goes a free tip from us as a business school: never sign a financial product that you don’t understand in full or that makes you feel uncomfortable. We have a great team to answer all your questions and guide you through this great financial resource. Talk to them! :)
Now that you know that studying at KLU is accessible to everyone, check out in detail our admission process.
If you want to receive more articles like this, subscribe to the KLUster! The KLUster is a monthly newsletter that gathers blog articles, recommended readings, useful tips and much more to inform you, entertain you, and inspire you.
Contact:
Brain Capital managers
Gordon Kirstätter
gordon.kirstaetter@braincapital.de
Janina Meyer & Vipasha Tulzapurkar