Lockdown anniversary: Over 1.2 million students benefitted through education financing, says GrayQuest
Mumbai,: Marking the first anniversary of the unprecedented lockdown, GrayQuest, India’s leading education financing company launched a report today highlighting the key trends seen in education financing over the last one year. Among key findings, 1.2 million students benefitted from GrayQuest’s ‘Study Now, Pay Later’ offering that has gained huge prominence in the last one year.
The report states that there has been a 3X increase in parents opting for education financing owing to pandemic induced salary cuts or business downturn, and the resultant financial constraints faced by parents. The nationwide education financing study was based on internal database of GrayQuest customers belonging to the age group of 25-55 years, during the period 25th March 2020 to 20th March 2021.
Established in 2017, GrayQuest offers parents the option of paying their children’s education fees in easy bite-sized monthly instalments. The company has witnessed a staggering 6x growth in 2020 as compared to 2019.
According to the study, the pandemic led to increased awareness and receptivity towards the education financing and the value it brings to the table, among both schools and parents.
The company currently has partnerships with 2700+ educational institutions, a 2X jump from the previous year. Among these, higher adoption was seen in schools — 2400 partnerships as compared to higher education institutes — 300 partnerships.
GrayQuest Founder and CEO Rishab Mehta said, “The financial constraints caused due to the pandemic has enabled parents to dedicate more time to streamlining their personal finance and efficiently take financial decisions. In the year ahead, our vision is to become the default mode of fee payment for 10 million learners from different schools and universities across India. We also aim to reach all corners of the country and bring more students under the radar of education financing thereby providing accessible and affordable education to all.”
The findings indicate that the pandemic fuelled tremendous and large scale adoption of ‘Study Now, Pay Later’ by parents across the country including tier 3-4 towns, suggesting the huge appetite in these markets. Thus, not surprisingly, the company observed equal adoption of their product in both metro and non-metro cities. Among metros, Mumbai recorded the highest number of partnerships (25%), followed by Bangalore (12%) and Hyderabad (11.5%). Among non-metros, Pune, Lucknow and Ghaziabad saw the maximum traction in the last one year.
The study also revealed that the financial convenience of paying fees monthly and the willingness to try a new mode of fee payment, were some of the other reasons for parents opting for education financing solutions.
Further, 20% customers who opted for ‘Study Now, Pay Later’ option last year were women. Moreover, the report revealed that there was also a 6X growth in registration by women borrowers as compared to the previous year.