Founded in 2014, Salish Sea Cooperative Finance (SSCoFi) is a cooperatively owned social enterprise which refinances high interest student loans in Washington State by reinvesting its members’ financial resources. SSCoFi reimagines community potential by returning profits to its members, and supports our debtor-members through fiscal education, mentorship, and community.
The Need
American families, parents and their children, are forced into a system that saddles them with decades of high-interest student loan debt. As education becomes more expensive, and wages stagnate, students are forced to take out larger loans to cover the cost of their education. The average undergraduate student now graduates with $29,400 in debt, according to the Institute for College Access & Success’ Project on Student Debt.
A graduate with $29,000 has an average monthly payment of $315 over a 10-year period. As a result, this rising generation is unable to pursue entrepreneurship, chooses to delay having a family, and finds themselves unable to save for the future.
A group of student-debtors and concerned community members are forming a cooperative to enable graduates currently living in Washington State to refinance their debt. We are calling for student-debtors, investors, benefactors, and advisers who will come together to support a community-based approach to address student debt, increase the economic well-being of students in the community, and return the profits to the community rather than big banks.
SSCoFi’s Vision
We envision a world where all graduates will have the freedom to pursue their goals, contribute to the community, reach their full potential, devote their skills to worthwhile causes, and impact the world free of the crushing burden of excessive student debt. We are connecting successful, socially conscious individuals with the change-makers of the future.
SSCoFi Cooperative Principals
- Voluntary and open membership
- Democratic member control
- Member economic participation
- Autonomy and independence
- Education, training, and information
- Cooperation among cooperatives
- Concern for community