SLM Corporation (SLM)

Navigating college scholarships with Scholly by Sallie

According to data from ScholarshipOwl, half of Gen Z students have no money for college, while a Bloomberg report found the average sticker price for an Ivy League University education is over $90,000 a year. Fortunately, there are a myriad of scholarships available to students in the US. Scholly By Sallie Founder Christopher Gray and Shark Group CEO Daymond John joins Wealth! to break down some of the best ways to avoid student debt and how prospective students can navigate the mass of scholarship opportunities. John invested in Scholly after Gray pitched the service on an episode of Shark Tank. Scholly was then acquired by student loan lender Sallie Mae (SLM) in 2023. Gray offers this piece of advice for students getting ready to apply for scholarships: "I think that just being able to start as early as you can, and if you do have to wait the last minute, that's fine, people have different responsibilities but that is the biggest mistake. Waiting to the last minute and then just having to rush and do all those essays and applications, you have to submit FAFSA forms, you have to do all of those things. So that's the biggest mistake I see people make." John instills the importance of education and why students need to apply for scholarships: "There's a lot of great programs out there that want to reward people who are moving in the direction that scholarships and opportunities have been presented. I think that just like in business, your personal business, you can either increase sales or reduce costs. If you can reduce the costs of getting a better education, then in the long run, it's a great payoff." For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth! Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino