Giving Compass' Take:

• CampusLogic, a financial services startup aims to help students with the financial aid process by leading them through the many grueling challenges of financial help in college. 

• CampusLogic is thinking of expanding to helping universities teach students about budgeting practices and not to overborrow money.  If this could be part of every student's higher education experience, would we see a decrease in debt among young people?

• Read about the newest batch of education start-ups form the Y Combinator event in March showcasing the best of the best. 

For some, the words “financial aid” stirs up reminders of grueling applications and the anxiety of coping with skyrocketing college tuition.

Phoenix-based CampusLogic aims to chip away at some of those challenges by helping institutions manage and award financial aid to more students, as well as reduce student borrowing by connecting colleges with private grant and scholarship opportunities for students.

CampusLogic announced it has raised $55 million from software investor, JMI Equity, to grow its product, customer success, sales and marketing teams—and to purchase other companies.

Acquisitions aren’t a new strategy for the seven-year-old startup that describes itself as a student financial services (SFS) platform. In 2017, CampusLogic acquired Cegment’s Net Price Calculator—now the company’s ClearCost tool—to help students and their families estimate the cost of college before applying or enrolling in a school.

Gregg Scoresby, CEO of CampusLogic, is now exploring buying more companies, with the hopes of continuing the company’s growth. And Scoresby says CampusLogic is considering companies in spaces not traditionally associated with student financial aid or student information system services.

For example, Scoresby says he is interested in exploring ways to help schools better advise students on how to not overborrow and how to manage their loan payments better.

“But right now schools are largely disconnected from the repaying part of the equation and we think we are in a position to help them do things for alumni around repayment.”

Read the full article about CampusLogic by Sydney Johnson at EdSurge