19A- Idea Napkin No.2

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

My name is Jake Norman. I am a male from Miami, Florida. I am an Economics major at the University of Florida, also minoring in Real Estate. I am an avid sports fan with a passion for the Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Heat. My goal for this idea is to provide a government subsidy for qualifying and achieving high school students to give them the opportunity to avoid the burden of student loans.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

I am proposing a government subsidy, which will give qualifying and overachieving high school students the opportunity to afford a college education at a discounted rate. This opportunity will open the door for many young professionals to kick start their careers.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

This service would be offered to anyone currently enrolled full time at any in state university. I believe that the opportunity for older students to go back to school should be an option offered as well. It is never too late to continue to grow your education, I think making it more affordable to attend college would create an incentive for these people to continue or begin their college education. The demographic and psychographic of our customer is simply any college student looking for financial help, who qualify for our requirements. These qualifying students will be well rounded and be educated on the benefits and harms of student loans and the interest rates that come along with these loans. This will make our service more important and relevant to these people. 

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

Since this product/service is not something that can be bought, I cannot explain why customers would be willing to pay money to use this product, but this service will draw the attention of anyone who is planning on paying their way through college, plans to use loans to pay for college, or any overachieving student looking for a discount on their college education. Since student loan debt and the interest rates coupled with these loans are such a relevant and important part of the lives of many recent graduates, this creates this government subsidy valuable to just about any hopeful college student. This is an incredibly relevant and current topic that is affecting the lives of many college graduates, the economy and the business demographic that targets young professionals. The more money these young professionals are spending on their student loans, the less money will be circulated throughout the economy and the less money these professionals will be able to stash away. This puts them at a disadvantage financially, as they are never truly able to “hit the ground running.”

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

Since we are the only product/service of its kind right now, providing this government subsidy would set us apart from everyone else without “core competence.” Since this government subsidy would only be available for qualifying students, our core competencies would be: Academics, Community Involvement, Athletics and You. In our core competencies, “You” is what sets you apart from the many other applicants. As many applicants will be hopeful for this government subsidy, we will focus on what separates one applicant from another based off of what makes you who you are. This will ensure that the applicant and acceptances are all individuals with their own road and their own story.

Feedback Memo

I have gotten positive feedback from every comment that I have received for this idea. I think being that we are college students currently living through it firsthand, we are biased on the subject. Though, it does not mean we are wrong. There are many things taxpayer and government money can be spent on but improving the opportunities and lives of students nationwide is something that I see as a nationwide improvement. Granting qualifying students, the opportunity for a discounted college tuition is something that will catapult the lives of many. I have been overwhelmed with the unanimous support from our student body during this class.