LILY’S LIST IS MAKING NEWS!

The Student Loan Network recommends Lily’s List in an article entitled “5 Creative Ways to Repay Your Student Loans.” September 27, 2011

The AARP Bulletin described Lily’s List as a “creative solution” in a article entitled Paying Down College Debt – How friends and family can help whittle down a student loan. February 16, 2011

PreMed Life, a magazine aimed at college students pursuing a medical degree, listed Lily’s List as a “useful” website in their November/December 2010 issue.

Chicago Sun Times describes how Lily’s List works — family and friends — or even a generous anonymous benefactor — can direct gifts toward debt instead of writing a check or buying a sweater for birthdays or graduation. The article quotes Edie Irons of the Institute for College Access and Success. “This speaks to what a burden this is for people. Most people aren’t going to be able to zero out their student loan debt this way, but it could make a real difference for people. It could be more helpful than a blender or microwave or crockpot.” Irons said, in the age of increasing student debt loads, asking for help isn’t the same as shirking responsibility. “I think any way people can find to pay back their student loans is fair game,” she said. September 7, 2010

CBS Moneywatch.com’s Carla Fried says: “Seems to me that if you’re really looking to help your new grad have a successful launch into the real world, helping out with student loan payments is the perfect gift. Not just a one-off, but how about birthdays, Christmas etc? That’s the idea behind a new website, Lily’s List, where grads can set up a gift registry for repaying their student loans. Friends, family, and benevolent strangers can gift the money to the account, and the payment goes directly to paying off the student’s loans. You pay a little ($15 a year for the student and a $2.75 processing fee charged to the giver for each gift) to have the third-party handle the mechanics; that’s not much to pay for the convenience and automation. Or you can work out your own system with your child to help them speed up their loan payments.” May 16, 2010 To read the full article, visit moneywatch.com.

Southern Illinois University’s Daily Egyptian says that “for family and friends who may not know how to help the college student in their life, finding a meaningful gift could get easier” thanks to Lily’s List. April 20, 2010.

The Daily Illini at the University of Illinois cites Lily’s List as the “Registry Site that helps students pay off college loans” and highlights Lily’s List’s Student of the Week, who receives a donation from a Lily’s List business sponsor. April 14, 2010

Illinois State University’s Vidette featured Lily’s List as the “Website to help with college costs.” April 27, 2010

bestcollegeplans.com points out that “[t]he average college graduate now leaves school owing over $23,000, and, in the current recession, facing the grimmest job market in over 25 years” and says that Lily’s List is “pretty simple for members and donors alike.” April 16, 2010

The Columbia College Chronicle says “with Lilyslist.com, friends and relatives can help students pay off existing student loans.” March 29, 2010

The Loyola University Phoenix featured Lily’s List as the “Site that allows donors to pay loans.” April 1, 2010

The website bankaholic.com thinks that “Lilyslist.com has a future because student loans have become such a burden for so many former students and their families.” They also “like that the site verifies the loans are legit and ensures that contributions make it to the lender.” April 6, 2010.

Four Moms Launch a Smart Gift Network to Battle Student Loan Debt

Lily’s List, Inc announces the launch of www.LilysList.com, a student loan gift network started by four moms concerned for students burdened by school loan debt. Anyone with a school loan debt can now become a member of Lily’s List and create a network of supporters: family, friends and alumni. Through Lily’s List, members can encourage potential gift givers to help pay off student loan debt, one gift at a time. Contributors can easily give a monetary gift, which is directly deposited into the student’s loan account: smart gifts for smart kids.

How it all started

Jennifer Taylor saw the look of shock on her daughter’s face when they were discussing the cost of college and the loans that she would eventually incur. Traditionally, people have counted on scrimping, saving, and gaining possible grant or scholarship money when looking at this monster called student loan debt. However, on the day Taylor and her soon-to-be-college-student daughter spoke, an idea took shape.

She met with three other friends, Nancy Hejna, Nancy Hopkins, and Beverly Gibson, to discuss the burden of student loan debt and present them with her new concept. They all shared a similar concern for their future graduating children.

So, with a common goal in mind, these four moms got down to business and created Lily’s List, Inc. “We want students to have a place on the web where people can go to give a monetary gift and have it go directly to a student’s loan account instead of another sweater she doesn’t really need or the video game he might buy with a cash gift,” says Taylor. “We also want to give students the opportunity to be their own personal fundraisers; as members of Lily’s List, they will be able to make their own personal fundraising pages. Supporters can review these pages and donate directly to those loan accounts.” As the four moms agree, “Every little bit helps.”

Leave it to moms to figure out how to help their kids. And the name of Taylor’s daughter, who inspired this whole movement? You guessed it: Lily.