Steemits First Scholarship Program
After one month here on steemit I have seen the good this platform can do and the change it can bring. I was inspired by @larkenrose's #introduceyourself post in a huge way. I had ideas and of course immediately posted on them without much effort put in beyond the initial excitement. This is one I am bringing up again as it is real world impacting and life changing... and I want it to be heard.
Education
Not that long ago you would work hard and graduate debt-free. Today that is an impossible dream. Student loan debt is at a staggering $1.3 trillion dollars, 10 years ago it was only $447 million dollars. Stories of generations buried under a mountain of debt forced to delay marriage, homeownership and children because of the burden. Current solutions to this are focused on restructuring or refinancing this debt, or increased taxpayer contribution. I propose something different to also reduce the debt, and possibly, eventually eliminate the need for it.
Steemit Scholarship
Over the last few days I have looked into what would be required to start a scholarship. Turns out it really doesn't need that much. I am proposing starting one, and I need your help. The basics are easy, what I need is people with knowledge in this matter to help me with the specifics of it. Wether it be set up as a trust or non-proft, what criteria might be and things I may not be thinking of.
Endgame
Really I view the scholarship as an entry level idea to something larger. I want there to ultimately be a higher education alternative here on steemit's blockchain. Three simple imaginings drive this thought.
Imagine finishing schooling with 2 years of power down being returned to you instead of debt.
Imagine a knowledge base of the work permanently on the blockchain.
Imagine growing your "tuition" through the content of your work while your in school.
It's boggling to me the complete shift in the system. Student loans may need to be taken out as a considerable amount of steempower would be needed for the student to "pay" for each lesson via upvote, but those resources borrowed would not be consumed by the education system.
Conclusion
This does nothing but embrace the values of decentralization the blockchain community holds dear. At the same time, it grows value to the platform by both introducing value to it terms of exposure, academic content and a real world application of cryptocurrency. I ask for your support, your feedback and your vision with this. Responses will be closely monitored and I also ask you email me with thoughts/concerns/suggestions at [email protected].
I am asking at this point for support for the idea, not necessarily this post. I do not wish to be administrator, any steemdollars generated from this post will be used in the initial deposit of an account set up for the purpose of a scholarship. I need your expertise though steemit. Thank you.
Can't really help with setup, but all the best for the project.
Thank you!
I can definitely upvote this initiative! Here's to innovation, my friend. Best of luck with this.
It's been mind blowing to me how it could change everything. I think of it as unshackling our children.... just excited for the possibilities
Perhaps it was in more detail in your previous posts on the topic, but I would love to see a more thorough plan as to how this might play out. Application process? Who decides? how much money are we talking? Etc. The nuts and bolts even before it turns into a non-profit or a trust.
That's what I am looking for help with. I will figure it out myself if need be, just not experienced with it. I have some money already converting to steem than I was going to use to powerup. I think instead I will use it to start the account. I don't want financial support for the idea itself.
What I have in mind as an early thought for initial offering. After a trust is created for the steemit scholarship find a school in my area. Let it be known what steemit is and what I want to offer. As for submissions, I don't know if I would want it to be a topical to steemit, or a post about the person explaining their need/plans for the funds.
One entry per day would be submitted to the steemit community on an account tied to the trust. The entry most voted upon by the community would be the recipient. There's several ways to do it though, and that's what I am seeking out. I could also see having 50% of each entries steemdollars generated being returned to the student in the form of a check to institution against tuition. The remaining 50% going towards the ultimate winner on top of their post rewards. Steempower afterwards being powered down and used for weekly income for the first two years of schooling.
Definitely lots of details to be looked into, all of which I am sure I haven't considered. Why it's a plea for help with laying it down
My first post was just the general concept and a plea for someone to do it. I haven't seen the torch picked up. So I am just trying. Either way I have about $100 mid transfer right now I think I can use to start the trust, I can add a little more myself if I need to.
Thank you for fleshing out your plan for me.
I think submitting an essay in the form of a post would be a requisite. One way to do this is to have a "open window for submission" between say the first and 30th of a given month. At the end of it you would post all essays with a special tag and encourage voting. This would give the community a chance to vote on the student would be allowed to keep whatever SD their post generates but the board of trustees or directions of judging panel would 1) keep the SP, and 2) ultimately decide upon the best essay to receive the scholarship.
Funding the student for two years seems like a long shot. The right student should be able to fund themselves using this platform better than the scholarship would. You'd need significant SP to make that work, better it stay in the account to assist with generating rewards for round two.