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College-planning startup Campus Steps has announced a $2 million funding round today. The company, whose platform provides organization and feedback for prospective college students, plans to use the funding to expand its development and marketing efforts.
Founded to bolster the current system of college-counseling services in high schools throughout the U.S., Campus Steps develops software for students, counselors, and high schools to track academic goals and progress. The startup seeks to fill the adequacy void left by a national student-to-counselor ratio of 478 to 1 (according to a 2014 report in the New York Times) and to provide an alternative to the private college counselors, which cost an average of $4,000 (from Reuters, as of 2013).
“Choosing a college path is a critical life event. It’s as important as finding a job, getting married, buying a home, or having a baby. And while all of those life events have massive online industries to help you through the process, there’s still nothing to help the millions of students who aren’t getting sufficient college and career guidance,” said Campus Steps CEO Mark Eastwood in a statement. “We’re bringing students high-quality counseling content, big data, and a powerful network of on-demand counselors to help students develop a clear and accessible path to college and career success.”
Among Campus Steps’ features are course-planning guidance, targeted scholarship information, and curated lists of colleges according to student qualifications and interests. The company states its student user base totals 20,000 and that 6,300 high schools have active accounts.
"In just a few short months, we've seen so many students refer friends that we're already working with students in 20 percent of U.S. schools," Eastwood said. "We're excited to keep welcoming more students and bring them new features that can truly help them navigate the college planning process."
In addition to the funding, the company has installed three new executives: founder and former Head of Product at Rent.com/eBay Mark Eastwood as CEO; Jeanne Anderson, former SVP of Product at DogVacay, as Chief Product Officer; and Dave Meyer of Free Credit Report and eNeighborhoods as CTO.
Campus Steps has also been promised an additional $1 million investment, the company says.
